A Trip to London

My back is slowly improving and now that I am on annual leave from work I'm hoping it will continue to do so but I was a bit apprehensive as we boarded the train to London on Thursday 23rd March for a few days away as it is still quite uncomfortable especially when sitting down. It was a long journey too, over 4 hours following a diversion via Honiton due to engineering works but at least the wildlife kept me distracted as we passed through the English countryside with views of at least 10 Red Kite soaring in the wind, a flock of around 100 Fieldfare flying over, a few Greylag Geese hidden amongst flocks of Canada Geese feeding in the fields and a few skulky Roe Deer in the hedgetows being the highlights. I had a look for Alpine Swifts over Dawlish Warren as we passed through on the train, no luck as expected but they were being seen in the area at the time we were travelling past.

London was London, busy, expensive and hectic, but we had an enjoyable time. We visited The Postal Musueum and had a ride on the now defunct mail tube train (more interesting and fun than it sounds), visited the Sir John Soames museum and managed to get onto the tour of the upper rooms (only 8 people a day get to do this!) and visited The London Silver Vault where we admired the fantastic silverware on display which was all for sale. We also saw The Mousetrap at The St.Martins Theatre which was different and visited The British Museum where I sought out the information boards for items that specifically related to The British Empire and which provided a much more balanced and less wokey view of events than current dialogue would suggest.

Sir John Soames Museum

Seti I Sarcopgahus detail, Sir John Soames Musueum

Our trip to London was built around a visit to The Beefeater Gin Distillery at Kennington, part of my prize from Thistle Hotels that I won last year but didn't have the time to redeem on our trip to London before Christmas, and it was a great experience that involved imbibing copious amounts of gin which always goes down well (and which did my back the power of good!). 

I did manage to sneak in a bit of birding time with a short visit to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens for a quick look about. I had a look for Little Owls but I don't have any real info on the best trees to look for them in anymore so I drew a blank as expected, probably not helped by it being a busy Saturday morning and quite breezy.

There were plenty of other birds to keep me occupied though and I had some good views of Pochard, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Greylag Goose, Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant and Grey Heron on The Serpentine. There were also good numbers of Egyptian Geese and Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the fenced off areas of the park which are being returfed following the damage caused by the Christmas Fair in December. A lone Black Swan was also seen feeding on The Round Pond with the Mute Swans. 

Tufted Duck

Gadwall

Greylag Geese

Greylag Goose

Ringed Greylag

Ringed Greylag

Grey Heron

Grey Heron

Egyptian Goose

Egyptian Goose Close-up

Egyptian Goose

Egyptian Goose - beautiful colours and patterns

Egyptian Geese 

Lesser Black-backed Gull 

Black Swan

Also of note were Ring-necked Parakeets screeching away in the trees, 2 Chiffchaffs heard quietly singing away and 2 Stock Dove seen checking out nesting holes.

All too soon our few days away were over and we caught the train back to Plymouth. On the journey the usual Red Kites and Roe Deer were seen along with the Snow Goose on Powderham Marsh near Exeter but unfortunately there was no sighting of Alpine Swift around Dawlish/Teignmouth despite their ongoing presence.