It was a windy day, and the young Egyptian Geese at the Round Pond had huddled up to their mother to keep warm.

The Little Grebe was bouncing up and down on the choppy waves on the pond.

A pair of Shovellers had come across the lake to Peter Pan and were circling together.

A Pied Wagtail was looking for insects in the lichen on the roof of one of the small boathouses, taking care to stay on the downwind side.

The two Jackdaws were still on the north shore of the Serpentine. One of them was trotting around in the sand of the horse path in the hope of finding something edible, though it soon abandoned it and went back to the grass.

The yew tree between Peter Pan and the Italian Garden was full of Ring-Necked Parakeets eating berries, leaping about with such vigour that it frightened away the Blackbirds.

They had to hold on to the soft yew branches with both feet, so that they couldn't use one foot to hold the berry. As a result, they dropped a lot of them.

The Little Owl was not to be seen and was probably sheltering from the wind in the nest tree. His usual branch was whipping about and would have been a most uncomfortable perch.

But the male Tawny Owl had found a good spot against the trunk of the beech tree and was looking quite comfortable while the leaves thrashed around him.

Two of the Jackdaws from Kensington Gardens have ventured into Hyde Park. They were among a flock of Greylag Geese on the flat area where the Olympic stand was, busily picking yellowish grubs out of the ground.

This is a male Ring-Necked Parakeet showing off his fine pink and black neck ring. There are several subspecies of Ring-Necked Parakeet, and to be more precise this one, Psitaccula krameri manillensis, ought to be called a Rose-Ringed Parakeet.

The Egyptian Geese on the Round Pond still have all eight young, which are growing visibly larger. They were on an open stretch of grass holding their own among the throng of Black-Headed Gulls and Starlings.

On the edge of the pond, two Canada Geese were amicably sharing an apple.

The Little Grebe was still there, fishing around the wooden platform.

The male Tawny Owl came out on top of his nest tree in mid-afternoon, ignoring the gusty wind that blew his feathers about, and also ignoring a couple of Jays squawking at him.

The male Little Owl was also in his usual place for some time, but vanished when the wind got up.

This mushroom is the Pholiota squarrosa that was shown here on Saturday. It has grown a lot during past few days.

It is slightly poisonous, though bold people do eat after soaking it in a solution of baking soda for two hours and blanching it in boiling water for three minutes before frying it, which is said to remove the poisonous substances. But even then you must not drink alcohol when eating it, or you will be as sick as a dog.

There were 22 Red Crested Pochards on the east side of the Long Water, the most I have ever seen in the park.

Once classified as escapes from collections, they are now established as a British breeding species, and their numbers are increasing.

As the young Great Crested Grebes grow up and their parents fad into winter plumage, they are looking more like each other.

In this family group, the front bird is an adult female who has lost almost all the red-brown feathers from her neck -- there will still be a faint smudge here all winter until her ruff grows again. The one on the right is an adult male, still in breeding plumage. The one at the back is a juvenile, with a grown-up black crest but still with stripes on its face and neck. These will fade out over the next few months.

The Little Grebe is still on the Round Pond, fishing near the platform.

The Egyptian Geese still have their eight young.

For some weeks an adult and juvenile Moorhen have been sharing a perch on the netting around the reed bed at the east end of the Serpentine.

Farther up the shore, another Moorhen was exploring a bread bag to see if it contained any crumbs.

Although bread is not good for birds, at least this is wholemeal. Ideally, people feeding the ducks, geese and swans should bring some kind of grain or a purpose-made wildfowl food. But in fact the birds on the lake are so used to being given bread that they don't recognise this healthy stuff as edible, and ignore it. The only iron rule is you should never give bread to young Egyptian Geese, as it makes them liable to develop 'angel wing'.

The young Grey Wagtail was hunting insects in its favourite place near the Lido.

It's a good place for pictures too, as you can walk out on the jetty and get an angled view.

There are still a few dahlias in the Sunken Garden, and some bumble bees to enjoy them.

None of the owls was visible today. It was windy, and they don't like that.

Sorry for the late appearance of today's post. Blogger has been having technical difficulties.

There are the two Jays -- I suppose a pair -- who follow me around the leaf yard and the owl trees demanding peanuts. One, and sometimes both, of them will fly down to snatch a nut from my fingers without stopping, a feat we both enjoy.

Another pair: the Mandarins were perched side by side on a post at Peter Pan, looking very affectionate. The other male Mandarins are still trying to bust up the happy couple.

And yet another. There was the sad caracase of a Feral Pigeon on the shore near the Dell restaurant, reduced to just a backbone, wings and feet. Above this, in their usual place on the restaurant roof, the pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gulls were resting side by side after a heavy meal.

The holly trees near the southwest corner of the bridge, which have a rich crop of berries, were full of Wood Pigeons climbing down the twigs, flapping to keep their balance, falling off and flying back again. They are not graceful birds, but their feeding strategy is very successful.

