Bad pics of fab wildlife - part 2!

Unknown said:

A great find. Shame it was so far away ... but your eyesight can't be that bad if you spotted that all the way out there ...

I heard someone mention it as they looked through their high quality and far reaching scope ……    so I can't take the credit    lol 

At that distance and it that greyness, it's still a good spot Hazel :o)

You sure it wasn't Larry the Loon?

That could have gone better

One of us needs better reflexes ... 

That's a shame the AF didn't lock on to the kingy, they would have been brilliant photos.

Still good captures though.

Some little blue tit, wouldn't come out, for ages....

Taken at Kensington gardens a few weeks ago. The only close-up photo I took of the great tit in my hand. A perfect opportunity missed due to bad focussing!

Always lovely to hand feed the birds and I used to feed them in the London Parks when on the rare occasion I visited the city until new signs were put up asking people not to feed the birds; I fully understand that food like bread which was being thrown into the Serpentine for the swans and ducks is very unhealthy and pollutes the water and that too many feral pigeons and ring-necked parakeets were causing a nuisance as their numbers grew so it was always a very contentious topic of discussion but somehow not to be able to offer seed to the Great Tits, Chaffinches, Blue Tits, etc., some of which will come to hand seemed to take some of the pleasure out of a park visit and it was all part of a park experience. Not sure why the Royal Parks can't have a small designated area in one of these large parks for visitors (especially young children) where they are allowed to feed the birds - they could ensure birds get the correct food by installing a vending type machine for seed (a rule that you don't bring your own food) and any profit could go towards upkeep of the area. I've seen vending machines with seed in couple of other places and also dedicated retail outlet on-site. I think Londoners must have been feeding birds in their city and parks for over 100 years, something which was always an accepted practice and although I do agree that much stricter rules need to be in place it would be nice if some a compromise could be made. Although I had taken seed with me I did heed the new signs and thus did not feed any bird.

This used to be the old message from Royal Parks (when you could feed the birds using their guidelines)       they have not removed this from the web yet 

This is the latest message from Royal Parks 

I absolutely agree it would be better to regulate it than prevent us from feeding the birds at all. I do wonder if they might enforce a ban in Kensington gardens at some point. I do hope not though. It was such an amazing experience to feed the tits from the hand, it was the sole purpose of my visit to the gardens. I'm sure feeding the birds/parakeets has increased footfall in the gardens (not that any London attraction struggles for business!) But tourists/visitors means money so I'm guessing they'll want to keep the tourist count high. That's the reasoning that gives me hope anyway!

You're a better person than me, I'd already decided during my one hour journey to Kensignton gardens that if they'd enforced a no bird feeding rule since my last visit I was still going to feed the smaller birds!