A gap in the water plants made it possible to see that the Great Crested Grebes at the island really are building a nest.

This is far too early to succeed, of course. But this pair have already nested in spring several times, which is what grebes normally do but seldom succeeds in the park, where the supply of small fish for the chicks is inadequate till late summer. However, they did manage to get one early chick through last year.

Two Cormorants were quarrelling on a fallen tree in the Long Water. The one on the left, which was smaller, was pushed off.

A young Herring Gull found a floating stick at the Lido ...

... and took it up to a height to play drop-catch ...

... but was chased by another gull which wanted it.

(These pictures were taken within seconds of each other -- the backgrounds are different because the sky was partly cloudy.)

A Common Gull glided effortlessly low over the Round Pond.

A pair of Shovellers fed peacefully together ...

... and a Tufted Duck gleamed in the sunshine.

The shallow water in front of the Peter Pan statue makes it easy to watch Tufted Ducks diving to collect small water creatures.

There is always a family of Moorhens poking around at the edge of the Vista. They had a nest in a bush, and this blog has had pictures of the chicks as they grew up.

A daily routine: the white-faced Blackbird perches on a branch to get noticed, then flies down under a bush and waits to be given some sultanas, which she collects and eats. You can hear the Italian Garden fountains in the background.

Some of the Blue Tits are sleek and smart ...

... and some of them are really scruffy. It's not this one's fault: it has lost a foot and can't preen the feathers on its head.

But it was coping very well, and flying around with a group of Long-Tailed Tits.