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Kenwood House is a stunning neoclassical building
that keeps one of the most important collections of paintings ever given to the
nation. The collection was bequeathed in 1927 by the Earl of Iveagh and includes
paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Turner, Reynolds, and Gainsborough. | | Kenwood
- from architecture and art to birds and bugs |
Take
a walk outside the house and there are many more treasures to see on the estate.
The
Duelling Ground is one of the London sights famous for duels in the 18th and early
19th Centuries - it is exactly 40 paces wide! But it's the wildlife that
is the main attraction in today's parkland with birds and small mammals galore
in autumn. Feeding time  Kenwood
House and estate are managed by English Heritage, and make up one corner of the
800 acre Hampstead Heath.
The house was transformed by Robert Adam between
1764 and 1779 - and the highly decorated interior is one of Adam's greatest masterpieces. In
autumn the birds and mammals that live in the area are busy feeding on the plentiful
food on offer in preparation for the long winter ahead. To see the wildlife
at its best, get to Kenwood early when the gates open at seven before the crowds
arrive. Out in the parkland there are plenty of beech trees which a whole
range of birds such as Chaffinches and Pigeons. One of the our noisiest
and most colourful birds has also learned to take advantage of the woods - the
Parakeet. Originally from the Indian subcontinent these birds have now colonised
the south east of England and are thought to number 10,000. At Kenwood their
numbers have tripled in the last year. Look out for them hanging upside
down on the park's beech trees, and using their beak and tongue to prize open
the nuts. Autumn nuts  Also
watch for Grey Squirrels stocking up on their nut supplies on the very same trees.
The
Grey Squirrels do so well because they are efficient and adaptable feeding machines
- they are so agile that they can get right to end of branches, using their tails
as anchors. The old oak woodland on the estate is another popular squirrel
feeding area with its large numbers of acorns which these small animals like to
stock up on. It's worth making your way to the centre of the wood - sit
in a quiet clearing to observe what's going on.
Autumn is also the time
for watching flocks of birds which group together to protect themselves from predators.
It's common to see small flocks of Wood Pigeons feeding together - in autumn
they flock tightly together, forming large ovals, all facing the same direction
with the dominant birds in the centre. Also look out for the normally secretive
Jay, with its pink chest, collecting nuts on the ground in the wood. They
fly around everywhere at this time of this year to collect and bury their food
parcels, stashing away around 5,000 acorns per bird! The birds can re-find
a lot of what they bury by using landmarks to locate them and can even can dig
through a foot of snow to find their cache. Wealth
of wildlife  Another
source of plentiful food at Kenwood in autumn is fungi, loved by many animals
and birds including Grey Squirrels.
The estate is also a great place to
see lots of Rabbits - they love the dry sandy soils of the upper slopes of the
heath which make it easy for them to dig to create their burrows. There
are two ponds on the estate - one is full of birds and hardly any fish whilst
the other is packed with fish but no birds. The fish pond boasts Tench and
Carp - and you can see them breaking the water's surface especially if you throw
in a bit of bread. Also look for the Brown Rat - these great swimmers are
marked out by their long tail which is devoid of hair. Photo
credits Jay photograph copyright of RSPB
Images and Nigel Blake. | 
