Avoiding the half martyrdom

Today it was the annual half marathon in the park, when the paths are obstructed with 13 miles of metal barriers and it's very hard to get around, let alone having to witness the sad spectacle of thousands of people toiling along with faces contorted in agony and their friends yelling and blowing whistles. So I gave it a miss and took the Underground to Richmond, intending to walk back along the south bank of the river. This is what I had intended to do a couple of weeks ago when the park was closed, only to find that the line was also closed for maintenance.

But again it didn't go as intended. A section of river bank had collapsed between Richmond and Kew and the path was closed. So I had to cross to the north bank at Richmond Lock, over a fine bridge of 1894 by Ransomes and Rapier of Ipswich. (Yes, there really was someone called Richard Christopher Rapier and he had already built the first railway in China in 1876, only to have it dismantled by the government because he hadn't received planning permission. Some things never change.)

The first place on the detour was Isleworth, which is pretty. The 14th century Kentish ragstone tower of All Saints church is all that remains of the original building.

The church fell into disrepair and was rebuilt in 1706 to a design by Sir Christopher Wren, but this too was destroyed in 1943 by two boys who set fire to it, and also to Holy Trinity Church in Hounslow. The present church is a red brick structure of 1970 by Michael Blee. The sundial of the Wren church is preserved. A Carrion Crow was watching but probably not praying.

There were few birds of interest here: Canada Geese on the shore exposed by low tide ...

... Mallards and Moorhens ...

... and a Grey Heron exploring the mud.

A brave attempt at a metal heron was in poor repair.

But then there was something worth filming, a Little Egret. I'm putting up two videos because it is a beautiful creature and you don't often see them this close.

As it wandered down the shore it encountered another egret and, with a furious squawk, routed it.

Then through dreary Brentford and back on to the south bank at Kew Bridge. Egyptian Geese rested on the pond at Kew Green.

Since it was Sunday the river was busy with rowers. A trainer in a launch bellowed at a crew of beginners to keep them synchronised.

There were hundreds of Carrion Crows along the shore ...

... but remarkably few Cormorants. A lot of these would have been in Hyde Park hoovering up the plentiful fish in the Serpentine.

Barnes railway bridge is a peculiar structure, as there are actually two bridges side by side. The one at the front in this picture was built of cast iron by Joseph Locke in 1849.

However, in 1891 a cast iron bridge on the line to Brighton collapsed, and a panic about cast iron structures -- which had started in 1879 when the famous Tay bridge at Dundee blew down as a train crossed it during a storm -- led to its replacement in 1895 with a wrought iron bridge by Edward Andrews. To keep the line open during its construction, the original bridge was retained and the new one built next to it on extended abutments. The old bridge is no longer used.

The composer Gustav Holst's beautiful house in Barnes. The curved front dates it to the 1820s.

There was a large flock of Mute Swans on the river, and as I was photographing it some of them took off.

A few minutes later they unexpectedly returned and splashed down.

A solitary Magpie came down to the river to drink.

The detour had taken so much time that I only made it to Hammersmith before having to get back on the Underground and go home to write the blog. Hammersmith Bridge was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette, replacing an earlier structure of 1827, and opened in 1887.

It was one of the great engineer's few failures. Its 27 ft wide roadway narrows to 19 feet between the suspension towers, from the start causing congestion to two-way traffic. The bridge was also not very strong and required frequent repairs as motor traffic built up in the 20th century, and in 1926 it was recommended that it should be demolished and replaced with something wider and stronger. But this never happened.

The IRA boys seem to have had a particular dislike for the bridge, as they tried to bomb it unsuccessfully in 1939 and 1996. In 1997 it was found unsafe and closed for major repairs. A third IRA bomb in 2000 caused serious structural damage and repairs took another two years. Then in 2019 cracks were found in the cast iron bases of the towers and it was closed to traffic again, remaining open for pedestrians and cyclists. In 2020 it deteriorated further with cracks in the chains and was completely closed.

In 2024, now with a temporary frame supporting the roadway which you can see in the picture above, it reopened to pedestrians and cyclists. But protracted official wrangling about the cost of a full repair has so far prevented it from being brought back into full service.

Thrifty Coal Tit

One of the Coal Tits in the Dell picked me up as soon as I approached ...

... and followed all along the edge, taking pine nuts all the way. This is normal behaviour for Coal Tits once they get confident. They hide the pine nuts in cracks in bark, so that they can collect as many as possible and eat them later.

A male Chaffinch also wanted feeding ...

... and a Wren stood aloof on a rock.

The usual Robin in the Rose Garden appeared in a hawthorn.

