Kensington Gardens Nature Walk

Kensington Gardens

I signed up to attend a nature walk in Kensington Gardens. I was mainly prompted to do this by the Nature Lover badge, but I was excited nevertheless. It was a lovely autumn day in the Gardens, and we saw and learned a lot.

Some of the trees we were introduced to included bay, ginkgo biloba, turkey oak, yew, horse chestnut, sweet chestnut and lime/linden. We learned that the ginkgo biloba tree has ‘swimming’ sperm and can switch gender; the turkey oak has male and female flowers on the same tree; and the oldest trees in London and the UK are yews, which have separate sex trees – only the females produce berries. Horse chestnut trees are not native to the UK and will probably go extinct in the next century because of climate change, whereas sweet chestnuts have prettier flowers, are edible, and are more spiky.

ginkgo biloba treeGinkgo Biloba tree

Some of the plants we came across included rosemary, lavender, brambles and stinging nettles, as well as numerous flowers. Flowerbeds in the Gardens can be created with AI to provide the most pollen and nectar. Interestingly, some butterflies (including peacock butterflies) will only lay eggs on stinging nettles.

Throughout the walk we came across plenty of fungi, including artist’s bracket, chicken of the woods and birch polypore. Chicken of the woods is commonly found on oak and cherry trees (the one we saw was on a cherry). Birch polypores generally only grow on dead and dying birch trees; these fungi have about 80 sexes to be as compatible with as many others as possible.

LoggeryLoggery

We spied a loggery designed for beetles and also turned over some logs to see what we could find. Stag beetles are endangered in the UK; we didn’t see any on our walk, but they do live in the park, on or in rotting wood. We did spot woodlice: some woodlice are all female and reproduce asexually, because of a bacteria that turns eggs female while they are developing. Ladybird larvae can be found on leaves – they look very different to adult ladybirds. We learned about aphids, which are fascinating: aphids clone themselves (though they can mate with others if needed);  they have babies that are already pregnant and they can also have babies with wings (or without). Amazing!

We found a bee and were able to take a closer look. Most bees are, in fact, solitary. Apparently there is a type of bee called a cuckoo bee that will kill the queen and settle in to the hive so that the worker bees feed their larvae instead!

A beeBee

My favourite thing I learned during the walk was about galls and oak gall ink. Galls on acorns are created by wasps to house their larvae. Oak gall ink was the first permanent ink, made with ground up oak apple galls and iron sulphates. The Magna Carta and the American Declaration of Independence were both signed with this ink! It has also been suggested that the existence of wasp nests could have inspired humans to make paper. It seems that wasps are useful for something after all!

I thoroughly enjoyed my nature walk and the chance to spend more time in Kensington Gardens.

Gunnersbury Park Bat Walk

Gunnersbury Park Museum has recently reopened after refurbishment, and while I was browsing the website I came across a bat walk. I signed up to go on the July walk in the hope of coming across a few bats.

Bat detector
Bat detector

On meeting at the park, we were handed bat detectors, which were quite exciting, designed to pick up bat squeaks at high frequencies. Different species have different frequencies so you have to move the dial around to make sure you pick up anything that might be out there.

We headed down to the lake and at first there was no sign of any bat activity, even though we walked right round the lake and were there for ages. Eventually, however, as it grew dusk, some bats began to come out of hiding and we saw them swooping around, aided by the bat detectors which picked up their noise almost before we saw them.

Lake
Waiting for bats

I never thought that standing by the side of a lake in the dark on a Friday night would be such fun, but it really was. There is another walk taking place in September if you fancy giving it a go.

Birdworld

Birdworld

I was browsing the Tesco Clubcard website looking for somewhere to use up my remaining vouchers, when I came across Birdworld. It wasn’t far from me, and what’s more, it had penguins! So I decided to visit.

Walk from Bentley station
The start of the walk from Bentley station

The nearest station is Farnham in Surrey, reachable from London Waterloo. You can then get a bus which stops directly outside Birdworld. However, I followed the directions on the website which explain how to walk through countryside from Bentley station. This might have been a good idea if it hadn’t been 30°C; as it was, I arrived at the park already tired. There is also a stream right next to the car park that you need to leap over – I was convinced I was going to fall in! Next time I think I’ll stick to the bus.

