Stock doves are normally shy and stay up in trees when people are around. But beside the Rudolf Steiner bench, among a lot of ordinary Feral Pigeons, here was one poking around on the path. At first I thought it had to be an unusually coloured Feral Pigeon, but it has all the markings of a Stock Dove, and the distinctive dark eyes and thin bill.

In the Flower Walk, the gardeners were digging up a flower bed. Freshly turned earth is a magnet for Robins, which like to search the clods for exposed earthworms, and sure enough one came out.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull had been away from his usual hunting ground at the Dell restaurant for several days, but today he was back, as hungry as ever. Several wary pigeons flew away as soon as he started creeping up on him, so he had to content himself with a comforting preening session. I'm sure he managed to catch one eventually.

A new gull toy: this young Herring Gull was amusing itself by dropping a round plane tree fruit on to the concrete slope at the edge of the lake, and watching it roll down into the water.

When a Grey Heron stares directly at you, so you are seeing its long bill head on, it looks oddly like its distant relative the Brontosaurus. This one was on the Serpentine island.

Part of the Lombardy poplar tree next to Peter Pan has fallen into the lake, and a couple of Canada Geese were examining the debris.

One of the young Great Crested Grebes from the nest on the other fallen poplar was fishing by itself on the Serpentine. But it must have missed its prey, because it came up with nothing but a strand of algae and a twig.

The male Little Owl was sitting high up in this year's nest tree, in a place where I haven't seen him before before. I might have missed him, but he called loudly to his mate ...

... who was preening herself in the next tree.

Some Cormorants were fishing together in the lake, and Black-Headed Gulls were swooping over them and picking objects up from the water.

At first I thought they were snatching fish from the Cormorants, but that seemed unlikely, as Cormorants swallow fish very fast as they surface, and are too large for a small gull to attack safely. But a closer picture, in this case of a gull dropping one, shows that they are the same mysterious objects that I photographed on 21 July.

David Element told me that they are 'rat-tailed maggots', the larvae of a hoverfly (any of several Eristalis species). The larva hangs down from the surface of the water and the long 'tail' is in fact a siphon through which it breathes. It is a very big larva for an insect that is only the size of a wasp.

The Great Crested Grebe family from the fallen poplar, which had come out on to the Serpentine, really were having trouble with gulls, and the parents were passing fish to the chicks underwater to keep them from getting grabbed.

The Egyptian Geese who had two broods at the Round Pond earlier this year are at it again. The nest is always in the same oak tree on the north side of the pond, which has a large split in its hollow trunk. The nesting bird has blocked up the bottom of the split with dead leaves and twigs, and can be seen indistinctly above them, with her brown eye patch visible as she peers out at me.

The familiar female Pied Wagtail had left the rainy Lido restaurant terrace and was perched on the odd blue plastic landscape of a group of moored pedalos, darting out at passing insects.

The rowan trees on Buck Hill were full of Starlings dashing about and chattering as they ate berries.

There is a yew tree next at the side of the Vista where the Henry Moore sculpture is, and it has a wonderful crop of berries. You would expect it to the full of Blackbirds and Mistle Thrushes, but in fact the only bird present was this Great Tit, interested in insects rather than berries.

In spite of the drizzle, both Little Owls were out. The female was on last year's nest tree, getting quite wet ...

... and the male was sheltering under the canopy of this year's tree.

A Cetti's Warbler was singing from the bushes at the back of the Lido restaurant. A little later I heard one singing from the usual place near the bridge. I really think we do have two males, and it is not just the same one moving about. Also, the pair near the bridge were seen carrying nesting materials, and I saw three Cetti's near the Lido, so we may even have two families. They are residents and don't migrate. It may be possible to see more when the leaves fall.

The young Great Crested Grebes at the north end of the Long Water are now catching their own fish quite often ...

... but they are still being fed by their parents.

The parents chose their nest site in the reeds wisely, as it is only a short distance away from the apparently inexhaustible stock of fish under the marble fountain of the Italian Garden, which not even the constant raids of Cormorants can deplete.

The Moorhens that nested in the old drain near the bridge have also done well to get three chicks fledged. The shelter of the reeds here contributed to their survival. Here are the teenagers on the other side of the bridge.

One of the Cormorants on the Long Water was washing itself in a characteristically frantic way, throwing up clouds of spray.

There are groups of Red Crested Pochards cruising all over the Long Water. The drakes are now in their full regalia with the tall ginger coiffure that gives them their name, though it is not really a crest.

A little flight of Mallards circled around the Italian Garden.

The drakes, in their fine new breeding plumage, are already constantly pursuing females although they can't start nesting till next spring.

