The female Blackbird of the pair in the Dell paused on the railings with a beakful of nesting material before flying off to a tree I couldn't see.

The Song Thrush near the bridge was in particularly fine form today.

A Robin was singing fit to bust on a twig with leaf shoots emerging. It was too close to the noisy fountains of the Italian Garden to make a video with sound.

A Magpie posed in some pretty pink new leaves in the Rose Garden.

A Carrion Crow waited to be fed on the railings at Peter Pan.

A few years ago Charlie and Melissa used to come here for food, and would sidle along the railings to take a peanut from your hand, but this crow is still quite shy. For some reason Charlie and Melissa moved their territory steadily clockwise round the Long Water, are are now on the far side of the bridge in Hyde Park.

There was a Grey Wagtail on the shore at the east end of the Serpentine. This is near the place where a pair usually nests, under the little plank bridge across the Dell waterfall, so with luck we should have them there this year.

There are now two pairs of Great Crested Grebes in this area, neither of which has found a nest site. They were keeping well apart to avoid a fight, but the pairs were displaying to each other to assert their territorial rights.

The grebe at the island who had stolen a Coot's nest looked wary as its rightful owner passed, but soon settled down again.

The Coot nest in the reed bed east of the Lido has grown to a considerable size, thanks to its owners' unstoppable building urge.

The Moorhen nesting on the rock in the stream in the Dell had gone ashore to find food, and was prowling about in the undergrowth. This allowed a view of the nest. There are no eggs in it yet.

Every year a pair of Mute Swans make a nest at the west end of the reed bed under the Diana fountain. It is a hopelessly exposed place, and they never succeed in breeding. But there are so few places for swans to nest that they get desperate.

Before feeling too sorry for the swans, remember that their numbers on the lake are steadily increasing, and it is already crowded.

The little group of Red Crested Pochards is still on the Serpentine, one female and four drakes. She seems to prefer one of them, and was sharing a bit of weed that he had dredged up.

There were two Mandarin drakes and one female in the oak tree near the Albert Memorial where the Little Owls' hole is. The Mandarins' nest hole is in the adjoining plane tree. No doubt the female Mandarin will disappear into it soon to start nesting.