Some sort of toucan
Some sort of toucan

There is a gift shop and cafe at the entrance, so once I’d bought my ticket I had an early lunch before doing anything else. I picked up a map of the park and checked out the event times before heading off to explore.

Bird
I forget what this bird was called, but it had a cool name

As the name might suggest, Birdworld is home to a weird and wonderful variety of birds, from penguins to parrots, flamingos to owls. It has over 150 species and is the largest bird park in the UK.

Flamingos
Flamingos

You can follow the recommended route, or just wander around like I did. I started with the birds near the entrance, including the owls (this area is named after Sir Terry Pratchett) and the parakeets, before moving on to the flamingos and other sea birds.

The Owl Parliament
The Owl Parliament

Along the way I passed kookaburras, peacocks and the gloriously named Tawny Frogmouths.

Baby Tawny Frogmouth
Baby Tawny Frogmouth

There is a farm right at the back, with rabbits, goats and chickens – there were even a few baby chicks. I missed out on seeing the live show in the theatre as I was a few minutes too late, but was able to watch from outside. I did get to the flight display area in time to see some of the birds of prey in action, which was very entertaining.

Baby chicks
Baby chicks

I left the penguins till last, as they are my favourites! There are two species of penguins living at Birdworld – African penguins, which live at Penguin Beach, and Humboldt penguins, which can be found at Penguin Island. I was in time to see the Humboldts being fed – they REALLY love their fish.

African penguins at Penguin Beach
African penguins at Penguin Beach

Humboldt penguins at Penguin Island
Humboldt penguins at Penguin Island

Before I left, I visited Underwater World, the entrance to which is just across from Birdworld. Entrance is included in the price of your ticket. This place has several interesting varieties of fish, and even miniature crocodiles.

Kookaburras
Kookaburras

I really enjoyed my visit to Birdworld, and if I lived closer I’d seriously consider buying an Annual Pass so that I could visit the penguins regularly. In any case, I certainly plan to visit again at some point.

Friendly cockatoo
Friendly cockatoo

FACTS

Address: Holt Pound, Farnham, Surrey, GU10 4LD

Website: birdworld.co.uk

Opening Hours: 10am-6pm

Prices: Adult £15.95, concession £13.95. Cheaper prices apply for children and under 3s are free. Prices are also cheaper off-season when the park is not fully open – check the website for details.

WWT London

WWT London entrance

The WWT London Wetland Centre is a wetland reserve managed by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in the Barnes area of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest London. I had some Tesco Clubcard Days Out tokens to use, so decided to pay it a visit.

The WWT is a conservation charity with a focus on saving and preserving wetlands, which are havens for wildlife and essential to our ecosystem. There are several wetland centres throughout the country. I actually grew up pretty near the Washington centre, so have visited it several times; this is the first time, however, that I have visited the London site.

Statue of Peter Scott

I got the bus to the centre (several buses run nearby, from Hammersmith and White City) and walked up to the entrance. The first thing I spotted, in a pond close by, was a statue of Peter Scott. He founded the WWT in 1946: the first site was at Slimbridge and even then was open to the public. (Incidentally, Peter was the son of polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott. In his last letter to his wife Kathleen, Scott wrote of their son, “Make the boy interested in nature if you can”. Looks like that worked out pretty well).

Ducks

Once I’d paid and passed through the entrance building, I found myself in a central courtyard with the observatory straight ahead, a café to my right, and two possible routes ahead of me: the West route and the South route, which curve around the main lake in the centre (a map is available online). I opted for the West route first of all.

Assorted waterfowl

It was a lovely day, and I enjoyed walking past the various ponds and lakes, trying to identify the various birds roaming around. This area is divided into different sections, each one based on a wetland from a different part of the world. I had fun with some of the rather random bird names – I’m particularly fond of the whistling ducks. As I walked back I realised I was just in time for the otter feeding. There are a pair of otters here, Asian short-clawed otters, and it was fun to watch them play and dive for their fish.

Ducks having a conversation

When I got back to the entrance I went for a cup of tea before heading down the South route. This one was much quieter, calmer and more open. I passed the bat house and had a lovely view out onto the expanse of the main wetland. I ventured into a couple of the hides, but I don’t really have the patience to sit quietly identifying birds!

