On a cold morning the birds were extra hungry. Many Jackdaws arrived, all of them wanting peanuts ...

... and white-faced Blackbird near the Italian Garden came out for her customary treat of sultanas.

The Redwings were searching for worms on the Parade Ground, where the ground had not yet frozen ...

... but they suddenly all took off and flew to a tree near the Dell, where they perched chattering.

A single Long-Tailed Tit waited to go down to the feeder in the Dell.

The freezing wind didn't stop a Robin from singing in a tree near the Rose Garden.

A Carrion Crow was interested in its hazy reflection in the mirrored surface of a sculpture outside the Serpentine Gallery, but was intelligent enough not to attack it.

When there was a big mirror on the Vista, made by Anish Kapoor, the resident Egyptian Geese constantly displayed at and tried to attack their reflections.

The Little Owl near the Albert Memorial made the most of the sunshine.

The second Grey Heron nest on the island now has a sitting bird in it, indistinctly visible through the twigs.

Mateusz at Bluebird Boats told me that there is an occupied nest on the other side of the island, visble only from the water, and kindly took me out in a boat to see it.

I think this pair of herons started a nest on the shore side of the island and abandoned it, and have rebuilt here.

The Black-Headed, Herring and Lesser Black-Backed Gulls on the Serpentine have claimed the moored pedalos next to the island, and made a dreadful mess on them which the patient staff of Bluebird Boats have to remove with high-pressure jetting.

A Cormorant was looking striking in breeding plumage on a nearby post.

A pair of Mute Swans were courting on the Long Water, mirroring each other's movements.

A pair of Gadwalls quietly fed on the Long Water.

The white-faced Greylag Goose was at the Dell restaurant. Here is a close-up showing its remarkable dark blue eye.

It was a very cold morning, the first of a freezing spell that is expected to last a fortnight. Hungry Great and Blue Tits and a Robin thronged down to my hand. They will need all the food they can get to survive.

I didn't see the Coal Tit here, so here is a fine portrait of it taken yesterday by Neil.

The Nuthatches had moved down to yew tree near Peter Pan and came to my hand, but I couldn't get a picture under the dark tree.

The Robin in the corkscrew hazel in the Flower Walk was also hungry.

The very bold Wren had come along to the path nearby. It is amazingly unconcerned by the passing people.

The Mistle Thrushes near the Serpentine Gallery are also remarkably calm. I nearly trod on this one, standing still and looking just like a dead leaf, and it flew crossly into a tree and rattled at me.

In the Rose Garden, a male Chaffinch came down to drink at the fountain.

Several Pied Wagtails were trotting along the shore of the Serpentine.

This teenage Wood Pigeon was with a family group in the Diana fountain enclosure. It is just beginning to get its adult white collar.

The hardy Little Owl near the Henry Moore sculpture was out, but sat low to shelter from the biting east wind.

It was changeover time at the Grey Herons' nest on the island. One arrived on the nest ...

... and exchanged courtesies with its mate ...

... which flew away ...

... leaving the other to settle down comfortably on the eggs.

But the courtesies of a pair of Great Crested Grebes were interrupted by a young Mute Swan which cruised straight at them.

A young Herring Gull struggled to balance on an uncomfortable and unstable perch.

A Common Gull was almost fully into its summer plumage, with a white head.

This Common Gull is less than a year old, and just beginning to grow its adult pale grey feathers.

A Long-Tailed Tit probed the bark of a tree for insect larvae.

On a chilly day a few hardy people were sitting on the terrace of the Dell restaurant, and a Pied Wagtail was running around under the tables looking for insects attracted by spilt food.

A Starling stood on a table waiting  to dash over and grab something.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull circled overhead, calling to his mate on the shore.

In the Diana fountain enclosure a Black-Headed Gull pattered its feet to bring up worms, and got several.

Two Cormorants in breeding plumage sat side by side on posts at the island.

Cormorants have started breeding inland, in rocky and secluded places, but not in the park.

In the lowest nest on the island, a Grey Heron stood over its sitting mate. They had probably just changed places sitting on the eggs.

A Robin didn't let the cold wind put it off singing.

The flock of Redwings has moved to an area of grass on the edge of Park Lane, where there are more worms than on the Parade Ground.

The hole in the horse chestnut near the Queen's Temple, previously occupied by the male Little Owl of the leaf yard pair, had been taken over by a Stock Dove. I think the pair are now together in their nest tree, but it was too cold for them to venture out.

The sun came out in the early afternoon, and so did the Little Owl in the lime tree near the Henry Moore sculpture, though she was in a place where it was impossible to get a good view of her.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes dozed side by side under the willow near the bridge, doing their well known impersonation of a pair of bedroom slippers.

The sunshine brought out the shine on a Mandarin drake ...

... and a Mallard. They are so common that it's easy to forget the splendour of their iridescent green feathers.

Charlie the Carrion Crow was also looking very shiny. He came up to the bridge with his mate Melissa to demand peanuts.

A Jackdaw near the Albert Memorial had the same idea.

A third Grey Heron nest is going up on the island. At present the first nest has a heron sitting on eggs, and the second is occupied but there is no sign of sitting yet.

A fourth pair of herons perched in a tree a couple of hundred yards along the shore. There is plenty of space for them on the island if they decide to nest as well.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes looked enviously at a Coot's well made nest. They sometimes creep up to these under water and steal twigs.

The Coot stood guard on the other side of the nest.

While a gardener poked debris out of the small waterfall in the Dell, the resident pair of Moorhens waited below for something interesting to wash over.

A Carrion Crow tried to get the lid off a plastic food container.

The flock of Redwings has moved to Kensington Gardens, where they were dashing around in the grass near the statue of Physical Energy.

One of them struggled to pull up a worm.

As well as the usual Wren on the path in the Flower Walk ...

... there was a Long-Tailed Tit.

The Wren spends so much time here that it can't just be picking up grit. There must be something edible here.

On the shore of the Serpentine, a Pied Wagtail had found a larva which was at least large enough to be visible.

Both Nuthatches were in the leaf yard waiting to be fed.

The approach of spring has brought out some flowers on the bushes in the Rose Garden. One of the Robins posed prettily.

The dull weather brightened a little in the afternoon, and the Little Owl near the Albert Memorial came out to the front of her hole.