The male Tawny Owl has settled into a routine of spending the day on his favourite perch on the nest tree. He seems to be less troubled by Magpies than he has been recently.

It is tempting to suppose that the female owl is in the nest hole below him, and he is guarding her. It is really too early for even these very early owls to think about nesting, but they constantly surprise us by changing their timetable. The pair have not been seen together as in previous years, but that may be sheer chance.

Apart from that, not much was going on. I went to the Rima relief to feed the Coal Tit, which obligingly came down, and saw a Blackbird bathing in one of the small ponds that are part of the installation, now choked with leaves.

The seven young Mute Swans from the nest in the Italian Garden, which have been wandering about in ones and twos,  were all together again and following their mother as she crossed the Vista.

In the background you can see two of the many Shovellers that are browsing all over the Long Water. One of them came so close inshore that I could have reached out and touched it, which is unusual for these normally shy ducks.

It is odd that the two Great Crested Grebes on the Serpentine, of which this is one, are still in their plain winter plumage when the pair on the Long Water are in their full breeding regalia.

I think that the Long Water pair may be quite old. As far as I have been able to observe, Great Crested Grebes become darker as they age, and keep their fine chestnut feathers for longer.

There was just one Mistle Thrush on Buck Hill.

They spend much of their time just across the road in Hyde Park, where they are  less easy to find in the long grass and big trees.

A pair of Pied Wagtails at the Round Pond were hunting on the downwind side of the pond where the waves splash over the edge and leave little pools on the pavement. They were picking up things that were too small to identify, which may be visible in this picture as small black spots.