A Blue Tit was singing loudly beside the Long Water.
So was a Song Thrush in the garden of Kensington Palace, while his mate prospected for worms under an ornamental bay tree.
This male Chaffinch in the leaf yard was looking sharply at me, telling me to stop photographing him and produce some food.
But nothing looks at you with quite the intensity of an owl. Here is today's picture of the male Tawny Owl in his usual place on the nest tree.
The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull has had a mate and accomplice for a couple of years now. They even share pigeons, an act of rare generosity in a gull. Here they are in the favourite place on the corner of the roof of the Dell restaurant. One of them looks rather bored. I am not sure whether birds really yawn, but it looks like it.
One of the two Little Grebes was preening itself in the reed bed near the Italian Garden, and had a little flap to settle its wing feathers neatly.
Now here is a serious matter. Steve Barnes, the Wildlife Crime Officer of the Parks Police, tells us that the whole Parks Police force is to be disbanded, so that the only police supervision of the area will be from occasional drive-throughs of the ordinary Metropolitan Police, who don't know the area and will probably never get out of their cars. As any visitor to the park will know, there is a low level of antisocial activity: the man who walks round the lake yelling obscenities at the top of his voice; the one who smears food on the benches; selfish dog owners with out-of-control pets that run wild and kill geese and swans, who can become quite threatening if confronted; people riding bicycles at full speed on the footpaths; the occasional pickpocket or mugger (one woman was rescued from an attack by a heroic rough sleeper who sprang to her assistance). A police presence can't prevent the odd incident, but if it is withdrawn the park is going to become a free-for-all, and is likely to be a much more dangerous place.
If you live near Kensington Gardens or Hyde Park and care about this (I hope you do), please write to your local MP. Here are their addresses.
Kensington & Chelsea
Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP
House of Commons
LONDON
SW1A 0AA
email: shaylorc@parliament.uk
Westminster North
Ms Karen Buck MP
House of Commons
LONDON
SW1A 0AA
email: buckk@parliament.uk
Hi Ralph,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you: the park will become a much more dangerous place. Best thing is to spread the word and urge people to write to their MP. I shall certainly be doing so as soon as I can. It may be a good idea to set up an online petition; an easy thing to do these days and a very quick way for people to participate.
On another sad note, a sickly robin came to eat from my hand today, near the Leaf Yard. He was missing feathers on the right side of his head and below, leaving half of his little skull and parts below exposed. It looked like a skin disease as there appeared to be thick white patches interspersed with the pink skin, or perhaps it is the other way around? He was very hungry, though, hopefully a good sign? A sorry looking little fellow, shame the weather is so bad tonight...
Laura
Thanks for that. I'm a bit wary about a petition, though, as you have to get hundreds of thousands of signatures to make it look impressive. Personal emails have a certain nag value.
DeleteThat Robin has been around for a while, and it does look sadly tatty and is getting worse. Nothing we can do except be kind to it while it lasts.
Yes, that's true. Fortunately, there might be enough people in K&C who I/ can still write on paper, ii/ have the time to do so and iii/ deem the park to be an important enough cause. :-) Best thing, then, is to spread the word to all one's neighbours, etc...
ReplyDeleteLaura
Thanks for the info about the Robin...it seems that you are personally acquainted with all the birds in the park!
Some specially lovely studies today - were you in a particularly creative mood (in spite of threats from loss of police presence) or just lucky?
ReplyDeleteMy interpretation of the 'yawning' gull is a more sinister one: he is doing his early morning stretch and limbering-up exercises (as I am about to do) ready for the day's kill!