The “Squirrel Guy” in Kensington Gardens
Jun 11th, 2008 by jeremy
I had a couple of hours before my next responsibility on a day in London, so I wandered out from our hotel which was right next to Kensington Gardens. I enjoyed many different sites, and along my way happened upon this older gentleman feeding the squirrels.
Not only was he feeding them, but he was having conversations with them. Each squirrel had a name and they obviously knew him well. There were 12-15 different squirrels by my count in the few minutes I observed and took a few photos. The man was completely comfortable with being photographed as I was not the only one with camera in hand. I probably took many more than most others though 
Check out the more of the series I uploaded (click a thumbnail to view larger on flickr) to get a feel for the fun I had observing this fellow.
Canon 40D, 24-105L, various settings (see flickr)
What lovely pictures - even though squrrels are seen as vermin over here - I have a soft spot for them! He must have been there an awful lot to gain their trust! If you visited the park right next to your hotel then that was Kensington Gardens - Hyde Park is a little further along
There used to be a chap at Trafalgar Square who did the same thing with pigeons..but that is a whole different ball game - pigeons aren’t half as cute as squirrels !LOL!
@Jill - You are right, this is specifically in the gardens, but it was all part of my Hyde Park solo photowalk. You’ll have to forgive this foreigner his mistakes on details
I made some updates to reflect the correct location. If you look on flickr, I went in and placed these photos on the map so you can see the exact location where this guy sits.
Jeremy - now I feel bad for pointing that out LOL! I was born and raised in London so it’s bit of a pet peeve of mine - ha! But of course you are forgiven - you need to visit more often, then you would have it all off pat
Did you get as far as the Princess Diana Memorial fountains in the gardens? Not that much to look at really, but the meaning behind then is very significant. We had a lovely stroll around the gardens a while back when a certain chap was in town and came across them. When Princess Diana died, thousands of lillies were placed in the gardens, you could smell their fragrance from all around - it was a very poignant sight and reduced even my hubby to tears.
@Jill - Nah, I’d rather be right in the end because of a correction than continue on in blissful ignorance!
I did see the memorial fountains, very beautiful tribute. When I was there in 2004 there were still flowers and signs up on the gates as well that I took photos of.
How sad is it that one of the first things that I noticed is that he’s wearing New Balance running shoes? (I work for a shoe store in Canada, the owner owns an independant NB store in addition to our full store, lol.)
I love the pics though. I like squirrels, no matter what other people think of ‘em.