please empty your brain below
If appropriate, please start your comment with a number from 1 to 10.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 14.05.19 - 12:00 a.m. | #

6) the horse. I was lucky only to break an arm when I fell off one 57 years ago.

Christopher Bellew | Homepage | 14.05.19 - 7:28 a.m. | #

It is a great treat to live within walking distance of the Park.

4) One visit to the Isabella Plantation was marred by an American bloke loudly insisting, at length, that the motionless heron in one of the ponds must be animatronic.

RosemaryT | 14.05.19 - 7:55 a.m. | #

To be continued?

Leuconoe | 14.05.19 - 8:15 a.m. | #

I love the pictures.

6. In which parallel universe are cattle, dogs and horses forms of wildlife?

Malcolm | 14.05.19 - 8:25 a.m. | #

1. I had often wondered why the cycle clubs insisted on using the park roads rather than the Tamsin Trail, until I replaced the all-terrain tyres on my own bike with narrow road tyres and quickly realised how unsuited they are to loose surfaces. The racing bikes are easily capable of keeping up with cars keeping to the 20mph limit.

Timbo | 14.05.19 - 8:47 a.m. | #

I would but I have a ten word limit, so....

B | 14.05.19 - 8:49 a.m. | #

4) You must have been there around 1230. That is Thai to Bangkok. Hopefully same flight plan today so I will be able to view it from the air.

Scrumpy | 14.05.19 - 8:51 a.m. | #

6. Many cattle, horse and deer related injuries are actually, caused by dogs, either because the herd animals gang up to defend themselves against the dog and the owner gets caught up in it , or because a dog chases a horse which then throws its rider or runs into traffic - I have seen this happen in Richmond Park when a runaway horse threw it's 12 year old rider in front of a car

Timbo | 14.05.19 - 8:58 a.m. | #

6: Richmond Park also has an extensive rabbit population, but you need to be out around dawn to see them.

1. Cyclists are also bound by the 20mph speed limit, as one of my colleagues discovered when he was booked coming too fast down Tanners Hill.

MartinOfHolcombe | 14.05.19 - 9:06 a.m. | #

6. The quoted statistics for animal-related deaths seem to come from the Woodland Trust which says they are 25 or so people killed directly by animals in the UK each year, but they leave out road accidents involving animals or animal-related infections and diseases.

There was a report in the Guardian a few years ago with similar but somewhat different classifications, including around 3 deaths each year from bees wasps and hornets, one death in 2007 from a rat bite (ugh), around 4 each year from dog bites, and up to ten each year from bites or strikes by other mammals.

I couldn't readily find those numbers at ONS, but I expect they are in the detailed annual mortality statistics. For comparison, about 500,000 people die each year in the UK so these cases are exceptionally rare.

Andrew | 14.05.19 - 9:22 a.m. | #

Was this format difficult for you as a serial completist? Or did you complete all paragraphs in private, and are considering the 10x 100 words 'complete' as per your own self-imposed rules?

commonliner | 14.05.19 - 9:36 a.m. | #

I like the new format. Just what I like in the morning - easy bites.

Joho | Homepage | 14.05.19 - 10:32 a.m. | #

Was this as frustrating for you to write as it was for me to read?!
I can never stop at cliff-hanger chapter ending when reading books either and have to continue on to the next!

2) I agree with you re the 50 Shades of Green in May - beautiful.

3) I wonder if also introducing the "natural predators" would sort out the oak processionary moth problem - or would that just add another layer of danger to our ecosystem?

Cornish Cockney | 14.05.19 - 11:00 a.m. | #

3. It seems that the predators of the oak processionary moth include the great tit, when the caterpillars are young before they develop long hairs. Then there are some parasitic wasps and the caterpillar hunter beetles. The problem with introducing predators to attack introduced pests is that the predators often like to eat native species as well or instead.

Andrew | 14.05.19 - 12:27 p.m. | #

9) "Always think before you tut"

good advice for us all :)

ADS | Homepage | 14.05.19 - 1:05 p.m. | #

6. Do Horses "attack and kill" 10 Britons per year? Or does that include people killed while riding a horse? Which seems a very different sort of death.

Eric | 14.05.19 - 1:09 p.m. | #

6. I doubt if the statistics for animal-connected deaths are specific about nationality. They are probably about "people killed in Britain by.." rather than "British people killed (anywhere) by ..."

Malcolm | 14.05.19 - 1:51 p.m. | #

6) Off topic but last year in Richmond Park I was walking along when suddenly a horse trotted past me without a rider! I heard it coming so was able to give it a bit of space.

The horse then stopped on some grass further along, where a couple who had been sitting there phoned the authorities to get the horse reunited with its owner!

Mikey C | 14.05.19 - 3:50 p.m. | #

10: The RP1 is London’s friendliest bus route and well worth a Wednesday ride thanks to Malcolm its wonderful regular driver. I take a ride every summer it’s so good.

Roger French | Homepage | 14.05.19 - 7:02 p.m. | #

Wonderful pictures and text! I loved this one, many thanks DG.

Frank F | 14.05.19 - 9:34 p.m. | #

Are we going to get the second halves in the morning? Please.

6. If you are desperate for a rabbit fix, on a sunny afternoon you can nearly always find some - go up the main path from Petersham Gate and about 200 yards on the left there are numerous holes under a large tree and a telltale very well nibbled sward of grass. There are also usually some on the right hand side of the path there, but they are more difficult to see.

GJ | 14.05.19 - 11:33 p.m. | #

So, 6 basically.

Perhaps just as well I didn't finish the rest :)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 15.05.19 - 12:03 a.m. | #

Diamond Geezer - where blogging about London meets OuLiPo...

Baldassaro | 15.05.19 - 6:55 a.m. | #

8) a shout out for this one - I've always been full of admiration for the way post-war councils built council housing in desirable locations like this (& the World's End Estate in Chelsea and my personal favourite, Dawson's Heights in Southwark) rather than keeping them for the wealthy.

I'm equally interested at how those same ideals clash against the desire for extra housing. Would love to read more about this particular case.

lockedintheattic | 15.05.19 - 9:53 a.m. | #











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