The Scaup at the Round Pond came in to the shore, allowing a closer look at his developing male plumage. He is already growing white feathers on his side, in a similar pattern to that of a male Tufted Duck. Unlike a Tufted Duck, he will have a black and white vermiculated pattern on his back, which is at present restricted to his shoulders but will spread.

This female Pochard on the Serpentine shows the same vermiculated plumage, but it extends to her sides.

The two species are related: the Scaup is Aythya marila and the Pochard is Aythya ferina. A Scaup is slightly larger than a Pochard, and a lot larger than a Tufted Duck, though you hardly notice this when they are alone.

The crowd of Shovellers feeding on the Long Water had attracted several Black-Headed Gulls hanging around to see is some food would turn up for them to snatch.

That seems unlikely, since Shovellers scoop up tiny water creatures too small for a gull to notice. But possibly the shovelling action stirs up larger things. You would not expect a bird as intelligent as a gull to waste its time.

The young Mute Swan was still in the Italian Garden, hauling up some of the thick mat of algae on the bottom of the pond. While it is there, this is its only food unless people come to give it bread. It seems to be doing all right on the monotonous diet.

A shaft of sunlight caught a Moorhen walking across the top of the waterfall in the Dell.

Out on the Serpentine, another Moorhen was ruffled by the chilly east wind as it ran to avoid being knocked over by a wave.

The male Tawny Owl didn't emerge until it was getting dark.

This is the new gravel bank that is taking shape on the east side of the Vista. While the workmen were taking a day off, a fox sleeping among the half-cleared debris woke up and scratched its chin with a hind foot.

The bank is separated from the shore by a channel a few feet wide, which may help to make wading birds feel more secure if they visit it. But a fox could jump it without getting its feet wet.

There was a pair of Great Black-Backed Gulls across the lake from Peter Pan. This is the first time that I've seen two adults in the park. They might be the parents of the second-year Great Black-Back that is a regular visitor to the Long Water.

A bunch of Common Gulls were chasing one that had taken a bit of Arab bread that was being dispensed on the edge of the Serpentine. A Black-Headed Gull joined in, without a hope of making the larger bird drop its food.

There were also two Great Spotted Woodpeckers in the trees north of the Orangery. I saw one of them and took a hasty and distant shot, then tried to creep up on it hidden by a dense evergreen oak. But at soon as I put my head round the edge it was away, and then there were two of them chasing each other through the trees.

There was a small flock of Goldfinches nearby.

I think the number of these is increasing. A few years ago you hardly ever saw one in the park, although they were a common sight in the streets, twittering on television aerials.

The Scaup was still on the Round Pond. It has been here for a month now.

The male Tawny Owl was in his usual place, windblown but fast asleep and taking no notice of visitors on the ground.

Again, there was a Pied Wagtail running along the south edge of the Serpentine ...

... and the young Grey Wagtail at the Lido.

Grey Wagtails are a bit larger than Pied, and have remarkably long tails. The two species are hard to tell apart as they fly undulatingly overhead, unless you can see a flash of yellow. They have similar two-note flight songs, but the Pied Wagtail calls 'zee-vit' and the Grey call is more like 'zee-zee'.

A few sunny spells had brought the Little Owl to the front of its hole in the oak tree, where several people were photographing it. It soon lost interest in this and gazed around.

Only one Little Owl has been seen so far. There was a pair here last year, and the other may well turn up.

The male Tawny Owl was out all day, guarding his mate and their nest.

The patch of leafmould under the plane trees on the opposite side of the path is regularly attracting Redwings.

It is also much visited by Blackbirds. Clearly there are plenty of insects and worms here. The gardeners are now spreading leafmould under the frail old sweet chestnut trees which were planted in 1690 when Kensington Gardens was laid out as a palace garden. These patches may also attract thrushes of various kinds.

A Dunnock was feeling quite secure among the beech leaves under the hedge at Kensington Palace, because there was a railing between it and me.

The Scaup was still on the Round Pond.

The Maned Goose seems to have gone. Probably it has been captured -- easy, as it is very tame -- and taken back to whichever park it escaped from.

There were six Jackdaws in their usual place at the northwest corner of the Round Pond. They have all worked out that if they stand on a bench, or the stake supporting a young tree, people will throw food directly under this object so they can jump down and grab it. The gulls can't swoop down on the food because the obstacle gets in the way of their long wings, and they have to land. The Jackdaw can deal with Black-Headed Gulls when they are on the ground.

This gull on the Serpentine had found a large chunk of bread and was having some difficulty in swallowing it. It managed eventually.

