Wildlife Photography in London

Last November I decided to have a day out photographing for wildlife, but rather than head out into the countryside of East Anglia, I instead headed in to London. This may seem like a strange place go for wildlife, but there is plenty to be seen and much of it relatively easy to approach.

I started at Regents Park, where the sun was yet to rise above the surrounding buildings. This blackbird was foraging among the leaves for worms. The lack of light meant the shutter speed was only 1/25th of a second, but thankfully the combined in body and lens IS gave me a sharp image at 840mm equivalent, at least when the bird was still enough!

On the lake there was a little grebe feeding, diving down for fish. This usually timid species was close enough for some shots.

This shot to shows the movement they do to shake off the water when the surface, though it is a bit of ‘Marmite’ shot perhaps!

There was a great crested grebe fishing nearby too.

As the sun rose above the buildings I went to find some herons. There were not many about, but I got some nice autumnal backlit shots

A grey squirrel posed nicely too.

Now the sun was up, I had another shot at the little grebes in the warmish light.

After a quick journey on the Underground I found myself in Hyde Park. Walking along the Serpentine (the lake lake that runs through the middle of the park), I came across a Cormorant fishing near the shore. Annoyingly it was in a area in shadow, so shutter speed was again and issue, but I managed this sharp shot.

Nearby another Cormorant was drying it’s wings on the posts.

I walked under the road that divides Hyde Park from Kensington Gardens and further along the lake, and found yet another Cormorant that was drying it’s wings, but this time much closer, so went for a wide angle shot.

And some close ups.

There is a unofficial bird feeding area where the bird come right up to you, thinking they will be fed. This Magpie sat on a tree as I walked nearby.

On the Round Pond there were a number of Common Gulls like this one.

Another grey squirrel was busy collecting seeds and nuts for winter.

I finally found a Jay, one of the main reasons I had come to London. I didn’t quite get the frame filling images I wanted, but this will do…for now at least!

While trying to photograph the Jay it came down way to close and quickly to use the 300mm lens so I switched to a wider angle lens. I put down a couple of peanuts and got….a feral pigeon. Still I quite like the image and they are underrated birds.

The last shots of the trip were quite appropriate for a day dominated posing cormorants. Of these shots taken in the fading light, this was probably the pick of them.