wildlife | this northern boy

June 1, 2021

Green

Green. I seek out green places more and more as I get older. The combination of peace and the sounds of nature seem to give me an incredible sense of well-being. Advocates of ‘Forest bathing’ have a point. At this time of year, particularly, the colours are incredible. Fresh, vibrant, jewel greens. White and yellow of Cow Parsley and Cowslip. The unexpected violet-blue of a glade of Bluebells. But green, always the green. Dappled sunlight and mossy roots and rocks. There’s a path I’ll always take.

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October 26, 2020

Fun(gi) in the woods.

I’ve recently bought a new camera, a Fuji X-T4. It’s a more serious beast than my old Olympus Pen EP3. Having a better camera means I have to try and improve my photography skills, and not just rely on the auto settings. The auto settings do a reasonable job in most cases, but by using them on the Olympus, I wasn’t learning anything. Now I have the X-T4 I’m trying to at least shoot on aperture priority mode if not full manual. It’s fun. Not just the photography, but the learning a new skill. Wish I’d started it earlier in lockdown now.

I’m also making more of an effort to get out and about to go for walks and to take photos. It’s great having 1200 acres of royal park on my doorstep, but I kind of know it like the back of my hand now, so it’s well past time to explore new places.

Last Friday I visited Ockham Common, and today I went for a walk around Wisley Common. They are actually part of the same area and habitat, but divided by the A3 road from London to Portsmouth. It’s quite strange to be in the middle of a beautiful open heath or ancient woodland, and yet be only half a mile from one of Britain’s busiest roads. You can just about forget about the road noise once you get walking.

Today’s treats were: hundreds of incredible toadstools and fungi, including the fairytale-like Fly Agaric, which I’d never seen before, and a Scots Pine full of Crossbills, which was another first. Add that to the dozens of Siskins and Redpolls I saw last week at Ockham and it’s been a great time for me to tick things off. I can’t wait to visit both commons again over the different seasons. Maybe in summer I’ll be lucky enough to see the UK’s rarest reptile – the Sand Lizard, or one of its strangest birds – the Nightjar.

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December 2, 2019

Park Walk

Another beautiful walk in Bushy Park. The ground frosty, the air clear and crisp, the sky bright blue. Couldn’t be bettered. Here are some pics.

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July 17, 2019

An early morning stumble in to the park

Usually if I wake up early I just lay there wishing I could go back to sleep. Today, at 5.15am, I decided to get up and go for a walk in the park. Proved to be a pretty marvellous idea as I got there before it became inundated with joggers and dog walkers.

The park – Bushy Park – is just a couple of minute’s walk from my house, and I feel very privileged to have it so close by. It’s a Royal Park, set up by Henry VIII for his hunting requirements and its oak trees were used to build ships for his naval fleet.

It’s a varied landscape, acid grasslands, acres of Yellow Meadow Ant anthills, open oak woodland – as well as lots of later ornamental landscaping put in place by Charles I and later monarchs. There are herds of Red and Fallow Deer, Green and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, and an abundance of other birds. This morning I watched a Sparrow Hawk circling and a male Kestrel perched on a branch with its prey. Getting out of bed early has really set me up for the day.

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January 31, 2019

A Frosty Walk

Winter seems to have finally arrived in the UK, nothing compared to the polar vortex currently plunging much of the US in to a deep freeze, and I managed to get myself out of bed early and in to my local park for a walk this morning. Bushy Park, one of the Royal Parks of London, is beautiful at any time of year but with a hard frost under clear skies it’s absolutely spectacular. These photos are taken with either my iPhone 8 or Olympus Pen.

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You can also find prints of my work here

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August 10, 2016

August blogfest – day 10

I’m lucky enough to live just a stone’s throw from Bushy Park, a royal park southwest of London sandwiched between Hampton, Kingston, and Teddington.

I probably don’t spend nearly enough time in the park, but whenever I do, it’s an absolute joy.

Green Woodpecker.

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Back Camera

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Red deer in Bushy Park.

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The Royal Parks Foundation says this –

Before a Royal Park…

The flat site of Bushy Park has been settled for at least 4,000 years. A Bronze Age barrow & burial mound was excavated near Sandy Lane and the contents are now housed in the British Museum. There are clear remains of medieval settlements, with the finest example found South of Waterhouse Woodland Gardens, where there are traces of the largest and most complex field system in Middlesex.

The Longford River

King Charles I had the idea of creating an artificial waterway in the park because Hampton Court Palace was always short of water. There was nowhere locally with a sufficient fall of water and so the Longford River was built exceeding 19 kilometres in length. It was designed by Nicholas Lane in 1638-39. It was built by hand, took 9 months to complete and cost £4000!

Chestnut Avenue

This mile long avenue was conceived by Sir Christopher Wren as a formal approach to Hampton Court Palace in the reign of William III & Mary II. Flanked on both sides by a single row of horse chestnuts and four rows of limes, it marks the park’s zenith in terms of royal ambitions and sophistication. The view from Teddington Gate provides the most striking view of the Avenue, with the Arethusa ‘Diana’ Fountain and the Banqueting Hall as the backdrop.

The House of Windsor

During the First World War (WWI), areas of land in the park were turned over to the plough to ‘Dig for Victory’. King George V gave his permission to use Upper Lodge as a home for Canadian Convalescents. Queen Mary visited the troops and made sure entertainment was provided with the help of local people. This Canadian tie with the park is commemorated by the Totem Pole and the Canadian Glade in the Waterhouse Woodland Gardens.

During the Second World War (WWII) large areas of the parks were again turned over for the production of food.

From 1942, Bushy Park became the site of a large U.S. base called Camp Griffiss, headquarters to a number of the Allied departments. General Dwight Eisenhower was averse to working in the centre of London during the Second World War. He decided instead to make Bushy Park the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) centre for planning Operation Overlord, the 1944 D-Day.

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