The Little Owl calls

After yesterday's sunshine it was a dim day, but the female Little Owl had still come out on the end of the branch.

She called to her mate, who in this video can just be heard answering from a tree some distance away.

He stopped calling before I could find the tree, though I did look around. In a tree that he sometimes uses a pair of Rose-Ringed Parakeets huddled together against the cold.

Meanwhile the top of the nest tree was occupied by an Egyptian Goose and the female owl went back in.

The Magpie pair at the Steiner bench were waiting together.

The female Peregrine on the tower was hugely fluffed up to stay warm. It must be very chilly up there.

The Grey Heron on the island kept up its vigil on the tree next to its mate in the nest.

Another perched on a fallen tree in the Long Water near the Italian Garden.

The Long Water is full of trees that have fallen in from the bank. Health and safety regulations make it impossibly expensive to remove them, so they remain as convenient perches and nesting places for all kinds of birds. A Cormorant stared from a fallen Lombardy poplar at Peter Pan. I was near this tree when it fell over on a windy day a few years ago, but luckily it went the other way.

The Great Crested Grebe pair from the west end of the Serpentine island were fishing together.

It seems from the pairs I've seen that the very dark colouring, and keeping colour through the winter, occur only in males. I don't know whether this is a true observation or just chance.

A Coot washed, flapped and preened on the edge of the Serpentine.

By the time I got to Mount Gate on my way home the light was very bad but there were plenty of small birds, including several Blue Tits ...

... and a Coal Tit. Neil tells me that this is the male of a pair that were here last year and he has lost his mate.

There was just one Jay today.

A Robin came out of the bushes to be fed.

So did a male Chaffinch, very bright and active in spite of the sad state of its feet ...

... which have been affected the virus even more badly than those of the male that regularly chases me from the Flower Walk to the Round Pond.

Incidentally, the mate of this Chaffinch has perfectly clean feet. Maybe some Chaffinches have developed an immunity. This has certainly happened in Greenfinches, which were hit by a respiratory infection several years ago but have now bounced back and are quite common in the park again.

Work continues on hosing and scrubbing the roof of the Magazine restaurant. It's a large area and takes a lot of work.