Ducklings

A note on accessibility: the wetland was built upon the site of a defunct reservoir, so it’s pretty flat, and most of the paths are wide. The largest hide even has a lift, so overall it seems pretty accessible.

Otters

I really enjoyed my trip to the Wetland Centre. I wonder if I made a mistake coming in the late spring: I thought this would be the best time but in fact it’s in the winter when you’re more likely to see the rarer birds. The website has an interesting guide to what you might be able to see each season, as well as lots of interesting facts about wetlands and wildlife.

Otters

Entrance is pretty pricey, but it’s all for a good cause, and if you use Clubcard tokens like me it’s a bargain. Recommended.

FACTS

Address: Queen Elizabeth’s Walk, Barnes, London SW13 9WT

Website: wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/london

Opening Hours: 9.30am-5.30pm summer, 9.30am-4.30pm winter

Prices: £13.49 adults, £10.09 concessions, £7.42 children 4-16, under 4s free. Slightly cheaper prices are available without Gift Aid.

Kew Gardens

Despite having lived in London for over two years, I’d never been to Kew Gardens. At a loss for something to do on Sunday, however, I decided to finally visit. I caught a bus from my home in west London which dropped me off outside, however there is also an Underground and Overground service nearby in the form of Kew Gardens station (you could also try wombling free – sorry, bad joke).

Though Kew opens at 9.30 am in the summer, I didn’t get there until 1 pm, and wished I had turned up earlier as there was a bit of a queue – I only had to wait around fifteen minutes, however. Kew is huge – the site covers 132 hectares (326 acres) and there is a lot to see. It is possible to take the Kew Explorer, a kind of open bus, around the gardens, with regular departures at key points plus a commentary – but this costs £4 (£1 for a child) so I didn’t bother. I wished I had by the end of the day, though, as I was shattered!

The Temperate House (along with its neighbour Evolution House) is currently closed for restoration until 2018. This was a shame, as it is the largest surviving Victorian glasshouse in the world (opened 1863, the same year as the first London Underground line) and I would have liked to see it. Still, I suppose they’ve got to do their restoration work sometime – and it was one less thing for me to visit.

Instead, I headed right and went into the Palm House. As the name suggests, this glasshouse holds an amazing variety of palms. Not being a gardening expert, I grew slightly bored after looking at a few, but the general atmosphere of the house was evocative. In fact, it was rather TOO evocative – up on the walkway, it was so hot and humid that I thought I was going to faint! Underneath the glasshouse, there were – bizarrely – a number of fishtanks.

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Palm House

Outside, I popped into the nearby Waterlily House. Though it was small, the waterlilies were amazing – but there was the same humidity problem I had experienced in the Palm House, so I made a fast exit.

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Waterlily House

As a respite from the humid greenhouses, I decided to have a look inside the Plants & People exhibition in a stone building behind the lake. This looked at the ways in which people make use of plants, from food and housing to furniture, jewellery, musical instruments and pain relief. The exhibition was fascinating, if a little too packed to take everything in.

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Next, I headed towards the Princess of Wales Conservatory, which was one of my favourite parts of Kew. Inside, varying climates are replicated in different areas to show the different kinds of plants that grow in varied climates. For instance, cacti and plants such as aloes grow in the desert – I was fascinated by one species that resembles a group of stones, which helps protect it from predators. Delicate orchids grow in more temperate climates, while leafy palms prefer tropical environments. I was also interested in the room of carnivorous plants: I spent some time watching a fly hovering round the edge of one to see if it would be eaten – luckily it survived this time!

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Princess of Wales Conservatory

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Alpine House and rock garden

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After this I wandered over to Kew Palace (open April – September 10.30 – 17.30). This palace is small by palatial standards, resembling a small country manor more than a royal home. Famously, it is the place where George III stayed during his bouts of ‘madness’ (probably porphyria). Poignantly, the dishes from which he was fed during his worst days are on display, as are letters relating to his illness. The rooms at the top of the house are unrestored and stripped back, allowing us to get an idea of what they would have been like when Georgian princesses lived in them. Round the corner from the Palace are the Royal Kitchens, the only remaining part of the former palace complex that stood on the site.

