Steady rain had turned the ground at the side of the leaf yard into a swamp, and a Moorhen was investigating it for worms.

This Robin at the southeast corner of the leaf yard has now paired up with a mate, though they wouldn't get close enough for a joint portrait.

A Song Thrush perched in a tree on the other side of the leaf yard.

A Wren emerged briefly from the reed bed in front of the Diana fountain.

One of the Little Owls near the Henry Moore sculpture, I think the female, was sitting out in the rain, though she went into the hole when I got closer.

The female little Owl near the Albert Memorial was sheltering at the back of her hole in the oak tree.

One of the Jackdaws at the Italian Garden stood on the balustrade to deal with a peanut.

A pair of Grey Herons were in the lowest nest of the three on the island.

The south shore of the Serpentine near the east end was littered with stones, at least fifty of them, brought up by Herring Gulls. It seems that the adults have caught on to the idea that the stones brought up by young gulls as playthings can have useful food on them, presumably small invertebrates in the algae.

A Black-Headed Gull was copying them, though obviously this stone had been brought up by a bigger gull.

A young Herring Gull had a stone too, but one without much growth on it, and was playing with it.

The pigeon-killing Lesser Black-Backed Gull could take a break from hunting because he and his mate had found a large fish, which they were sharing.

As a contrast to these very grey pictures, here is one from yesterday. Paul Turner was passing the Italian Garden when he saw a Kingfisher in the dead willow tree, and got a good picture of it.

A pair of Mute Swans have started nesting at the west end of the reed bed in front of the Diana fountain. It's not a good place, and in past years several nests here have been attacked by foxes -- though one did succeed.

The Mallards are also feeling that it's that time of year.

Around noon a bitter wind got up, and the Tufted Ducks sheltered in the lee of the electric boat.

Although the supply of fish is clearly low, more Cormorants arrived. There were about twenty on the whole lake. One fishing near the bridge didn't catch anything, gave up, and jumped on to a post to dry.

Another was very undersized, and when it stretched its neck it looked really thin.

A Canada Goose found an apple in the Long Water near Peter Pan and ate it in spite of interference from another goose. Some Black-Headed Gulls watched enviously, looking for a chance to snatch it.

The apple probably came from the leaf yard, where people were feeding them to Rose-Ringed Parakeets. Some other bird would have snatched it, then accidentally dropped it in the water.

There was a feeding frenzy around some bread thrown into the lake, and a gull perched on a young Mute Swan's back to get a better vantage point.

Another had found a hoverfly larva, but was mobbed by other gulls and dropped it.

Several Herring Gulls were doing the worm dance in the Diana fountain enclosure. The young ones are getting better at it, and one pulled up a worm.

The adults can sometimes get a worm every few seconds, probably not because they are dancing better but because they are more skilled at spotting worms between the grass blades.

A Pied Wagtail was hunting bugs on the edge of the Serpentine.

There was a brief glimpse of a Wren in the Rose Garden.

A Robin perched on a bramble near the leaf yard, waiting to be fed.

The female Little Owl near the Albert Memorial was enjoying a sunny spell.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull courteously stood aside to let his mate have a go at the latest kill.

A Herring Gull was pecking at a stone and turning it over. But this was not one of the young gulls playing. It was an adult, looking to see if there was anything edible among the algae.

A Moorhen was doing the same with another stone. There were at least twenty pieces of stone on the south shore of the Serpentine, all of them picked out of the water by young Herring Gulls to play with.

Two Black-Headed Gulls did their display of defiance, holding their wings akimbo to make them look larger, and bowing and calling. But they weren't defying at each other, as often seen. They were a pair displaying together at the other gulls, and when one came too near the pair united to chase it away.

Since we've had three of the four gulls commonly seen on the lake, here's the fourth one, a Common Gull staring at the camera near Bluebird Boats.

A descending Mute Swan water-skied its way to a standstill in front of the Diana fountain reed bed.

All the Shovellers seem to have flown away except for this one, which was preening at the island.

The pale Mallard came under the bridge with his mate and the other drake that goes around with them. These trios of two males and a female seem to be very common among Mallards which, like many ducks, have a very skewed sex ratio.

A long row of Starlings were washing on the shore near the Dell restaurant.

A Mistle Thrush sang on a tree overlooking the Rose Garden.

A Wren was looking for bugs on a rose bush, probably a rich source of aphids even in winter.

And the usual Robin waited on the bench for the pigeons to go away and give it a chance to look for birdseed under the feeder.

The female Little Owl near the Albert Memorial was preening.

The top Grey Herons' nest on the island had two birds in it.

The bottom one has also had a pair in it, and the middle one is sometimes occupied too, so things are definitely going ahead.

The pair of Mute Swans that nested on one of the reed rafts last year are also getting aggressively territorial. After the male had chased all the swans near the raft away, he had a militant display with his mate ...

... and then climbed on to the raft and threw out a couple of swans that had been cowering in the corner.

This raft has still not recovered from the swans nesting there before, when they ripped out all the plants so thoroughly that nothing has regrown. They will probably move to another raft and trash that as well. To do this they need to break down the fence around it, but they don't seem to have much difficulty with that.

There was just one Gadwall, a female, in the water nearby. They never nest in the park, but they do in the gardens of Buckingham Palace, where suitably regal duck houses have been provided for them.

A few more more Red Crested Pochards have arrived, and were resting and preening on the island.

A Blackbird was bathing in a puddle in the Rose Garden.

One of the resident pair of Coal Tits waited next to the feeder for some larger birds to leave.

On the ground underneath, the usual Dunnock was picking up the spilt birdseed, dodging among the Feral Pigeons which were doing the same.

A Robin waited on a bench for a quiet moment so it could go down too.

A couple of Long-Tailed Tits were leaping around on a bush near the Italian Garden. I didn't see a larger flock, but it's too early for them to split into pairs and begin the long labour of building their complicated nests.

The female Little Owl near the Albert Memorial came out to the front of her hole. There were some Stock Doves in the tree, rivals for the possession of the hole, and she was keeping a wary eye on them.

The female in the lime tree near the Henry Moore sculpture was also out. This hole was invaded by Rose-Ringed Parakeets a few days ago, but there has been no sign of them since then and it seems that the owls have seen them off, at least for the time being.