Hello everyone. I’ve been teaching wildlife, nature and landscape photography courses and workshops at City Lit for the past eight years. During this time I’ve had the pleasure of working in some of London’s most inspiring nature and landscape spots. Come with me on a journey through the capital as we explore some photographic gems, from picturesque parks to watery wonderlands, where nature and the views are second to none. Take your photography to new heights - quite literally in some cases!
When photographing nature and wildlife, please follow the Nature Photographers Code of Practice as well as any local park guidelines. Please keep your distance from and do not feed the wildlife.
Thank you!
Regent’s Park - Outer Circle East
This stop takes us from the south-east corner of Regent’s Park, along the Broad Walk. It’s lined with trees, which in autumn create a wonderful vista of fallen leaves. Try standing at one end of the walk and then the other, taking in the trees on both sides of the walk.
Running parallel to the Broad Walk are the Avenue Gardens, boarded by high hedges, they play host to colourful bedding plants year long. Raised urns and a water fountain, make beautiful subjects for your pictures. A scene from ‘The King’s Speech’ was filmed here and you can just picture Colin Firth striding off along it’s length.
All paths are fully accessible with plenty of places to sit along the Broad Walk.
St. John’s Lodge
At the end of the Board Walk we leave this part of the park and turn left. We reach the beautiful gates to the inner circle, but we’re going to take a diversion here and head about 100 meters to find the gates to St. John’s Lodge Gardens. If you’ve never been here then this really is a gem. It’s like walking into a secret garden. A high-sided path, lined with flowers and shrubs with an arch of wisteria overhead, spectacular in May, leads to a plinth.
It looks like it goes nowhere from a distance, but turn to the left at the plinth and you’re led into paradise. A water feature and statues dot the grounds, but look out for the abundance of birdlife that flies from bush to bush - blue-tits, great-tits, the greater-spotted woodpecker, blackbirds, robins and song thrush, the vistas and views round each corner. Resident foxes and grey squirrels reside here too. The gardens are split into sections with the circle of lime-trees surrounding a heavily planted raised flower bed is stunning at all times of year. Seating nestled into hedges will give you a place to rest and contemplate your next shot.
One warning - it is is not suitable for wheelchairs but those with some mobility will have plenty of places to sit and rest. Make sure your footwear is suitable for muddy conditions.
Regent’s Park - Inner Circle & Outer Circle West
Now we head through the gates we saw earlier, into the inner circle of Regent’s Park. Taking a slight left here we can visit the rose garden, full of colour throughout the summer and well into autumn. A glance to the left is the BT or Post-Office Tower. Use this as a backdrop to take images of the roses and visiting birdlife before heading down towards the lake. This is host to an abundance of water birds including heron, mallard, coots, moorhens, Egyptian geese, chiff chaff and the elusive reed warbler, amongst others. The Island is a good place to head for a photograph of the Japanese Bridge and the waterfall behind it. The island itself plays host to Japanese Acers and a rock garden.
Take a break at the Regent’s Bar and Kitchen before heading west and cross the road to the outer circle where you’ll walk to the large boating lake. Here you’ll find more water-fowl and further left, a foot bridge and heronry. This is a fantastic place to capture heron. Make sure you think about your compositions - the water and lakeside foliage make great backdrops.
All paths are fully accessible and there are plenty of places to sit along the route.
Regent’s Canal
Exit Regent’s Park at the gate that leads to the stunning London Central Mosque and head to the Regent’s Canal. You want to be heading east along the northern side. This will take you past London Zoo on the other side where the wolves are often visible. You’ll need a long lens for these but they are often just fun to see and hear.
The canal offers waterfowl including geese and swans who you can photograph flying up and down the water, often moving in formation. If you are interested in webs and spiders then there are some magnificent ones close to the canal-side walls and under the tunnels. Don’t worry, they won’t bother you. If they did, I would be running a mile!
