Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens were closed today because the management was in another of its panics about high winds, which were actually quite moderate. So I went to explore Southwark Park. This is not a major birdwatching destination but Ahmet Amerikali has taken some good pictures there, so it seemed worth exploring. The wind had completely subsided but it was raining heavily.
You enter down an avenue of fine old plane trees, planted in 1869 when the park was set up by the Metropolitan Board of Works ...
... and pass a pair of battered caryatids, retired from having to hold up a building and set on each side of a Mexican orange bush. The left one is adorned with oak, representing strength, and the right one with laurel for renown.
They originally flanked the main entrance of Rotherhithe Town Hall, a fine building of 1897 by Henry Poole in the 'streaky bacon' style of alternating red brick and stone which was then the height of fashion. Sadly it was bombed in the war.
A surprise was to find some fearless Dunnocks, normally very shy birds, which hopped around only a few feet away foraging in the fallen leaves.
Southwark Park has a thriving population of Blackbirds, which are in steep decline in the Central London parks. Rain suits them, as it brings up worms.
Earlier Ahmet had photographed one singing in the adjoining Russia Dock Woodland ...
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... and also a Redwing ...
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... and a Goldcrest singing in the park itself.
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A wet Carrion Crow rummaged in fallen leaves, looking for insects and worms.
The centre of the park is a small but picturesque lake.
It has the usual inhabitants: Coots, Moorhens, Mallards and Tufted Ducks. One difference from the central London parks is that the Moorhens are not vastly outnumbered by Coots; in fact they were trotting around everywhere. Maybe it was the deliberate introduction of Coots to St James's Park in the 1920s that upset the balance in the centre.
There are the inevitable Egyptian Geese, of course.
Ahmet took a good picture of one of them splashing down.
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And there were lots of Black-Headed Gulls, which were also all over the sodden playing fields with a few Lesser Black-Backs.
A Grey Heron stood on a boat.
The star of the visit was a Little Grebe. I wish I could have got a closer picture, but I was only carrying the small camera.
I didn't make it to Russia Dock Woodland. After an hour and a half in the rain I was so wet that I feebly turned tail and came home on the Tube.
Well done for braving another park today, Ralph. The parks did reopen in the afternoon. It's the third time it happened now that the parks were closed during winds. First was 24th November, then 7th December and partly today. They never used to do that, something must have changed. This park seems worth a visit. Who's in charge, Southwark Council?
ReplyDeleteJenna
Yes, the Royal Parks panic is quite a new thing. It's all part of the general fearmongering pushed by the authorities in pursuit of the climate change scam, of course.
DeleteYes, Southwark Council is in charge of Southwark Park and it seems well maintained, though of course as it was a public holiday many things were shut when I went. I think a visit in early spring would be quite rewarding but you won't find any rarities.
Such a pity that was raining so much and that you were miserably wet ( I hope you didn't catch a cold). Southwark Park with its tame Dunnocks looks very promising; it's difficult to get a good idea from just some pictures, but it does look tidy and well maintained.
ReplyDeleteThe closing park hysteria is alive and well in Spain as well. As soon as there is the slightest hint of wind el parque de El Retiro in Madrid will be closed down. What's even more ridiculous is that it will also be closed down in the middle of frigging August citing "climate issues". For God's sake, when it's 42ºC outside and people need to be out, having the opportunity to cool down in the shadow of a large tree next to a water course may be the difference between heat stroke and just having an uncomfortable time!
Tinúviel
It's just a smallish municipal park, 26 acres (10.5 hectares) and much of that playing fields. But it has a mild charm and I was pleased I went there. I talked to a girl I met and she said that you can find blessings everywhere. Very true.
DeleteSo far the local councils that run parks don't seem to have caught the madness that has infected the Royal Parks management. The real fear here, I think, is not danger but being sued. Even if a tree doesn't fall on some litigious person he might sue because there was a possibility that it might. And of course, all that concerns the RP management is money, and the slightest whiff of the possible loss of some sends them into a tizzy. Motor racing courses have notices at the gates: 'Motor racing is dangerous.' So you have been warned, and if you choose to proceed it's at your risk. If I were the park manager (and how many things I would do differently if I were!) I would put up a similar notice about trees, which after all do drop branches without warning even in a flat calm.
Hello Ralph. You mentioned there the climate change scam, can you elaborate please. Surely climate change is a real thing and not a complete scam, no? Look at the animals that suffer changes in our world and have to evolve to suit. For example, the Willow Emerald Damselfly has migrated to the UK and is growing in numbers due to climate change. Is all just a myth then? - Clive
ReplyDeleteThe climate does change, but not through human agency (except in small systems such as cities, and areas especially confined valleys where human agency has altered the vegetation). Over the past 200 years we have been recovering from the 'Little Ice Age', caused by a reduction in solar activity. At the moment it's reducing again. All this is natural and inevitable, but there was no real long-term change over the course of the 20th century: there were very hot years and very cold ones, floods and droughts, all normal.
DeleteNONE of this was caused by the tiny human emissions of carbon dioxide. It only takes one large volcanic eruption in Iceland to add more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than humans have added in centuries.
However, there is now a religion -- there is no other way to describe it -- promulgated by the powers that be, one of whose holy doctrines is that we are baking ourselves to death through our own activities. All religions operate by punishing their adherents for their guilt, as this is necessary to secure loyal belief. So we are having our ordinary way of life deliberately wrecked to subdue us into obedience.
The 'evidence' is faked. Statistics are cherry-picked to support it. Record temperatures are recorded next to airfields with acres of concrete swept by jet exhausts. Temperature measurements have been subverted by changing the recording method from air temperatures to ground temperatures. Much is simply made up.
If the government tells you that something is happening, the question to ask is not 'Is it true?' It's 'What does the government hope to achieve by telling you this?'