The rowan trees on Buck Hill have been stripped bare. A solitary Blackbird was looking for fallen fruit on the grass underneath.

There was also a Jay, which is often here because it has buried a lot of hazelnuts in the turf.

A Magpie enjoyed a bath in the fountain in the Rose Garden, which provides a shower as well as water to splash in.

Members of the crow family, such as this Carrion Crow, generally like bathing in short bursts, and then coming out to shake themselves dry before going back into the water.

A Pied Wagtail ran up and down the ridge of the roof of one of the small boathouses on the Serpentine. Maybe it was looking for insects among the slates below ...

... whose rough, lichen-encrusted surface must harbour a lot of them.

Later it was joined by a Black-Headed Gull and a Grey Heron, but didn't seem worried by these larger birds.

Pied Wagtails can take off with amazing speed, as they need to when catching flying insects, and this givces them confidence.

The female Little Owl near the leaf yard looked out of the hole in the chestnut tree.

Grey Herons were circling over the Serpentine, idly chasing each other.

A Black-Headed Gull was interested in a branch which had fallen into the lake, and chewed the twigs for several minutes for no apparent reason.

The Black Swan preened in the shadows under the bridge.

A Gadwall drake showed off his intricate pattern.

There is a particularly fine red Japanese maple next to the bridge.

I keep hoping that a bird will perch in it to make a pretty picture, but they don't seem to like the thin twigs and feathery little leaves, or maybe these don't attract edible insects.