The sunshine brought out two Little Owls, one in the lime tree near the Henry Moore statue ...

... and the other in the oak near the Albert Memorial.

A Carrion Crow waited on the raised shutter of the Boat House snack bar for the the stallholder to be occupied, so that it could fly down and steal a sachet of sugar from the counter.

A Redwing mingled with the Starlings feeding on the Parade Ground.

In addition to the existing Grey Heron nest in the alder on the south side of the island ...

... there is now a new one in a blossoming tree.

On the north side, a heron was picking twigs to enlarge a small nest.

A pair of Coots have made a nest on a fallen poplar branch at the side of the waterfront at Peter Pan.

Coots are generally skilled and successful nest builders, but this one has been trying to attach a nest to a branch of the dead willow tree for several days and it still hasn't succeeded.

A Moorhen tried to knock the Polish Black-Headed Gull T8YT off a post, but the gull is made of sterner stuff than most and refused to budge.

A bathing Greylag Goose flung itself upside down.

The Black Swan on the Round Pond made its usual 'ee-oh' contact call followed by low tuba-like honks of defiance at various birds that were in its way.

A picture by Joan Chatterley of the young Black Swan in St James's Park shows that its peculiar two-tone neck hasn't changed much in the past few weeks.

Kamal can now slalom perfectly through 100 cones twice in quick succession. He's spent years working up to the magic number -- but now he has his eye on 120.

The notorious pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull took time off from hunting to have a good wash, diving into the lake to rinse himself.

During the returfing operation on the Parade Ground machines are going around shredding and redistributing the soil. Black-Headed Gulls follow them closely, picking up worms ready chopped into bite-sized pieces.

The work frightened away most of the smaller birds, but there was still just one Redwing ...

... and a Pied Wagtail.

A Blue Tit ...

... and a Robin near the bridge came out to be fed.

A Magpie looked down coolly from a branch.

When I went past the island in the morning there was only one Grey Heron, the one sitting in the nest on the south side, huddled down out of the chilly wind.

Later the others came back and the bird was relieved on the nest by its mate.

There were two herons in a nest on the north side again. This pair now seems to be serious about breeding.

Later all of them except the sitting heron went off to wait for their daily feeding session.

A Coot started making a nest under the dead willow on the Long Water with twigs ...

... and an old plastic bag.

Two Moorhens poked around in dead leaves blown to the edge of the lake.

Ian Young sent the latest picture of the young Black Swan in St James's Park. He reports that it's now marching up to people and demanding food.

There is going to be furious competition among the Mute Swans for nest sites on the Serpentine island. Since the pool was made in the middle, the gate in the wire fence has been kept closed to stop swans from getting in and destroying the newly planted reeds. This restricts swans to a narrow band around the edge, which may allow just two nests at opposite ends of the island. One swan chased another off.

A Moorhen watched the scene unmoved -- not its quarrel.

The Grey Heron nesting on the south side of the island was still restless in the nest, getting up several times. It seems odd when you consider how long they can stand motionless when fishing.

On the other side, three herons stood in a row on the posts.

A Great Crested Grebe did nothing, with great style.

Gadwall drakes are very smart in an understated way, like a gentleman in his country tweeds.

Momchil Vesselinov took this remarkable picture of the two Little Owls near the Albert Memorial together on a branch at sunset.

There were plenty of Redwings on the Parade Ground ...

... and a single Mistle Thrush. It seems remarkable that the worms they hunt are still alive after being buried under solid plates for more than two months.

A Song Thrush sang in the Flower Walk. These are the bits of song audible between outbursts of shrieking by the invasive Rose-Ringed Parakeets and traffic noise from the busy Kensington Road.

A female Blackbird perched on the tatty plywood fence of the Lido.

The shy Coal Tit in the leaf yard flitted from twig to twig, wanting a pine nut put on the railings but not daring to come down and take it.

Tom got a fine picture of a Goldcrest.

There is something strangely satisfying about seeing a Wood Pigeon reach too far for an ivy berry and fall down.

Winter aconites are coming out in the Dell.

On the subject of yesterday's House Sparrow in Kensington Gardens, here is a map of air pollution by nitrogen dioxide in central London. The dirtiest parts correspond quite closely with the areas devoid of sparrows. Perhaps by mere coincidence, there is a moderately clean patch in Kensington Gardens where the sparrow was. This page also shows maps for three other pollutants, with much the same distribution.

Sparrows have vanished from a wide area of central London and are only seen very rarely. Neil found this female in Kensington Gardens and took a video on his phone.

The Redwings on the Parade Ground wouldn't come near, and this rather distant shot was the best I could get.

A Carrion Crow near the bridge has taken to cawing loudly and annoyingly till it's fed. When it gets a peanut it opens and eats it in seconds and starts cawing again.

A Magpie in the top of the yew tree looked down disdainfully on the spectacle.

This Jay followed us along the path touting for peanuts. It already had one in its crop, but wanted more.

Jackdaws are polite birds, and just come out and look hopeful. This gets them all the peanuts they want.

A Mute Swan in one of the Italian Garden pools used the fountain as a shower to help it have a good wash.

There were also two Moorhens under the same fountain, but getting thoroughly wet is part of their normal routine.

A Moorhen on the Long Water amused itself by climbing up a branch.

A Great Crested Grebe on the Serpentine looked with mild interest at three humans trying to take its picture.

There were eight Grey Herons on the island. One of them was picking twigs to build up a nest.

Four stood on the shore.

Two young Herring Gulls repeatedly dived into the lake. They seemed to be getting some small food item, but they also dive to pick up sticks and stones to play with.

I really don't know what's going on here. The swan was not amused.

A Coal Tit near the bridge pulled lichen off a tree, looking for insect larvae underneath.

Usually Coal Tits flit around from twig to twig, but it was having to hang on in a brisk wind. It's easy to be blown away when you only weigh a quarter of an ounce.

A pair of Great Tits climbed on the dead tree just along the path, looking for insects in the bark ...

... and exploring a possible nest hole.

Blue Tits have nested in this tree in previous years, building under flakes of loose bark.

A Long-Tailed Tit examined a twig.

There were plenty of Redwings on the Parade Ground. One pulled up a worm.

There were also three Mistle Thrushes ...

... a couple of Pied Wagtails ...

... and four Great Spotted Woodpeckers, though these stayed at a distance and I couldn't get a picture. However, there was a Green Woodpecker on an oak tree near the leaf yard.

The Grey Herons' nest on the south side of the island has been built up a bit, but the sitting bird still seemed uncomfortable and kept standing up and turning round.

All the other herons, five of them, were on the ground keeping out of the wind.

A Lesser Black-Backed Gull washed and preened on the Long Water. Several people on YouTube have said that the Lesser Black-Backs in my videos are actually Herring Gulls. But the subspecies of this bird found in Britain (Larus fuscus graelsii) is a lighter grey than the others. There is also a possibility of hybrids and this gull, although certainly too dark to be a Herring Gull, had pink feet like one.

A Moorhen climbed on a net, just for the fun of it.

A Mute Swan washed, making a tremendous splash.