The male Tawny Owl was in his usual place on the horse chestnut tree above the pair's nest hole. He was stocially enduring the flies, and the screeches of Jays and Ring-Necked Parakeets protesting at his presence. One Jay flew straight at him and made him duck. Even a Blackbird was chipping indignantly.

The male Little Owl, also in his nest tree, was having a much quieter time. He gets mobbed by parakeets too, but these were all away bothering the Tawny Owl.

The tree just to the left of the one that has the wasps' nest on it, near the northeast corner of the bridge, has a handsome orange fungus on it.

I think it is Gymnopilus spectabilis, formerly known as Pholiota spectabilis. There was another fungus higher up the tree which looked different, but in fact it is the same thing in a later stage of development. If I am right about the species, it grows quite large.

Update: Mario points out that it is Pholiota squarrosa.

The large yew bush between Peter Pan and the Italian Garden now has a large crop of ripe berries. These had attracted a couple of Blackbirds.

This one is an immature male, hatched this year, as you can see from the subdued colour of his beak. It is impossible to tell whether he is a migrant or from a brood of the park's resident Blackbirds.

There were also several tits here, though they had come to eat insects rather than berries. A Great Tit stared expectantly at me from a twig, expecting to be fed.

And there was a tiny Coal Tit -- the second one I have seen in two days after complaining about how few there were.

The Egyptian Geese on the Round Pond still have all eight young. Their parents had just chivvied them into the rather messy water on the lee side of the pond and were keeping a lookout in either direction as someone passed with a dog on a lead. Careful parents keep their babies alive.

The Little Grebe was still there, fishing busily near the wooden platform. It spends three quarters of its time submerged and, being very small, is easy to overlook.

On the Serpentine a young Great Crested Grebe was preening its shining white underside. The brilliance of its plumage makes the bird less noticeable to fish when it is on the surface.

The male Tawny Owl was out in his usual place in the nest tree by 4 pm. He was still having trouble with flies on quite a warm day, but they will be gone soon.

And the male Little Owl was also in his usual place on the chestnut tree.

More information on large gulls killing Feral Pigeons: a friend reports that she saw a Herring Gull seize and kill a pigeon in the Piazza San Marco in Venice. It was during an acqua alta, a high tide that had flooded the square to a depth of a few inches. The gull's legs were long enough for it to wade on the pavement, so it had a secure foothold as it drowned its victim.

Both the Little Owls were out in their nest tree today, sitting a few feet apart but too far away for a good shot of the pair. So here is the male, who was preening himself ...

... and the female, who tolerated our intrusion quite well for once and did not fly away.

The male Tawny Owl was also in his nest tree, troubled by flies landing on him. Occasionally he would shake them off, but they would return in a few seconds, attracted by the warmth.

There were two different wagtails in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, looking for insects on the old limestone pavement. This is a Pied Wagtail ...

... and this is a Grey Wagtail, which has has just caught something.

Coal Tits have been rather hard to see this year, with none coming to be fed beside the leaf yard. You could only hear their distinctive iambic song, which continued right to the end of September. So it was a surprise to find a pair leaping around in the trees near the Lido. They were too high up for a good picture, but I am publishing this one just because I was glad to see them.

The Little Grebe was still on the Round Pond, fishing busily in the middle. On the wooden platform that is the grebe's usual haunt, a Black-Headed Gull was eating chunks of watermelon with evident enjoyment.

Its meal was interrupted by a pair of Canada Geese which drove it off and finished the watermelon themselves. This fruit got a much better reception than the salad I photographed a few days ago, which gulls and geese both tried but didn't eat. Perhaps the vinegar in the dressing put them off.

A Cormorant was fishing inside the semicircular wall under the marble fountain the the Italian Garden. It was fairly hauling out perch. Here it tosses one to turn it round, because a perch's spiny dorsal fin obliges even a Cormorant to swallow it head first.

Today's blog is done in a bit of a rush, because I have been summoned to the BBC to do an interview on Radio Five Live about the pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull. If everything goes to plan it will be airing some time after 6 pm.

The gull himself was taking it easy on the roof of the Dell restaurant, in the same place as in yesterday's picture.

And this is the reason he likes this spot: a heaving mass of Feral Pigeons on the tarmac just below. As you can see, it is quite easy for him to run in and grab any that have not been able to take off in time.

The pair of Mandarins at Peter Pan have become very familiar, and now come out of the water when they see me, expecting to be fed.

If any pigeons should try to interfere, they get the bum's rush.

The east side of the Long Water is now wall-to-wall Pochard. The is just one Tufted Duck and one Red-Crested Pochard in this crowd.

The Shovellers are most up at the north end of the Long Water, but this solitary drake had come out on to the Serpentine and was resting near the edge. Shovellers are generally rather shy, but this one was taking no notice of the passing people.

Two Nuthatches appeared at the southwest corner of the leaf yard, a place where two pairs bred this year. This is one of the pair that nested in the old chestnut tree just inside the railings.

I didn't have time to wait for the Tawny Owl to come out today. But the male Little Owl was in his nest tree, in a slightly more secluded spot than usual.