Bird Watching In Greenwich Park

Up early this morning to carry out the monthly Bird Walk in Greenwich Park, monitoring all birds seen on a pre-determined walk (I admit it, I'm a member of the Greenwich Park Bird Group!)

Nothing of particular interest today apart from the large flocks of ring necked parakeets that come to feed on the ripening sweet chestnuts. A native of India, escapees have bred successfully and are now numerous in the South East.

Many stories exist of how they first arrived here, my favorite being that whilst filming scenes for "The African Queen" (with Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn), a lake near Elstree Studios "doubled" as the Congo (presumably planted with exotic species). Trained parakeets were released to provide a further exotic touch.

Unfortunately, they weren't trained that well, and escaped, survived and bred. It's nice to think that the ones we see around today are the descendants from those in that old film!

Anyway, what's this got to do with design. Absolutely nothing, but if you're stuck for something to do, why not visit the park for a spot of parakeet watching . There are also numerous trees putting on good displays of autumn colour too!

Dickie