Visit to London

I spent Thursday and Friday last week up in London. In my free time I got a chance to check out the wildlife in St James’s park.

One thing I noticed is how accustomed the birds are to humans passing within a few metres of them. Many of the pigeons and squirrels even approached us to see if we had any food.

As we walked through the park, an unfamiliar bird call could be heard high up in the trees, it was a high pitched sort of whistle and squeak.  Four or five green birds flashed past us calling to each other as they went. Ring necked parakeets.

It was the first time I had come across these beautiful but loud green parrots.

Ring Necked Parakeets were thought to be either escapees or deliberately released. They started to breed in the wild in 1969, it is now thought there is 8,600 breeding pairs.

They are a regular sight in many of London’s parks.

On hearing a bell, flapping wings and cawing coming from a patch of trees, we could see a Harris Hawk with jesses on, which was being mobbed by around 6 crows.

The Great White Pelicans are a famous part of the park. There are 3 of them, one was given to the park in 1996, after he was found in a garden in Southend, the other two were gifted to the park in 2013. They mainly eat fish, but have been known to eat a pigeon.

The lake is a great place to spot many types of birds, some live there, while others visit. It is easy to see Grey Herons, Egyptian Geese, Cormorants, Black swans, a Snew, Red- crested Pochards and Pintails amongst a wide variety of common wildfowl and gulls.