Tired of London, Tired of Life - A website about things to do in London

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27 December 2009

See the Pelicans in St James' Park

Nowadays most famous for eating pigeons, pelicans were first introduced to St James' Park in 1664 as a gift from the Russian Ambassador to Charles II, when they were described by John Evelyn, a contemporary of Samuel Peyps as "a fowle between a stork and a swan".


Five pelicans still live there today at the Easterly end of the lake near Duck Island, and are so much a part of the Westminster Village that they have even been the subject of debate in the House of Lords.

The pelicans are fed daily at 2.30pm. For more, see http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/st_james_park/flora_fauna/pelicans.cfm

^Picture by gadgetdude^
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous9 September 2012 at 07:54

    So many visits to London and walks through the park and we had never seen the Pelicans before but this time we were in for a treat. Three were sitting on the bank near to the fence and one of them was eating a pigeon! It seemed to be quite a long process as it went down and came back up but this was clearly all part of the process. Great way to get rid of pigeons, wish there were more Pelicans in London

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  2. Anonymous1 February 2015 at 22:46

    I was often taken by my parents for a walk in the park on a Sunday afternoon when I was a child in the 1950s. It was always a treat to see the penguins.

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