London

TUESDAY 6th APRIL 2010

Some text still to be added

I had an early-afternoon appointment in Chelsea, so took a morning train to Waterloo and walked there via Westminster Bridge, St James' Park, Green Park, and Hyde Park. The return was via St Luke's gardens, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, a number 9 bus and Waterloo Bridge.

The Squirrels and Parakeets were enjoying nibbling the blossom on the trees. To get these pictures I had to fight my way through hordes of girls saying "aw, cute!" in many different languages.

A pretty young Red-Crested Pochard is the centre of attention for at least six of her male counterparts.

A Moorhen is not easy to photograph when it's moving because of its fast jerky action, so I took the opportunity to get this one while it was resting.

As I went in to Hyde Park from the Wellington monument, these guys came past on their way back to the barracks from some ceremony.

On the Serpentine, I found all the usual suspects including a Great Black-Backed Gull, ...

... and a Coot. (Awww, coot!)

In the churchyard of St Luke's, Chelsea, a Dunnock was collecting nesting material.

The full-size working replica of Stevenson's "Rocket" was in action in Hyde Park, giving rides to advertise the Science Museum.

In the Round Pond, Kensington Gardens, the Starlings were bathing.

And back at the Serpentine, a Great Tit and a Robin were taking food from the hand of a local character. 

A pair of Great Crested Grebes had made a nest right next the the Serpentine Lido restaurant. No eggs yet though.

My transport back from Hyde Park Corner to Waterloo Bridge was a 1950's-built Routemaster bus, running on route 9 from the Albert Hall to Aldwych.

While I was enjoying the view from Waterloo Bridge, two tugs passed under, each towing a pair of lighters filled with yellow containers. Later research with Google showed this to be a regular route for rubble infill to the 2012 Olympic site, and rubbish away from the site. This improves the envionmental credentials of the 2012 Olympics.