More wildlife on the Underground

[PaxVobiscum]

Following on from some recent threads involving wildlife of various sorts on the rail system, I thought this might be of interest:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00tv35h

Its a clip from a forthcoming BBC programme entitled 'The Unnatural History Of London' (main link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01k784h) which features pigeons apparently using the Underground to save a bit of flying.

Cameraman for this sequence was Mat Thompson, and for those interested in technical details, the floor level shots were taken on Canon 5D and 7D DSLRs, which are permissible for a certain percentage of HD broadcast programme content. Most of the programme was shot on Panasonic Varicams which are a bit unwieldy for this kind of thing.

Railway photographers using DSLRs for video should feel encouraged by this clip, however it should be pointed out that that the audio is recorded on a separate system so don't expect this quality if you use the built in mic!

EDIT: Apologies for to all (esp. Mods!) for originally posting in the wrong forum.

 

[Eagle]

So not this then?

 

[John Webb]

I don't know why the BBC refer to this as a "new phenomena"! I used to go to South Kensington a lot in the late 1950s to visit the Science Museum during the school holidays and the pigeons were using the underground then!

 

[Giugiaro]

Pity the video is not working right now, but have seen some amateur shots.

Simply funny and interesting! Maybe because public transport is so common in London that pigeons have gotten used to then, even adventuring on-board.

That's is definitively something very unusual here in Oporto! There are some pigeons in São Bento, but never spotted one boarding a train!

 

[causton]

All the pigeons I have seen on the tube have been on C and D stock, I wonder if the introduction of the new S stock will scare them off?

 

[Giugiaro]

Given the fact that S Stock have some pretty noisy doors when opening, it'll be for sure a scary moment for pigeons, unless the S's have their doors open for a while.

 

[causton]

Given the fact that S Stock have some pretty noisy doors when opening, it'll be for sure a scary moment for pigeons, unless the S's have their doors open for a while.

The doors automatically close after 45 seconds. I wonder if the sensors are sensitive enough to detect a pigeon in the way of the door closing?

 

[Aictos]

The doors automatically close after 45 seconds. I wonder if the sensors are sensitive enough to detect a pigeon in the way of the door closing?

Be messy if it doesn't!!!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The pigeons at Hammersmith seem to react to the train being prepared for departure and as soon as the door circuit is cut back in they fly straight into the train in the opposite platform!