St. James park

We had a lovely informative walking tour of St james Park this afternoon. As it was pre-booked and paid for we went but not our first choice for a wet cold breezy day. Our guide was the parks manager who has an office in Hyde park. These people are responsible for the 7 royal parks and Kensington gardens and Brompton cemetery.
we had the privilege of seeing the pelicans fed as well as learning a bit about them.  The Pelican I have chosen is a juvenile,18months old, and from a soo in czech republic. A tour of Duck Island and learnt about the water levels in the lake. It is fed by several wells and if the lake is full the water from the wells is directed to a reservoir under duck Island which is 6metres deep and the with and length of the Island. There is also a cave under the island which was used in WW2 for storing munitions. They have turned it over to bats but as yet have no residents. During the war the lake was drained to build temporary offices for the Admiralty. There is also a seedier side to the park in the 1800's (I think the guide said) where if you knew the right people you could obtain a key and have unsavoury liaisons All I will say is use your imagination. at the Buck house end. Victoria had  the front of Buckingham palace built as an extension to house her growing family which meant the Arch had to be removed. This arch was rebuilt and is now Marble Arch. Green park and part of the palace gardens used to be part of st james park so it was a vast area in Henry 8th's day. He had St james palace built for Anne Boleynn so she could live in the country!!!! That dint last long as she was beheaded after 3 years. Most of the monarchs then lived here after Westminster Palace was destroyed by fire. The Banqueting House is all that is left of that. That is another interesting interactive tour which we did last year
So as you can see we learnt a lot this afternoon. My History of London has grown much since being retired. I was never interested at school
the extras are the pelicans after feeding and the cottage by Duck Island. This cottage was built as anise for ornithologists and is used for displays. Sadly it does flood when the water is high but as it only has one room it is fairly easy to dry out. The second part of the cottage is on the island and used by the parks people