A pair of Great Crested Grebes were building a nest under the willow tree near the bridge.

I'm sure they don't have any serious intention of nesting. They are just playing.

The Black Swan was at the terrace of the Dell restaurant with his girlfriend and some other Mute Swans, and all seemed peaceful. Then the girlfriend's brother appeared through the gap in the rafts of water plants. The Black Swan immediately headed for him and pushed him right up the lake as far as the landing stage by the Diana fountain, which is where this picture was taken.

It wasn't a rapid chase -- I could keep up with them the whole way, and in fact the Black Swan stopped en route to take a biscuit from me. It was more like a night club bouncer escorting an unwanted guest to the door. They have done this many times before, and the brother knows that he will have to go to avoid a fight. It seems that the Black Swan considers the brother a rival rather than simply a family member who hangs around where he isn't wanted.

Two Herring Gulls were having a noisy dispute about which one had a right to stand on the platform of Bluebird Boats. There were fifty smaller gulls -- Black-Headed and Common -- on the platform, which were ignored. But, as a Herring Gull thinks, there is only room for one Herring Gull here.

On the other side of the lake, another Herring Gull was playing the traditional game of pushing a round stone up the sloping concrete edge and letting it roll down again.

The Black-Headed Gull who, as we now know, has migrated all the way from Reading was preening on a post at the Vista.

Under the line of posts, a female Pochard gave me a serious stare. They have beautiful markings in a quiet way.

The odd couple of a Canada-Greylag hybrid and a Greylag were together on the shore of the Lido swimming area. The hybrid is not the sibling of the goose that is unsteady on its feet. According to someone who has been watching them closely for years, the six hybrids that regularly visit the lake belong to three different broods.

All three Coal Tits in the leaf yard came down to be fed. Even in this mild weather the small birds are very hungry, a sign that the supply of insects is drying up. Now is the time when they really need feeding to get through the winter.

There was a Wren in a bush on the other side of the Long Water. There are several families of them along this side of the lake, where the fenced-off shrubbery provides a quiet home.

And its Christmas partner was on a nearby bush. The tradition is easy to understand: Robins and Wrens are the most noticeable small birds at this time of year (unless you are in the habit of feeding tits, so that they come out in mobs when they see you).