I love animals and just like I did when I was a child, I still love visiting places where I can see, or even interact with animals. Frankly, even seeing a squirrel in my local park makes me happy! Earlier this year, I visited the London Zoo. It’s a great place, but the tickets are too expensive to visit it regularly. So today, I’m bringing you a list of places in London where you can see various animals for free. From native wildlife to exotic monkeys, there are plenty of options. Great for the little ones, but adults like me will also enjoy them!
Urban farms – Mudchute, Vauxhall, Surrey Quays and more
First, I have to mention the urban farms, quite popular in London. Free to visit, they’re usually home to farm animals like sheep or goats. The largest of the urban farms in London, and by far my favourite, is Mudchute Farm located in East London between Canary Wharf and Greenwich. You can pet the animals (if they voluntarily walk up to the fence), and you can even buy grass pellets if you fancy hand-feeding the goats – a small bag of pellets is usually £1-£2. Apart from Mudchute, I’ve also visited Stepney City Farm, Vauxhall City Farm and Surrey Docks Farm. They’re much smaller, but still worthy of a visit if you live nearby!
St James’s Park – pelicans, green parakeets
In central London, near the touristy areas, the best place to see animals is St James’s Park – right next to Buckingham Palace. Its most famous inhabitants are the resident pelicans, typically hanging out near the east end of the park, but there are also many other animals there. In the pond, look out for cormorants, swans, and various kinds of geese and ducks. Out of water, you’ll find lots of squirrels, green parakeets, and maybe even a fox, if you’re lucky.
Most of the large parks in London are home to a variety of animals. Green parakeets, to me, are some of the most fascinating. They aren’t native to the UK, but a thriving population of those colourful birds was established when a handful of them escaped – or was released – a few decades ago. Now, they’re pretty much in every London park.
London Parks with ponds – ducks, herons, swans
If a park has a large pond, there will almost certainly be ducks and geese nearby. You can see plenty of them in Regent’s Park, Hyde Park, or Victoria Park, just to name a few. In the spring, you’ll also see lots of baby ducklings and goslings, which are incredibly cute.
There are various species of geese and ducks living in London parks. They’re so used to humans, they happily walk between people, even in a crowd. You can also often see herons and cormorants – the Italian Gardens section of Hyde Park / Kensington Gardens and the nearby large pond are a great place to look for them.
If you do visit the parks in search of animals, please remember that feeding the animals is a bad idea! A healthy diet of a goose doesn’t include crisps and cookies. I once saw someone feed a goose a whole muffin, and it ate it along with the paper case ☹️ Please don’t do that!
Golders Hill Park zoo
If you fancy seeing more exotic animals, you can find a few in Golders Hill Park in north London. There’s an actual mini zoo, completely free to visit. There isn’t a huge number of animals, but you can see some ring-tailed lemurs, wallabies, donkeys, owls, and a few more species. There’s also a deer enclosure in Golders Hills Park!
Excuse the photos, there are double fences at Golders Hill Park Zoo, making it impossible to take good pictures.
Richmond Park, Bushy Park, Home Park – deer
It’s not just waterfowl that you can see in London Parks. One of my favourite discoveries was finding out about deer parks in London. Richmond Park, Bushy Park and Home Park, all located in west London, are full of free roaming majestic deer. It’s pretty incredible, actually! You can feel like a Disney princess walking through the park and seeing deer grazing or just chilling in the sun. Just remember to keep your distance, for safety!
Recently, deer also returned to Greenwich Park, though you can only see them through a fence. There aren’t nearly as many as in Richmond Park, but if you live near Greenwich, it’s still a nice place! You can find the Greenwich deer enclosure in the flower garden, near the south-east end of the park.
Peacocks in Holland Park
Finally, I need to mention Holland Park, where you can find large koi fish in the pond of the Japanese garden, but you can also see a couple of resident peacocks. If you’re lucky, you may even see them spread their beautiful tails! The peacocks usually hang out in or just outside of the Japanese garden. You’re not guaranteed to see them (they might be hiding in some secluded area of the park) but if you do, remember to keep your distance. They deserve some private space.
Paid zoos in London
It’s amazing that there are so many places in London where you can see animals for free, but if you want more, it’s worth considering one of the paid attractions. The most famous has got to be London Zoo, located in Regent’s Park, which I wrote about earlier this year. It’s not cheap, but it’s definitely worth a visit.
There’s a smaller zoo in Battersea Park, with a good selection of animals too. And if you’re a fan of aquatic animals, I recommend Sea Life Aquarium near London Eye.
Fancy something even more unique? Horniman Museum in south London has a small aquarium and a butterfly house.
Have you visited any of these places? Do you know of other places that can be added to this list? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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