On a grey and slightly drizzly day, I went round the park with Johanna van de Woestijne, who made the videos of the park birds that have been featured on this blog. We were lucky enough to see the female Little Owl preening in the chestnut tree near the leaf yard. The owls have a tendency to hide when there are visitors.

The Black Swan also appeared at the Vista with the adopted cygnet, lured by the prospect of being fed.

The young Mute Swans from the nest on the raft at the east end of the Serpentine are now hulking teenagers with well developed wings. Johanna caught one of them having a flap. They have completely trashed the plants around their nest, but are still pulling up the remains.

Johanna also got this pleasing close-up of a Moorhen feeding some tiny brownish invertebrate to a chick.

The Great Crested Grebe families were as active as ever. Here is a chick being fed on the Long Water.

And here is one nipping briskly across the path of a Mute Swan.

Two Feral Pigeons were bathing in the marble fountain in the Italian Garden.

At the Dell restaurant there are Starlings around the clock.

A young Herring Gull was playing with a stick in the Serpentine, while another eyed the toy enviously.

The people at Bluebird Boats, who have all enjoyed Johanna's videos, kindly gave us a trip round the island in a powerboat. I wanted a closer look at the Tufted Ducks resting here, in the hope of seeing the duckling, which has not been seen since a distant and uncertain glimpse on Thursday. But sadly there was no sign of it.

However, we did get a good view of the Coot chicks from the nest in the boathouse.

A giant bubble blown by some people on a pedalo drifted across the island.