Autumn colour on a grey day

Even the most ordinary pictures are lifted by a background of bright autumn leaves. A Great Tit perched in a poplar by the Long Water.

One of a pair of Coal Tits at the bridge, photographed by Ahmet Amerikali.

The familiar Robin appeared in his usual bush in the Rose Garden ...

... and the one at Mount Gate came out from the bushes when called, looking expectant.

A Jackdaw at the Triangle appealed for a peanut. It seems extraordinary now that when they returned to the park a few years ago you couldn't get within fifty yards of them.

A Magpie posed on the peculiar twigs of a winged elm.

A young Herring Gull on the Serpentine made off with a conker.

Two Common Gulls on the gravel strip at the Round Pond, filmed yesterday in a sunny spell. Despite the name there are never many of these, and they trickle in one by one in late autumn and leave early.

The Grey Heron at the Lido caught a small perch: another picture by Ahmet.

A Great Crested Grebe examined a fallen leaf.

A slightly better picture of the huge Canada Goose barging another out of the way by the boathouses. Perhaps you need a video to give a proper impression of his size.

The Egyptian pair in the Italian Garden stood in front of what was originally a clump of irises, but has now been almost completely taken over by common reed and reed mace. Evidently the seeds were brought in stuck to the feet of the Coots nesting there. Another iris clump has been invaded by great willowherb.

A Tufted drake newly in his smart breeding plumage preened his feathers on the Serpentine.

On a drizzly day I didn't expect to see any bees, but there was a Common Carder on the patch of lavender at the southeast corner of the Serpentine ...

... and a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee on the bog sage at the Diana fountain.

The enormous Caucasian elm in the Rose Garden is on the turn.

Hydro Cleansing marked Hallowe'en by sending one of their more ghoulish lorries to clear a blocked drain.