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Kew Palace

After stopping for a piece of cake and a cup of tea at the White Peaks Café, I spent some time exploring the top end of the gardens. There were fewer people at this end and it was peaceful and pleasant, with beautiful plants and trees everywhere. At one point I was walking by the river. Eventually I passed the Badger Sett, which is designed for kids to explore – obviously I didn’t go in here but it looked like the kids who were there were having a great time!

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Historic, gnarled tree

Eventually I came to the Treetop Walkway, which allows you to see round the gardens, although I couldn’t see much except the tops of the trees (and the Temperate House through a gap in some of them). The walkway is high and there are lots of stairs, but there is also a lift. The walkway itself can be worryingly wobbly, but it seems sturdy enough, and the barriers around it are high.

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View of the Temperate House from the walkway

After this, I wandered over to the bottom corner of the gardens to admire the Pagoda and the Japanese Gateway before walking in the direction of Victoria Gate (the main gate, where I came in) once again. On the way, I entered the Marianne North Gallery and the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. The former contains hundreds of beautiful watercolours painted by Victorian artist Marianne North, while the latter is currently displaying beautiful and intricate paintings of flowers and vegetables (which are more interesting than they sound!).

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Pagoda

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Marianne North Gallery

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Marianne North Gallery

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Ruined Arch

I was really exhausted by this time, so after a quick look at the Mediterranean Garden, I headed off. Not before treating myself to some hand cream and wildflower body spray in the shop first, though!

***Visitor Info***

Kew has several entrances: the Victoria Gate is the main gate on Kew Road – other gates can be found to the left of the Victoria Gate (Lion Gate), the right (Elizabeth Gate) and by the river (Brentford Gate, for cars and motorbikes only).

Tickets are priced at £16 for adults (£14.50 without the ‘voluntary’ donation – I hate this practice but loads of places do it nowadays), but I was able to get in for half price with my Art Fund pass. Concessions are £14 (or £12.50) and children under 16 go free. This summer, it is also possible to buy a “lazy summer afternoons” ticket for £7 if you turn up after 3.30 pm.

Opening times vary with the season; in summer the gates open at 9.30 am and close at 7.30 pm, though most attractions within the gardens close at least half an hour earlier.

I had a really lovely day at Kew and I would recommend it to anyone. I think you’d get the most out of it if you have a particular interest in gardening or plants, but I haven’t and I still managed to have a good time. I would like to visit again at a different time so I can get an idea of how it changes with the seasons.

Extinction: Not the End of the World? – Natural History Museum

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Natural History Museum

On my trip to the Natural History Museum last week, I also managed to fit in a visit to the summer exhibition, Extinction: Not the End of the World? I really enjoyed the exhibition, which was fascinating and thought-provoking.

Extinction is always thought of as a Bad Thing. However, this exhibition explores the idea that it is not always negative. Species have to die out to make way for others. We humans wouldn’t be here at all if it wasn’t for extinction.

This isn’t to say that we should become complacent about rare and endangered species, or simply shrug our shoulders and allow it to happen. If a species dies out this could disrupt the ecosystem, with lasting consequences. Human action is accelerating decline in many species and this could cause considerable problems.

This isn’t to say that humans are the only factor. Animals may die out for a variety of reasons: increased competition, changes in the environment, or slow breeding processes. The most famous of these is probably the asteroid that (likely) killed off the dinosaurs.

The exhibition offered lots of scope for interaction, and gave viewers the chance to vote on certain issues, such as whether we should make the effort to conserve all animals, or only those that benefit humans. I was pleased to see that most people took the unselfish route and believed that all animals are worth preserving, not just those that are of use to us.

This was a really interesting exhibition and well worth seeing. It’s on until the 8th of September so there’s still time to catch it.

Sebastião Salgado: Genesis – Natural History Museum

After I’d been to the Sensational Butterflies exhibition at the Natural History Museum, I went inside the museum proper to visit a photography exhibition I’d liked the sound of. Sebastião Salgado: Genesis includes black and white images of landscapes, people and wildlife. By focusing on the natural world, Salgado invites us to reflect on our own lifestyles and our impact on the Earth’s resources.

The exhibition was divided into several sections, relating to continents, themes or peoples. My favourite photographs, unsurprisingly, were the stunning Antarctic scenes, but I also liked the images of various communities and their homes. The photographs were beautiful and impressive, and left me in awe.