The Robin at Mount Gate is so confident of being fed that it didn't bother to call, and I nearly walked past it.

Carrion Crows, Magpies and Jays are usually found in particular places, but Jackdaws are very mobile and can crop up anywhere. This one appeared by the Speke obelisk.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull was at his station on the landing stage.

A Cormorant on a post at Peter Pan dried its wings and preened.

All the usual perches at the island were occupied, and this one had to go up in a treetop.

One of the Great Crested Grebe chicks at the east end of the island was quietly diving by itself ...

... but the other was clamouring at its mother to bring a fish.

A Coot is much too buoyant to be an efficient diving bird. Each dive to pick algae off the bottom is a frantic head-down scrabble, and as soon as it stops paddling it pops up to the surface like a cork.

Greylag Geese enjoyed the sunshine in a patch of dead leaves.

The solitary young Egyptian Goose on the Serpentine is now almost fully grown and already able to fly.

A pair of Gadwalls cruised sedately under the bushes at the Vista.

There was a very tattered Small White butterfly on the Michaelmas daisies in the Rose Garden. Their season is almost over.

Rival songs

The familiar Robin in the Rose Garden posed prettily before accepting some pine nuts.

When it had finished eating it started singing, and was promptly answered by this one in the lime hedge.

The Robin at Mount Gate has no nearby rivals and is rather quiet, but when it sees me going by it hops out of the bushes and calls for attention.

One of the Coal Tits in the Dell was in the corkscrew hazel bush.

Several Great Tits appeared in the bushes ...

... and a Wren emerged from the undergrowth.

Long-Tailed Tits were busy at the Triangle.

A Jay flew down to a railing by the leaf yard.

When Pigeon Eater isn't hunting he stands either on the restaurant roof or in a little fenced-off area on the edge of the water. The fence was put there in an attempt to make people stop feeding the birds, but it has made a convenient nook for him, from which he rigorously excludes other gulls.

Ahmet Amerikali photographed a Grey Heron under the Italian Garden with a small ruffe.

Cormorants are crowded all around the Serpentine island.

They are oddly fond of picking up dead leaves. Maybe the colour interests them.

One of the Great Crested Grebe chicks at the east end of the island hurried to collect a fish from its father.

This is the family from the other end of the island. All the six chicks on the lake are roughly the same age, and learning to hunt by diving alongside their parents.

If a pair of grebes is separated for even a few minutes, they always exchange courteous greetings when they are reunited.

The Moorhens with two chicks at the Vista were running around the edge. Their nest was under a bush at one end of the waterfront.

The Egyptian pair in the Italian Garden who lost all their goslings in one day are still looking gloomy.

The big Shasta daisies in the Rose Garden are much visited by Buff-Tailed Bumblebees.

Impatient Robins

Two Robins I feed regularly, one in the Rose Garden, the other at Mount Gate, were getting annoyed because I was filming them instead of giving them pine nuts. Of course they got their treat afterwards.

A Coal Tit in the Dell was also impatient ...

... but a sedate Great Tit was content to wait ...

... and so was a Blue Tit at Mount Gate.

Long-Tailed Tits worked their way along the shrubbery at the Triangle.

Starlings chattered on the weathervane of the Lido restaurant as they wait for a chance to swoop down and grab some scraps.

The Grey Wagtail was on the edge of the terrace, where it found a small white larva.

Another search for one of the Cetti's Warblers at the other end of the Lido was unsuccessful. Something small and brown streaked across but it turned out to be a Wren, which I caught just as it vanished into the reeds.

Ahmet found one of the Firecrests in Battersea Park, a bright exception to the rule that warblers are dull brown birds.

There are several of these smart white, grey and black Feral Pigeons in the park, presumably all related. This one was in the Flower Walk.

A Rose-Ringed Parakeet in the Rose Garden looked up from its demolition of a catalpa pod.

Headbanger was being particularly obnoxious, and bashed me on the head half a dozen times. He knows perfectly well that he won't get a peanut if he does this, but can't resist it.

The Czech Black-Headed Gull had been absent for a week and I was getting slightly worried about him, but today he was back in his usual spot by the Serpentine.

A Grey Heron perched on a boathouse at a discreet distance from four Cormorants.

A interesting picture by Ahmet: a Cormorant had caught a perch far too large for it to swallow. It struggled for a while but was obliged to drop it.

A Moorhen at the Vista defied the killer Mute Swan, which had come too close to its two chicks.

The odd couple of the Gadwall drake and female Mallard had flown over from the Italian Garden.

There was still a Small White butterfly in the reeds by the Diana fountain.