An immature male Shoveller was standing on the edge of one of the Italian Garden ponds, looking miserable. It allowed me to come quite close, which is not normal behaviour for these shy birds. Closer inspection showed that it had a wound on its upper chest, and another one on at the bottom of the nape of its neck. I am pretty certain that it had been seized by a Peregrine, and had managed to struggle free from its talons.

When I came past an hour later it was still in the same place, as dejected as ever. But it was a very lucky duck, and I hope it soon recovers from its fright and its injuries.

This duck is the Mallard that we mistakenly thought was an adopted Tufted duckling because it was dark chocolate brown. It is still in the same place, at the far east end of the Serpentine, and has grown into a dark but normally marked female (or at least, if it were male, I think it would have shown signs of a yellow bill by now).

The two Jackdaws are still on the north side of the Serpentine. A couple of days ago I saw them from a distance over this spot, playing in the strong wind. They are certainly two of the Jackdaws from Kensington Gardens, because they took pieces of digestive biscuit without hesitation.

A Blackbird was eating berries in the yew bush between Peter Pan and the Italian Garden.

A Song Thrush arrived on the branch behind it, and surprisingly chased the larger bird out before returning and diving into the middle of the bush.

The male Little Owl was in the chestnut tree next to his nest tree, perched on one of his favourite branches.

The male Tawny Owl was not visible but it was quite clear where he was, because two Magpies were looking down at his nest site in the hollow tree and yelling at him. This one is standing right on the edge of the hole, which seemed unwise with an angry owl just below.

A pair of Gadwalls turned up on the Serpentine. Here is the male, with his restrained but finely detailed plumage.

Gadwalls are erratic visitors. There is a small permanently resident population which I think is based on the lake in Buckingham Palace Gardens, where they have sometimes bred. This is added to by winter migrants. But all of them seem to wander erractically about the central London parks, and you never know when or where you will see one.

A flock of half a dozen Greenfinches flew over the Italian Garden and landed in a nearby tree. These are residents, but are not numerous in the park, and are hard to see at times when the males are not singing, as they prefer the tops of trees.

Three of the seven young Mute Swans were having a practice flight along the Serpentine. They had to come down at the bridge. Swans will not fly under the arches, although there is plenty of clearance for them, and they have not mastered the adult swans' method of hauling themselves up to an altitude where they pass perilously over the top of the bridge just above the roofs of passing cars.

One of the male Ring-Necked Parakeets is now confident enough to take peanuts from my hand. The females have been doing this for years, but for some reason the males seem to be much more nervous.

The male Tawny Owl had moved round to the 'balcony' on the north side of his nest tree. This is a place where a branch has broken off, leaving a hole that gives access to the hollow inside of the tree, and the owls can climb up to their nest and out of the top of the broken trunk.

The owl was quite at peace when I took this photograph, but a few seconds later two Jays and two Magpies arrived a started screaming at him, also joined by an angry Blackbird.

The male Little Owl was on his usual perch in his nest tree. When I went past again during a sunny interval to try to get a better picture he had gone away, so this grey image will have to do.

There were two Common Gulls on the buoys around the edge of the Lido swimming area. They are not the first to be spotted here this year, since someone else found one a few days ago, but they are the first I have seen.

Common Gulls are usually said to have pale yellow or yellowish-green legs. This one's legs are mid grey, and the other's were a dingy mustard colour.

A plastic sponge was floating on the Long Water, looking like a piece of cake. Several Coots and Black-Headed Gulls pecked pieces out of it, tasted them and spat them out, leaving the way clear for the next bird to try this deceptive object.

One of the young Great Crested Grebes on the Long Water managed a short flight.

Flying does not come easily to these birds, whose small wings demand a very high unstick speed achieved by a long foot-propelled run. But they do manage to fly reasonable distances, always at night so you seldom see one at any altitude.

The Little Grebe on the Round Pond was visited by a model yacht. It took no notice and went on fishing.

The young Grey Wagtail was on the floating reed beds at the east end of the Serpentine, which were blown off their moorings by yesterday's wind, and are jumbled all over the area. The bird is standing on the plastic tube that was used to cover the top of the mesh fence, which has also come adrift.

A Nuthatch came down to take seeds off the fence of the leaf yard.

The male Tawny Owl was in the beech tree next to the nest tree, in the same place as yesterday. You can see this place by standing under the nest tree and looking up through its withered leaves at the beech tree; the owl is only a few feet from the top.

The Little Owl came out on to his usual perch at 1.30, although the day was cold and windy.

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.