Today marks the thousandth post on this blog, which started in April 2012 and has appeared every day since then, with a handful of extra posts when something unusual happened. I am very grateful to all the readers who have followed it so devotedly over the years. There has been little in the way of exciting discoveries of exotic species, but I hope that at least you have been able to follow the cycle of the seasons in a haven for wildlife in the middle of a vast city.

Otherwise it was an ordinary midwinter day, though it was lent a bit of distinction by the continued presence of the male Tawny Owl, perched in his favourite place on the nest tree. Over the 11 years he has spent in the park he has become famous, with people from abroad paying visits to admire him.

More recently celebrated are the pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull and his mate, who hit the national newspapers and even the radio a few months ago. Today, for the second time, I found them sharing a freshly caught fish, and I think that there can be no doubt that one of this resourceful pair caught it him or herself.

The crowded, noisy funfair next to their usual hunting ground may have made the Feral Pigeons more wary and mobile, and harder to catch. Anyway, it is clear that these gulls are well in control of their food supply.

The usual cast of characters turned up in their expected places. We couldn't have an anniversary without a picture of a Great Crested Grebe, so here is one fishing around the wire baskets of twigs next to the bridge.

The supply of fish in these baskets is getting low now, at least partly because of the attention of the Cormorants which have hoovered up everything they can find. This doesn't bother the grebes, which can find enough, and large enough, fish to keep them going. But most of the Cormorants have given up and gone back to the Thames.

Charlie the Carrion Crow was in the top of a tree overlooking the Italian Garden. Seeing me arrive, he called for his mate Melissa and young Kevin, and the three of them swooped down to demand peanuts.

The Jays were after peanuts too, and followed me around the leaf yard. Their black moustaches give a striking impression when seen from straight ahead.

A Ring-Necked Parakeet was also on the lookout while finishing off the last of a bunch of elderberries.

As usual in the leaf yard, a pair of Nuthatches arrived to take pine nuts off the railings ...

... and so did two of the Coal Tits.

But these Coal Tits are still not coming to my hand, and only the one next to the Rima relief is brave enough. They know that I will eventually put some pine nuts on the fence, because you can't say no to these charming tiny birds.