St James Park, London

06Sep
by Cherryl

Compared to some of London’s other parks, St James Park is a doddle!! It’s easy to navigate, not overwhelming at all.

St James Park pretty much centres around a duck and bird filled lake – dotted with an abundance of trees (especially willow trees) and a whole lot of friendly and inquisitive bushy tailed squirrels.

The park is London’s oldest Royal Park, surrounded by three palaces.

Passing the Time

One of life’s simple pleasures – sitting in a park, thinking about everything or nothing, feeding the ducks, the squirrels or simply people watching.

Whatever you’re doing it’s probably something very simple – like the elderly couple who had fallen fast asleep against each other on a bench one afternoon, oblivious to the smiles of amused passers by. 😊

Things to Admire

Trees are amazing!!

Contemplating…

Duck Island Cottage

For some reason ‘The Hobbit’ sprang to mind the minute I set eyes on this cute little plot.

In 1841 Duck Island Cottage was built primarily as a home to the park’s bird keeper – plenty of peace and quiet here!!

Duck Island Cottage

Star of the Show – the Pelicans

Don’t let the photographs fool you. These birds are huge – really big!!

Everyone wants a picture of the pelicans, and everyone’s pretty much in awe of them because they’re massive, beautiful and not something we see very often living freely in a public UK park, especially not in central London.

The wingspan when these birds spread their wings is pretty unbelievable.

The pelicans are of Russian decent, first brought to the park as a gift to Kings Charles II from a Russian Ambassador in 1664.

Is it a tree, a den, a tree house or a collapsed tree….possibly all of these combined, the child in you will love it. Inside, is where I had my surprising squirrel encounter – a squirrel trying to climb up my leg. I guess that’s what you get for poking around in someone else’s house, it’s only right that the host would want to come and say hello!! 🐿

I saw someone feeding the ducks with monkey nuts – didn’t know they liked nuts, maybe they were leftovers for the squirrels.

London is not short on parks, its surprisingly green for a concrete jungle, very green indeed if you head to the right places. 🌳  I suspect most parks have been busier than usual under the circumstances – people want to get out, feel uplifted, stretch their legs, crunch some leaves, connect with nature and feel free – while social distancing of course. 🤗

Nearest tube stations: St James’s Park, Green Park, Victoria, and Westminster

Opening times: 5am – midnight

40 thoughts on “St James Park, London”

    1. Cherryl

      Yes 🤗 there was a particular tree where a lot of them seemed to be – and of course there were quite a lot of people all gathered/crowding to get a look/photo. I’ve seen them randomly in other parts of London too (not parks – just streets with trees) and remember wondering whether they were escaped exotic pets 🤔 I didn’t realise at the time that these birds live freely in the city🌆which is surprising, but lovely 🦜

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