We’re frequent visitors to London with relatives and friends in the north west of the city. We spent a lot of time during the 365 day nature play challenge working out good places to go which offered the best nature interactions. Here’s some thoughts and our list of favourite places and activities.
Places to visit
London is a very green city with lots of public parks and other attractions good for seeing the natural world. As well as the big well known locations there are lots of smaller parks and open spaces with a huge amount of variety to them. These are some of our favourites:
The Thames
It’s surprisingly easy to forget that the Thames is there in the morass of other entertainments but it’s a fantastic river to explore. Along the South Bank there are steps where you can get down to little beaches but you can find access points all the way along. It’s tidal and the boats make regular waves.
If the tides coming in, try drawing in the sand at the water line before the waves wash it away. At high tide, make a natural boat out of twigs and leaves, throw it in and see which way it flows. At low tide explore the shoreline and see what you can find.
The Royal Parks
Beautifully manicured, the Royal Parks aren’t very messy but are brilliant for encountering wildlife and exploring. They’re also great for path following, wayfinding and hide and seek. Let kids decide which way to go and challenge them to find interesting things on the way.
They have a regular events programme also with occasional nature activities for kids.
London Zoo
Now 200 years old, London Zoo is a wonderful place to encounter the natural world. It’s animal welfare policies are excellent and it has lots of exhibits to explore and animals to meet.
Our favourites at the moment are the baby gorillas and the capybaras. Check in to their instagram feeds for the latest news and updates. They tend to do great children’s activities during school holiday times.
Highgate Cemetery
An amazing location to wander around. B found it bizarre. It’s very atmospheric. As well as looking for the famous grave stones, we spotted the best trees, looked for weird things and got freaked out by statues (I told B about Doctor Who’s weeping angels).
The Parkland Walk
This old railway line walk stretches from Alexandra Palace to Finsbury Park. It’s a great place for seeing wildlife. The only time in my life I’ve spotted a woodpecker (pointed out by a wonderfully keen eyed friend). We also encountered a very laidback urban fox.
Granary Square
An alternative type of nature challenge in the bustle of Kings Cross. The Granary Square fountains are designed to be walked on and are the size of a football pitch. A brilliant sensory experience for kids on hot days. Regent’s canal and the Camley Street Natural Park are also on hand for more traditional nature play options.
Hampstead Heath
If you want to forget you’re in a city, head to Hampstead Heath. Here you can wander in woods, be nature detectives and explore to your hearts content.
It’s a great place for map reading and wayfinding (we always get lost) and also for spotting and getting close to unusual trees. See if you can find a hidden path or a fallen tree to play on and look out for animal tracks.
Games to play on the way to other places…
Of course, if you’re in London it’s quite possible you might be doing exciting things which are not nature related. Here’s a few suggestions for things to play while on the way to other adventures:
The Tree game
Who can spot the best tree? Can you find your favourite tree? What’s the best thing you can find growing on a tree?
The options are endless but you get the idea. London is full of a ridiculously wide variety of trees. We found palm trees in the West End, lots of London plane trees, even a walnut tree (we only worked out what it was when we attacked the fruit. It was messy!). Best of all, there are lots of tree lined residential streets with lots of different types of trees in them. B was very excited to spot what she thought was a boomerang tree (see the Tenerife blog). It’s seeds were different, which we discovered after a ten minute picking and opening detour).
As well as picking your favourite or competing for who can spot the best, explore their fruits and flowers too. We had a great time recently with London plane trees and their fuzzy seed balls (which can be a bit itchy). Also, it turns out walnut juice stains everything it touches. We know now!
A game for concrete jungles
This is a game for when you’re REALLY somewhere that seems nature deficient. The challenge is to find some nature and, if you can without hurting it, pick it. Only the finder can pick and whoever ends up with the most cuttings and bit wins. Then you can see if you can make your pickings into something.
It’s amazing what you find. I thought we’d find a couple of weeds but we spotted orange trees and ivy berries, neither of which we’d seen before. It’s there if you look.
Wayfinding
Wayfinding games was one of my big discoveries of the 365 day nature play challenge. We’re so used to google maps guiding us now I’d slightly forgotten the joy of being 10 and working out how to get places for yourself. London is a great place to practice if occasionally overwhelming.
We tried navigating by compass, map reading (both street and tube network) and the art of going in the right direction and seeing what happens. We also had an interesting day on Hampstead Heath with B leading the way, which was educational for both of us!
Finally, here’s to London wildlife…
It turns out that London is REALLY GREAT for meeting wild creatures. The ones that live in the UK’s biggest metropolis are far more undeterred by people than elsewhere and there’s some encounters you can have that will only happen here. Here’s our favourites to finish.
Foxes
The urban variety is far bolder than the ones we get in South Wales. We’ve seen them trotting confidently along a busy street, curled up on roof tops sleeping and, on one never to be forgotten morning, resting on a friends front door mat.
There’s no point chasing them. They’re much quicker and sneakier than us. But a nonchalant follow can give a lot of entertainment.
Parakeets
It can take a while to spot them but once you do it’s hard to stop. They’re fantastically cheeky and very colourful.
This one was sitting OUTSIDE London Zoo and seemed to be giggling. You can hear their distinctive squawk in a huge number of places once you tune your ears into it. Sometimes you’ll get large numbers gathering in trees chatting.
Starlings
Camden Lock Market is our favourite venue for these. There always seem to be loads and they’re irrepressible. If you can find a still corner to watch them from (a challenge) you’ll marvel at their nerve. I don’t envy anyone with a stall outside trying to keep them at bay.
Squirrels
London probably wins the award for the tamest squirrel population. The Royal Parks are the best place to find these but you’ll find them on tree lined residential streets as well.
Nuts are normally appreciated. Particularly in the spring months when they’re nesting.
Ducks, geese and swans
Also easiest to find in the Royal Parks though the canals can be a good location too. As with the squirrels they can be overly friendly – particularly the geese. Eating a sandwich on a bench is a risky activity. A great place for seeing goslings, cygnets and ducklings in spring too.
Pigeons
Finally, the London stalwart. There’s strict regulations on feeding them in public places these days but they remain very friendly.
If you’re not careful you can find yourself mobbed with pigeons landing on your head. This tends to only happen in certain locations where they’re very used to people having food. It can be scary if you’re not expecting it and there’s hygiene and socialisation issues too. Still the highpoint of all last year for B though.
If you’d like some more ideas for getting kids interacting with the natural world in London we ended up with two blog posts on London during the 365 day nature play challenge. The first includes our discovery of Camden Lock’s starling population, the tree game and exploring Highgate Cemetery while the later one covered feeding creatures in St James’s Park, spotting parakeets and going on a rodent hunt.
