Feeding the Pigeons

The birds in Regents Park are a big hit with tourists, especially the pigeons.  

Gazing into the Pond

The green footed Coot gazing at its own reflection?  Or just admiring the beauty of its backyard?

Abney Park

I've just discovered the beautiful Abney Park, a combination of 19th century cemetery, woodland, and wildlife sanctuary.  One of the seven grand cemeteries created on the outskirts of London in the 1800's. The architects created it as an arboretum with 2,500 varieties of plants.  Lack of funds saw the park fall into disrepair and go into administration during the 1970's.  The London borough of Hackney took it over in the 1980's and have been working to restore the park to its former glory.

However, in this time of "profits rule" developers want to come in and build on the edges of the site.  The plans include a huge car park, supermarket and of course high rise apartments.  The 20% of promised "affordable" apartments will be in the £400,000 range.

The locals are outraged and fighting the development which they say will have a substantial adverse impact on the biodiversity of the park.  In addition they are concerned about the impact on the wider area, one of the few areas where independent stores are still thriving.

The locals are passionate about their park and have many activities throughout the year.  This weekend this included teaching people how to make Christmas wreaths.

They would like your support.  You can sign their petition here … you don't have to be a local to support this worthy cause.

Heron

In 1949 it was thought London would never see herons, or several other bird species again. How things change. In 1968 the first pair of herons made their nest in Regent's Park. By 1970 this had increased to 10. The efforts of those who work to keep the parks green and the waterways clean plus keeping areas for the birds and wildlife free from us humans has seen the population of herons increase to its current 27 pairs.
This one was very wary of me while at the same time wanting to know if there might be a tasty morsel in my bag. A camera was not appreciated.

Nest is Ready

While I was at the nature reserve looking out over the canal for yesterdays post, I came upon a couple of these structures. Seems they are nests. I don't know if any creature actually uses them or if they are wild art. I'll pop back in a month or so and see what happens.

Did I say you could sit there?

No clearly I didn't. Can't you see this is a boys area!

Bet you didn't expect to see us in London did you? Well it's all here. Our park is the biggest in London and hasn't changed much in centuries. Major achievement was convincing royalty to talk to trees instead of putting our headgear on their walls.

Wanna Make a Daisy Chain?

Well do ya?