This was my first ever visit to Bushy Park.
Bushy Park is located in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and is the second largest of London's Royal Parks, at 1100 acres in area, after Richmond Park. The park, most of which is open to the public, is immediately north of Hampton Court Palace and Hampton Court Park and is a few minutes' walk from the west side of Kingston Bridge.
In September 2014, Bushy Park was designated a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest together with Hampton Court Park and Hampton Court Golf Course as Bushy Park and Home Park SSSI. It includes a range of semi-natural habitats such as acid and neutral grassland, scrubland, woodland and wood pasture.
The main purpose of my visit was to photograph the Red Deer although for the second year running I had missed the peak rutting season at Richmond Park, Bushy Park or elsewhere in London and the rest of the UK.
Nonetheless, I did easily locate a group of c.75 Red Deer including 3 magnificent adult stags, a young stag and a few well-grown juveniles. See here for more information on the deer in Bushy Park.
The other main highlights of my visit was a calling Little Owl, which very frustratingly I failed to see due to the still extensive leaf cover of the tree in which it was located, plus a single Red Admiral still flying given the exceptionally warm temperatures for early November.
Other species that I recorded included the following: Ring-necked Parakeet (c.5 plus many others herad), Kestrel (1), Great Spotted Woodpecker (1), Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Egyptian Goose (2), Canada Goose (c.40), Mute Swan (4), Tufted Duck (c.30), Common Pochard (1 male), Mallard (5), Coot (c.30), Moorhen (3), Cormorant (8), Black-headed Gull (c.20), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1), Grey Squirrel (c.10)
Here are some photos from my visit ....
Photo: Red Deer
Photo: Red Deer
Photo: Red Deer
Photo: Red Deer
Photo: Red Deer
Photo: Red Deer
Photo: Red Deer
Photo: Grey Squirrel
Photo: Jackdaw
Photo: Cormorant
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