The young Grey Wagtail was running along the edge at the Lido again.

This pair of Great Crested Grebes from the north end of the Long Water was having a territorial dispute with the next pair down the lake. The frontier is the line of posts at Peter Pan.

After a frosty night the Shovellers on the Long Water had collected in a dense crowd on the edge of the ice.

The ice had moved one of the Little Grebes to their usual cold-weather place under the willow tree near the Italian Garden.

I think there were two here, but couldn't get a clear sight through the branches.

The Maned Goose at the Round Pond is rather fierce, chasing away any Egyptian Geese that get too near. It doesn't mind me -- there was an Egyptian in front of it when I took this picture.

The Scaup is still there and came close to the edge, annoyingly where the light was behind it.

A pair of Pied Wagtails and the young Grey Wagtail were hunting along the edge of the Lido. This is the female Pied Wagtail,with a grey back. Males have black backs.

A Herring Gull looking for worms in the Italian Garden yawned enormously. Do birds yawn for the same reason as people, and mammals generally? Can a bird be bored?

A small flock of Goldfinches was passing through the trees north of Kensington Palace. This one was singing.

The male Tawny Owl came out on to his usual perch around 3 pm.

I have been asked for a picture of the tree where the second pair of Little Owls have their hole. The easiest way to find it is to start at the north side of the Albert Memorial where the path opens out into the main park. At about 45° to your left -- towards the Round Pond -- you will see a tree stump 2ft 6in tall. Look beyond that stump and you will see the tree, a tall oak among other oaks. The arrow shows the position of the hole.

A Maned Goose has turned up at the Round Pond, and was feeding along with the Egyptian Geese. It is certainly an escape from one of the London parks, since it is an Australian bird.

It is also called the Maned Duck or Australian Wood Duck, since it is one of those waterfowl, like an Egyptian Goose, that doesn't quite fit either category. Its taxonomic name is Chenonetta jubata. It doesn't have much of a mane,  just a patch of dark feathers on the back of its neck that can be raised.

The Scaup was still on the Round Pond, but again right in the middle, and I will spare you the dull picture I took.

Today I met Jeffrey Martin, who studies owls and wrote an article in the August 2014 issue of British Wildlife featuring our own Tawnies. I took him and his wife to see the owl, and the inconsiderate creature, which had been visible earlier, had gone in. So we went to see the Little Owl, who wouldn't look out of the hole.

After they had gone, both birds reappeared.

Well, birdwatching is like that.

The Starlings on the Tawny Owls' tree are stll holding on to their nest hole, though the way this one was clinging close to the entrance seemed to show that they had been having trouble with Ring-Necked Parakeets.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gulls were sharing the male's latest kill next to the Dell restaurant, despite crowds of people and Mute Swans milling around them.

In the little pool at the top of the Dell, a Wren was clinging tightly to a slippery rock to have a drink.

Several more Red-Crested Pochards have reappeared on the Serpentine as mysteriously as they left. They have probably been in Regent's Park, where there are quite a lot of these birds.

The young Grey Wagtail showed up again, after keeping out of sight for weeks. It was running along the edge of the Lido.

The star of today's show was a Song Thrush. It was on the edge of the leaf yard, in a place where half a dozen people were feeding the tits, casually wandering around almost under their feet. These normally very shy birds can become quite bold when no one is paying any attention to them, and the people were so intent on feeding that they didn't notice it was there. Also, there were a lot of worms in the muddy ground, and it pulled up two in two minutes.

This Nuthatch in the leaf yard had other food on its mind, as it was waiting for me to put some pine nuts on the railings.

The beech hedge of the 'Twisty Path' at Kensington Palace is full of Blackbirds, Tits, Robins, Wrens and several Dunnocks, of which this is one, excellently camouflaged among the fallen leaves.

The Scaup was still on the Round Pond, and annoyingly in the exact centre so that he had to be photographed from a considerable distance. It is very easy to miss him entirely, and I did the first time I went past the pond.

A pair of Moorhens have taken possession of the floating skip near Peter Pan, and chase off gulls that dare to land on it.

The Little Owl was in the same hole in the oak tree near the bicycle path in Kensington Gardens. You have to wait a few minutes for it to come and look out of the hole.

The male Tawny Owl was very late to emerge from his tree. After several failures, I went back after half past four, when it was nearly dark. On the way I found some Redwings, one of which was also pulling up a late worm.

And the owl was there at last. You could hardly see him, let alone get a reasonable picture. But the day wouldn't have been complete without a sight of this splendid bird.