Now that bathing has stopped at the Lido, the local Pied Wagtail can use the railings on the jetty as a station for leaping out to catch passing flies.

A Robin was staring imaptiently at me from a tree near the Italian Garden, waiting to be fed.

The female Little Owl was in the same place as yesterday.

Now very calm about photographers, she seldom bothers to look down unless there are several people talking under her tree. Little yappy dogs also get her attention, so that you actually want someone with a Jack Russell to go past -- not at all a usual situation when birdwatching.

It was a grey and slightly misty day after the recent fine weather, and autumn is well advanced. A Robin was looking unusually inconspicuous among some fallen leaves.

The rowan trees on Buck Hill had only one customer, a Blackbird.

There was a whirling mob of crows cawing loudly above a tree at the bottom of the hill. I went to see if anything  in the tree had set them off -- there is always the hope of an owl -- but there was nothing to be found.

The female Little Owl was in this year's nest tree. She found being photographed rather boring.

A Magpie was bathing in the lake near the Diana fountain, and hopped up on to the fence to dry and preen its feathers, showing off its iridescent blue wings and green tail.

There were plenty of weekend visitors at the Lido restaurant, and the familiar Pied Wagtail was skittering about under their feet. She has become a favourite of the staff.

The number of Shovellers on the Long Water has gone back up to four.

Two of the young Great Crested Grebes were cruising around busily near the Italian Garden looking for fish. When their mother turned up they didn't beg to be fed, but all three went fishing together.

This elegant caterpillar was chewing the edge off a leaf near the Leaf Yard. I was there with Wendy, who runs the excellent Wino Wendy's Wildlife World blog.

Neither of us knew what it was, but she whipped out her smartphone and put a picture of it on a forum she belongs to. Within five minutes the answer came back: it was the caterpillar of a Knot Grass moth, Acronicta rumicis. Much impressed by this display of efficiency by all concerned.

The Shovellers come and go mysteriously. They must be migrating through here to somewhere else, perhaps the Wetland Centre in Barnes or a reservoir in the western suburbs. For a few days there has been just one on the Long Water, a drake still regrowing his breeding plumage. Here he is having a vigorous wash.

He finished it off with a furious flap, displaying his iridescent green secondary feathers.

A little flight of Mallards -- three drakes chasing a female -- came down on a pond in the Italian Garden.

The Great Crested Grebe family from the fallen poplar went under the bridge and on to the Serpentine, where their parents were busy feeding them.

To get here they had to go through the territory of the pair of grebes near the bridge, and I heard angry cries as I went up to take this picture from the parapet.

One of the teenage grebes on the Long Water had caught a fish for itself under the balustrade of the Italian Garden.

But they are not yet skilled enough to catch all their food, and are still begging from their parents.

The Egyptians at the Lido have lost four of their brood since yesterday, probably to Herring Gulls. Just one is left, the blond one. It will be lucky to survive.

One of the Grey Herons likes to perch in the top of a small willow tree near the Triangle car park. This would be no use as a fishing strategy, and it's a long way from a thicket where there might be rats, so evidently it is looking out for humans with bags that might contain food.

After yesterday's display of affection, the Little Owls were in separate trees. This is the female on last year's nest tree ...

... and here is the male on this year's tree.

But they were calling to each other in a companionable way from time to time.

The two Little Owls were side by side in this year's nest tree, preening each other and looking very affectionate. The female owl, bigger than her mate, is on the left of this picture.

Jim had put a coffee jar lid full of peanuts on a spike of the railings of the leaf yard, and was doing a roaring trade with at least three Nuthatches which were coming down again and again.

A pair of Coal Tits was also visiting every minute, taking smaller seeds. They were carrying these away and hiding them in crevices in trees to eat later.

A family of Long-Tailed Tits was crossing the gap in the trees at the Vista. They tend to pause on the brink of an open space to look around for danger, and this makes the restless little birds stay still for the couple of seconds it takes to get a photograph.

A pair of Egyptian Geese at the Lido, with their usual disregard for timing, have hatched a brood of five. The parents were keeping close, because a Herring Gull on the shore was looking at the babies and its intention was clear.

One of the Great Crested Grebes from the nest on the fallen poplar was fishing under the bridge. It caught a perch and set off with it to find one of the youngsters on the Long Water.

On the Serpentine, one of the male Mute Swans was in a particularly stroppy mood. First he chased off a teenager ...

... and then he came back and chased away some adults, one by one, until he had an area the size of a football pitch for himself and his mate. Evidently he was trying to impress her, and probably did.

Today's gull toy is a large mossy stone. This young Herring Gull was playing at dropping it into the water and catching it before it sank out of reach, quite a difficult game. After half a dozen drops it lost the stone and flew away.