Exercise!

I felt much in need of a goodish walk today so this morning I headed off for Richmond Park. The sun was shining and feeling warm, the sky was blue, the air was fresh - another wonderful winter's day!

Not too much about (to take pics of) in terms of the local birds - many Ring-necked Parakeets and a Green Woodpecker. The call of the Mistle Thrush as it flew over. Down on Penn Ponds about 30 Tufted Ducks and the usual mass of Black-headed Gulls. A couple of Mute Swans and a Great Crested Grebe.

I rather liked the colouring of the sun and sky in the water

The trees looked great with their stark shapes against the blue sky, and the bracken is now rusty brown in colour. No deer around today - at least not where I was.





After a quick call in at home to have a sandwich, I headed off for some later afternoon sun in Hampton Court. Got chatting to two different people so missed some photo opportunities - but it was great to talk. I met a very nice young French lady who was thoroughly enjoying Hampton Court gardens and was impressed with the amount of wildlife we have so close to London. She's hoping to discover Bushey Park... I'm sure she'll enjoy it!

On the way back, I passed many trees which bore mistletoe - very seasonal!!

There's this bird...

It started with a ..... text yesterday. Grey Phalarope, Rick Pond, Hampton Court Park. OK - that's on my doorstep, but the pond - where in the park is it?

Hampton Court Park is also known (and probably more correctly) as Home Park . This park is mostly open ground with many oak trees. It has entrances off the River Thames Towpath and further away in Kingston upon Thames; from here you can drive up to the Golf Club - the golf course occupying quite a large part of the park. Apart from this, it is open park land without any facilities - which is good!

So on Friday, with not that much time to spare, I trotted off to find Rick Pond. I started from Hampton Court and walked about 1.5 miles. There was only one pond I could think of but that didn't marry up with where I was expecting to find the pond. I asked one of the groundsmen and he suggested that it must be that one - he didn't know of another. Well, it wasn't - I was sure - and by then I was out of time. I met said groundsman on my return. He then remembered where the other pond was - hey ho. So off home I went for other commitments.

I may have dipped on the bird, but I did see a small group of Fallow Deer blending in with the background.



TODAY - SATURDAY
My daughter was going into Kingston-upon-Thames and suggested I joined her and my grandson for a walk along the towpath. This we did but went through Home Park which is bordered by the towpath.

Hampton Court Palace from the road bridge. The river is very high at present, from all the rain we've been having.

Huge bunches of mistletoe adorn this tree in the palace grounds

Rick Pond
I found Rick pond - was impressed with the size of it - it's very open - one birder looking around - plus me - BUT no Grey Phalarope. Not really surprised it had probably long gone since yesterday.


So we continued our very enjoyable walk into Kingston, having rejoined the towpath from the park. Our journey (from my daughter's home) was probably about 4 miles.



Kingston Bridge appears in the next two pictures
(if you look very closely that is.....)



View from Kingston bridge looking upstream

Having reached town, it really reinforced in my mind when I never go in at a weekend - particularly with the run up to Christmas - it was packed. We did our minimal shopping and fled for home; we cheated and caught the bus most of the way back.

I think I shall sleep tonight.