London City Guide

Visit St. James’s Park and see the birds, Duck Island & view of Buckingham Palace across the lake

Where?
St. James’s Park SW1A 2BJ · Tel: 0300 061 2350 · Web: royalparks.org
Opening times?
5 AM to midnight (Mon-Sun)
Visiting hours may change
Price?
Free
Time required?
A typical visit is 45-60 mins
Parking:
Nearby car parks
Buses:
3, 11, 12, 24, 29, 53, 77A, 88, 91, 148, 159, 211, 453
Bus fares
Child bus fares
Trains:
The closest station is St. James’s Park Circle District
Train fares · Child train fares

Good for kids? Value for money? free Worth a visit?

“I can’t tell you how lovely London is looking. It’s completely knocked me flat—I’ve fallen in love with it all over again! Trees everywhere (I had forgotten how many trees!) and most of all FLOWERS, liberally all over the place.” Elizabeth Bowen, novelist (1959)

’s review… Most tourists come to London for the galleries and attractions but some of them come for the ducks. I see them taking as many photos of the birds as they do of Big Ben and Buckingham Palace.

The birds have been living here since the reign of James I who built a row of aviaries down the southern side (where Birdcage Cage walk is today – that’s how it got its name). He had a collection of zoo animals as well – antelopes, camels and crocodiles – and if you go back even further in time then it was a hunting ground for Henry VIII’s deer.

That’s how long our monarchs have been tinkering with this little piece of parkland – three hundred years. The Egyptians finished the Giza pyramids in sixty years – we spent five times that on just sixty acres of grass, passing the project on from the Tudors to George IV.

Flower beds in St. James’s ParkPhoto: Craig Cross
Colourful flower beds in St. James’s Park

The reason why they took such an interest in it was because they had three Royal palaces within five minutes walk – Whitehall Palace (long gone now), St James’s Palace and Buckingham Palace, plus a load of grand mansions like Clarence House (another Royal residence).

Birds of St. James’s Park – Pelicans, geese and ducks

Charles II transformed it into the back garden of high society by planting avenues of tall trees for people to promenade along, decorating the beds with even more birds – imagine all the squawking! – the Russian ambassador contributed a couple of pelicans and you can still their descendants today, sitting on a rock in the lake (next to that little fountain that shoots a water jet twenty-feet in the air).

They’re supposed to get fed every day at 2.30 PM which is always worth a watch.

Pelican rock by the fountain in St. James’s ParkPhoto: Craig Cross
Pelican rock by the fountain in St. James’s Park

This place is a bird spotter’s paradise and they’ve installed some boards around the water listing all of the species you can see: geese, gulls, wigeons, pigeons, herons, kestrels and crows. Blue tits, great tits, shovelers and swans. Mallards, magpies, cormorants and coots. And that’s just the ones that rhyme.

A pelican in St. James’s ParkPhoto: Craig Cross
A pelican in St. James’s Park

If you want to kill some time then you can do a lap of the lake in 25 minutes and have a sit-down in the cafe to finish. If you walk around the back of the cafe afterwards then you’ll see a set of wooden stairs that lead up to a viewing platform on the top.

View of Buckingham Palace from St. James’s Park lake

View of Buckingham Palace from St. James’s Park lakePhoto: Craig Cross
View of Buckingham Palace from the lake in St. James’s Park

There are two photo opportunities that are worth seeking out. If you walk out onto the middle of the bridge then you can enjoy a celebrated view of Buckingham Palace and the Queen Victoria Memorial. And if you spin around 180 degrees then you can see the fountain in front of Horse Guards Parade as well. I think this second view is even better because you get the Disney-like turrets of the Royal Horseguards hotel poking up behind.

View of Horse Guards from St. James’s ParkPhoto: Craig Cross
View of Horse Guards from St. James’s Park

Duck Island Cottage

The second place is a little building at the western end of the park (directly opposite Horse Guards) called Duck Island Cottage. It looks like one of those little witch’s huts that you find hidden in a thicket of overgrown weeds and wintry trees in the woods. It’s got a wild garden out the front with giant cabbages, big prickly thistles and giant spikes of purple plants and if you were allowed to peer inside the windows then I reckon you’d find them solid with cobwebs.

Duck Island CottagePhoto: Craig Cross
Duck Island Cottage

Deckchairs for hire at St. James’s Park

A word of warning about the deckchairs on the grass: tourists are forever sitting in them without realising that they cost money, and I always feel extremely very sorry for the poor warden who has to traipse around from chair to chair turfing them all out after patiently explaining why.

This is London, folks! You have to pay for everything over here, even the seats.

London Squire bookThe author owns city-guide.london and has spent the last decade reviewing the capital’s landmarks, attractions and hotels. His guidebook is available from Amazon. This review was updated on

We also recommend… If you enjoy this then try Green Park (you can walk it 10 mins); Hyde Park (walk it in 28 mins or travel from St James’s Park to Marble Arch by underground); Kensington Gardens (travel from St James’s Park to Queensway via tube) and Regent’s Park (take a tube journey from St James’s Park to Regents Park)

St. James’s Park is 9 in the Top 10 places to take a photo and 2 in the Top 10 parks and gardens. St. James’s Park also appears in our London one day itinerary, one day itinerary for free, two day itinerary, two day itinerary for kids, three day itinerary, four day itinerary, six day itinerary and one week itinerary

Your comments and questions

Shadi Nice place to go in your lunch hour for a sit down underneath a tree. I've been to the wooden cafe and that's nice (if a little expensive). Best place to walk is along the lake but there are so many ducks and geese they get annoying sometimes, because they are very tame and come right up to your feet pecking at crumbs, but you've got nice views up and down the lake. I've tried Green Park for lunch as well but there is nothing there.

christina Hi, is there wildlife in this park?

Craig Hi Christina, the pond is full of ducks, geese and swans, and there are loads of pigeons and squirrels. There is even a colony of pelicans. You can usually see them sitting on the big rock in the middle of the lake, by Duck Island Cottage