Delights at Regent's Park

With birds, flowers and pets

Grey heron — Credit: Andy Read

Introduction

This is a smorgasbord of nature’s delights both of the rose variety and animal/bird variety. Well, almost. Pigeons might be the exception.

There’s a surprising pet to see out and about, and we end with a little something about dogs of the spotted variety in a lake. If you’re a Disney fan, be sure not to miss it.

Queen Mary’s Gardens

The rose gardens are an enchanting area with beds of roses laid out in concentric circles. Some of the roses are towering above among the trees and bushes on the side, while others are perfectly manicured delighting the senses with their many colours and variety, as well as their fragrance.

Selection of roses in Queen Mary’s Rose Gardens — Credit: Author

Queen Mary was known for her grace and style, which are represented by the gorgeous roses throughout the gardens. She admired the beauty of nature, especially of flowers. At her wedding to King George V, she had a bouquet which included roses. Her bridesmaids had roses woven into their hair, so enchanted was she with these flowers.

There are all kinds of roses here from the delicate single row of petalled flowers with their open centres to the full double-flowered blossoms, big enough to cover your hand (see below).

Grey Heron

There’s a statue of a Japanese eagle in the middle of the lake at Queen Mary’s Gardens, next to the rose gardens.

Grey heron in Queen Mary’s Gardens, Regent’s Park — Credit: Author

This eagle statue was given to the park by Felix Greene in memory of his father. Why? He had money and influence, I guess. His father had been a successful coffee merchant, who had spent 20 years in Brazil before returning to the UK in 1910.

Seeing the heron preening itself on the eagle statue was hilarious. Of all the places to choose! It carefully preened all its feathers back and front, including its right wing then its left wing. Did he mind being watched by onlookers? Ha, not in the least!

Credit: Author

Pigeons

Pigeons are everywhere in London. They are scavengers and never miss an opportunity to eat. Here are some eating the grass seed that wasn’t sown for them to feast on (below) by one of the rose garden beds.

Pigeons scoffing down grass seed — Credit: Andy Read

According to a ten-year study on pigeons, nearly 30 per cent of an average day for a pigeon is spent eating. That’s the second most amount of time it spends doing anything. The most amount of time is spent sleeping. I’ve never knowingly seen a pigeon sleep, though. Have you?

Well, I’ve certainly seen plenty of pigeons eating or chasing another pigeon for a mate (their third most common pigeon behaviour time-wise).

While Queen Mary’s Gardens aren’t the most frequented by pigeons, the greater Regent’s Park certainly does attract them. They’ll eat anything from fried chicken, curry, cooked rice, Bombay mix, sausage, kebab, pizza, cardboard, even vomit! (yuck) They don’t seem to be fussy (picky) eaters at all.

However, their top three foods were found to be 1) pizza, 2) fried chicken, and 3) cheese.

I guess the pigeons in Queen Mary’s Gardens homed in on the grass seed mistaking it for a right royal feast of birdseed. Or maybe they’d just got bored with pizza.

Pets

Of all the pets you see people taking out into the park for a walk on a sunny day, would you expect to see a rabbit?

I’m not kidding. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing (below). A Chinese lady was taking her rabbit in a cute little basket under her arm through Queen Mary’s Gardens. Was the rabbit was enjoying the outing?

Rabbit being taken for a walk in a basket — Credit: Author

I can’t tell you how much I wanted to ask the lady why she was carrying a rabbit around. But I didn’t have the audacity. At least I managed to snap a sneaky picture when she wasn’t looking. Shh, don’t tell!

Dogs aren’t allowed in these gardens these days, though they are more than welcome elsewhere in the larger Regent’s Park.

Disney film

Did you know that Queen Mary’s Gardens were featured in the classic 1961 animated Disney film 101 Dalmatians? It’s here that Roger and Anita, the owners of Dalmatians Perdita and Pongo, meet, thanks to Pongo’s antics.

Determined to impress Perdita, Pongo steals Roger’s hat. The two humans become entwined in Pongo’s leash at the edge of the lake. They fall into the water, and subsequently fall in love.

The lake is just past the circular rose gardens. Here’s what it looks like in real life (below):

Queen Mary’s Gardens — Credit: Author

I found a YouTube video of the scene:

Did you spot the lack of continuity with Roger’s hat in the clip?

At one point it was left on the bench, where Anita had been sitting and then it magically appeared on Roger’s head. Oops, Disney slipped up on that one!

Pongo’s leash is another continuity failure. How did it unclip itself after Pongo was plunged into the water with his owner? I’ll leave you to ponder that one.

Finally…

With all the flora and fauna at Regent’s Park, and even some royal history and Disney history, I hope you enjoyed this little visit to see the delights there.

Thank you for reading and watching.