There was an injured Mute Swan bleeding profusely on the Serpentine. Hugh Smith, the Wildlife Officer, had already been alerted and was trying to catch it, but it was not in a mood to be caught and stayed firmly out of the way.

Hugh thought that the injury was caused by a crash landing, not a dog attack, and that it was more messy than serious. (Update: but see below.) But he wanted to check, so we asked the people at Bluebird Boats to help catch it.

But by the time we'd fetched the boat, the swan had gone under the chains and under the bridge into the Long Water, and it took so long to undo the rusty shackle securing the chain that by then the swan had parked itself in an unreachable place.

It isn't badly hurt and will almost certainly recover by itself, but if Hugh manages to get near it tomorrow he will examine it and decide what to do. (By the way, the chains are there to stop pedalos from going on to the Long Water and disturbing the wildfowl.)

Update: the swan has now been caught and taken for treatment.

Second update: Hugh has found bite marks on the neck, indicating a dog attack. See Twitter here. Shame on the vile dog owners who let their pets off the leash near the lake, against park regulations and common humanity.

The eldest of the three young Grey Herons in the nest was flapping its large wings. The flight feathers are coming along well, but it isn't airworthy yet.

Late yesterday afternoon, when the sun had gone round and the light on the nest was better, Virginia got this dramatic picture of the young birds squabbling over a bit of raw pork fillet that they had been fed. This picture comes with a warning that feeding herons is unnecessary and can be dangerous when there are young nestlings, as it exposes them to predation by Carrion Crows.

An adult heron thought that that there was a chance of a fish under one of the water spouts of the Italian Garden.

The Great Crested Grebes at the east end of the island displayed at their nest site. But they are not yet paying much attention to making a nest, and only a few twigs remain from their last building session.

The white Mallard is very territorial about the corner of the reed bed where his ménage à trois hang out. The spare drake in the trio supports him.

The Mandarins are still at Peter Pan. The females are among the most elegant of female ducks.

A Grey Wagtail ran along the shore at the Lido.

A Carrion Crow was gathering various bits of fluff to line its nest. Owners of hairy dogs often comb their pets in the park, and the combings are sought after by several species of bird.

A Long-Tailed Tit perched on a branch in the Dell.

Above it, all was going well in the Mistle Thrush nest. The picture is always much the same, as there's only one place you can see the nest from, but it's good to know how the bird is doing.

A Robin looked out from fresh new leaves in the Rose Garden.

I went to St James's Park to try to find the Tawny Owl and the owlet, but the wind had got up and they were not visible. Probably they were huddled against a trunk, which mkes them hard to spot. So here is another fine picture by Stephen Young, taken earlier.

While I was there I did get pictures of tits in a flowering forsythia bush. A Great Tit ...

... and a Coal Tit posed obligingly ...

... but a Blue Tit wouldn't come out from behind the twigs.