This route takes you to Camden Market, King’s Cross and as far as East London. At King’s Cross you’ll find fountains in the floor and a pocket park made inside the cage of an old gas holder. There are too many hidden gems to mention here, but you can take a diversion across the canal to a nature reserve and a graveyard, where the tomb of Sir Giles Scott who designed the iconic British red telephone box.
Please check online for the accessibility of all places along the canal for wheelchairs. Not all entrances and accesses will be suitable. My workshops ensure that everyone is catered for.
Isabella Plantation - Richmond Park
This a new destination for workshops and I’ll keep some secrets close to my chest, but I can tell you that you won’t be disappointed in springtime, as the azaleas and rhododendrons burst into spectacular life. There are some clever reflections and intimate flower details to be had so both zoom lenses and macro-lenses will be your friend here. The wider environs of Richmond Park and the deer are another pull, but you must be fit to get about. There are plenty of accessible paths for wheelchairs though, so don’t be put off if this is how you get about.
Hyde Park
There are so many places to see wildlife in the park from birds such as Long-tailed tits and Goldfinch, to waterfowl especially Mute swans as well as Canada and Greylag geese. But I am taking you here to see the parakeets who are particularly tame.
You’ll get some wonderful close-ups of this colourful beauty even without a long zoom lens. There are various places around the lakes where these little birds can be found.
Bushy Park
You need to be fit for this one! The Red and Fallow deer that make this place their home are numerous yet they can be elusive. Sometimes you’re lucky and they’ll be close to one of the entrances, otherwise you’ll need to walk the vast grassland. The spring brings young that are hiding in the long grass and the adult females are tetchy, so keep your distance. In the autumn it is the males that you need to beware of. It’s the rutting season.
The autumnal colours and misty mornings can provide for wonderful atmospheric images. If you’ve photographed enough deer or just can’t find them, the area around the main cafe and the lake have birdlife including mute swans and herons. An abundance of parakeets can be found here too.
Greenwich Park
We head south-east now to the stunning environs of this hilly park which originally formed the hunting grounds of King Henry VIII. Statues by Henry Moore sit amongst old oaks and other tree specimens and the whole looks down over the City of London and beyond. The views themselves allow for magnificent photographic opportunities. But there are Fallow deer here and, although they are situated in a fenced reserve, you can still put your camera lens close to the fens for pictures. A zoom lens is recommended here. There is an enclosure close to the deer with colourful flower beds along with garden birds. A large lake with water fowl and the sweeping lawns that run down from the Royal Observatory towards Greenwich, when covered in snow in particular, make this a special place for photography.
Mudchute Park and Farm
Whilst this is not wildlife, the photo opportunities for animals to practice on with a backdrop of the tower-blocks in this docklands area, make for some interesting images. Sheep, pigs, chicken and even lamas can be found and practiced on before you venture further afield on safari. Shorter lenses are fine here as many animals are close to the fencing, but longer and zoom lenses are your friend too. Try practicing different depths of field here, for more or less background in your images, depending on how much you’d like to blur for portrait or landscape shots of your subjects. A cafe is a good place for sustenance and shelter in the inevitable London rain. Accessibility is mixed and not always suitable for wheelchairs.
The River Thames
The river itself is a wonderful place for wildlife and stunning views. You might be extremely lucky and see a bottlenose dolphin that has lost it’s way from the sea, like one spotted near Tower bridge in 2016. Or even a harbour of grey seal down towards Richmond. What you are assured of is an abundance of seagulls including Black-headed gulls, Herring gulls, Lesser black-back gulls, herons and cormorants. The odd Egyptian goose shows up too. These flying friends offer a good opportunity for action or blurred shots depending on your choice of shutter speed. Keep the camera steady though, so as not to get a blurry background too.
Come and join me for a course or workshop this year. I might not be able to find you lions and tigers but I can prepare you for a photographic safari and you might even see a wolf, a fox and definitely lots of birdlife.
Explore Location & Wildlife Photography at City Lit
Working off-site is an excellent experience and a creative challenge for any student. Explore the flora and fauna in London’s iconic green spaces and hidden parks. Capture some of London’s more urban spaces and gain entry to some of London’s exciting buildings.
