It rained almost continuously. The small birds were hungry and flocked out from shelter to collect pine nuts. The familiar Robin in the Rose Garden waited impatiently on a dripping teasel.
The male Chaffinch ...
... was with his mate, whom I haven't seen for some time. I could only get a hasty shot of her in the top of the catalpa tree.
There were several Blue Tits ...
... and one of the Coal Tits followed me round the garden, taking pine nuts all the way, caching them, and returning at once for more.
A Great Tit perched in the red leaves of a euonymus bush by the bridge.
The Peregrines on the Knightsbridge Barracks tower are now spending most of their time elsewhere, and Carrion Crows have moved in to fly around and perch on the complicated antennae on the top.
A bit of rain doesn't put Pigeon Eater off his hunting or his meals.
Someone dining under the canopy of the Dell resturant had unwisely thrown a crust to a passing Black-Headed Gull, and the result was chaos.
More Cormorants had left, leaving the fallen poplar at the Vista free for Black-Headed Gulls.
The Grey Heron at the Lido can now fish on the ramp undisturbed.
Rain brings Moorhens into the Italian Garden to look for stranded larvae in the joints of the paving.
Several Great Crested Grebes have arrived on the Serpentine, perhaps six though it's hard to separate them from the residents. Here are three, including a teenager already able to fly.
One of the resident grebes from the east end of the lake advanced on them threateningly, making territorial noises.
The young Egyptian Goose is walking much better, though still with a slight limp.
The single young Mute Swan is now usually seen with its father, who is determined to protect it from the killer swan. So far I haven't seen a clash.
The Black Swan on the Round Pond saw some people who might feed him, and approaached hopefully. He was not disappointed.
The Victorian neo-Gothic spire of Spire House in the Bayswater Road could be seen above the autumn leaves.
Yes, I was holding the camera straight and it does lean to the west. This is the remnant of the former Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, built in 1855 to the plans of F. & H. Francis, but deconsecrated in 1977 and partly demolished. A block of flats built in 1983 now occupies the site of the nave, and it may be the only modern building to have flying buttresses. You can see it here.
The caption to the picture includes the sad note: 'The tall spire is visible from a considerable distance ... and is often mistaken for the stylistically similar spire of St Matthew's, Bayswater (farther to the west) -- to the sadness and annoyance of the current incumbent of St Matthew's, who sees in Spire House a melancholy symbol of the decline of Christianity in Britain.'
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