[ptes.org] Is this what you sawy? I saw something like this a couple of weeks ago on the pond bank.

"Status & conservation
Native and locally common but vulnerable to extinction in the UK. They are a priority species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. A reintroduction programme is currently underway as well as our new National Water Vole Monitoring Programme.

Water voles are fully protected under section 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981(as amended). Schedule 5 of this Act makes it an offence to intentionally damage or obstruct access to water vole burrows."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit was 2018:02:19:14:02:47 by Nigello.

If you have seen numbers together I think they are more likely to be actual rats rather than water voles. If their tails were hairless they certainly were. It would be great if there were water voles about.

It looked a bit fuller than a normal rat and had that golden/yellow tinge to its coat. I was too far away to see its tail in de-tail....

Penguin68 Wrote:
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> If you have seen numbers together I think they are
> more likely to be actual rats rather than water
> voles. If their tails were hairless they certainly
> were. It would be great if there were water voles
> about.


Not sure now.

We saw them singly, but two or three in one area and another one on the way back in a nearby area.

Must admit they didn't look like that photo of a water vole, but they didn't look like ordinary rats either.

We're very fortunate to have a lot of wildlife down the back of our garden. Plenty of foxes, squirrels jumping from tree to tree often catches my attention when I'm in the kitchen. Wrens, robins, black birds & blue tits are often seen.

Early Spring to early Autumn I can hear birds singing late into & throughout the night from my bedroom which is up in the extention of our house. It sounds like a rainforest. Very beautiful.

This week I had a squirrel make off with 3 of 4 suet balls from our bird feeder. They're making good use of the left overs & everything we've cleared out from the back of our cupboards recently. They were intended for the birds during these cold months, but they have their feeders {a feeder for each type of bird food, all around the garden}, so I guess it's okay.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit was 2018:02:20:01:25:04 by 2wans.

Yesterday morning I saw four jays having an altercation on Stradella Road, near the Burbage Road end. So entertaining.

I was excited to see a blackcap in my garden on Sunday - the first time I’ve spotted one. Then even more excited to see two redpolls. I’ve never seen them before. Apparently they are doing well and becoming more common, see [www.bto.org]. Also anyone interested in birdwatching might like to register for BirdTrack - you can use it to see what species have been recorded locally. [www.bto.org]

Even the sparrows have disappeared from my garden.

They don't appear to like Wilko bird seed or suet balls

cornelia Wrote:
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> Yesterday morning I saw four jays having an
> altercation on Stradella Road, near the Burbage
> Road end. So entertaining.


Jays are one of the reasons there is a dearth of small garden birds - they are nest raiders, take fledglings - along with magpies, also a handsome bird, they are the scourge of park, wood and countryside although of course, protected.

Don't forget to regularly defrost the water you put out for the birds. Greater risk to birds of death from lack of water than lack of food in this weather.

Don't forcefully break ice in ponds if you have fish in them, this will damage or kill the fish. Crack it gently - or leave e.g. a tennis ball in it so that it can be lifted out. Things living in your pond will need air so a long-term ice cover will also damage them.

Elphinstone's Army Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jays are one of the reasons there is a dearth of
> small garden birds - they are nest raiders, take
> fledglings - along with magpies, also a handsome
> bird, they are the scourge of park, wood and
> countryside although of course, protected.

According to the British Trust for Ornithology's report of an academic survey, "Are predators to blame for songbird declines?" "...There were a large number of positive associations between predators and prey, suggesting that predator numbers have largely increased as the amount of prey has increased. This is particularly the case for native avian nest predators (Great Spotted Woodpecker, Magpie, Jay and Carrion Crow). Although this largely exonerates these predators, as driving declines in the numbers of songbird species at a national level, it does not preclude individual predators having local effects."

So it's an exaggeration to lay the blame at the door of jays, magpies etc. Most species declines in the UK in the last 50 or 60 years are due to loss of habitat and consequently food, shelter etc. Everything else (cats, local pollution, jays etc) is very much secondary.

Have a soft spot for corvids so my confirmation bias will side with BNG and the BTO on this one!

On another note: I am very excited as just got round to checking the bird identifier and realised that the little thrush I saw in Dulwich Park on Tuesday morning was a Redwing!

I have never seen one before and thought it was really lovely but didn't realise it's genuinely rare.

There was a whole flock of Redwing in The picnic area of Peckham Rye Park on Monday. I recognised them as last time we had some major snow a flock descended on my Crab Apple tree and spent 2 days eating all the fruit. They were joined by several Fieldfare.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit was 2018:03:02:15:20:49 by dresswaves.

Pair of Long tailed tits in the garden today - Marsden Road - rare siting for here.

Oh I'm so jealous! My favourite birds!

Had a Stock Dove in the garden today. Makes a nice change from the usual wood pigeons. It was on the ground picking up the crumbs from the bird feeder above.

There's a little flock of stock doves around JAGS playing fields and the railway lines between East amd North Dulwich. They're like a posh version of the feral/London pigeon :-)

There are also loads of redwings and fieldfares – and blackbirds, thrushes and more – coming in from Scandinavia and eastern Europe at the moment. Because of the strong cold north-easterlies, they're heading our way looking for food – in mild years, they'd be going in the opposite direction.

There were 70 redwings (and a few fieldfares) on the fenced off field next to the Green Dale path yesterday afternoon. Reports of large numbers elsewhere nearby:
Dulwich Park: 80 Redwing, 3 Fieldfare
Belair Park: 85 Redwing, 10 Fieldfare
Gallery Rd playing fields: 20 Redwing, 80 Fieldfare

We saw a solitary redwing in Peckham Rye Park on Saturday around midday.

Apparently it's quite unusual to just see one by itself

Don't know where its mates were!

Redwing about a week ago (it took me a while to ID it on Google) near Goodrich School, eating crabapples. Have they all gone now?

Saw two Nuthatches in the woods this afternoon, walking up a tree.

Also heard a woodpecker.

Mating toads at the pond in the garden last night. Another 16 or so were dotted about having a grand old time. Slightly later this year than last.
see pic attached.

Great pic!

Toadsporn

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2018 results - sadly not broken down by region (unless I missed it) but interesting nevertheless:

[www.rspb.org.uk]

There's a short commentary/explanation here:

[www.rspb.org.uk]

I don't know if this is the right thread but...
I have a robin nesting in the peg bag for my clothes line, I'm happy to leave it there for the time being (until the chicks have fledged) but would appreciate any advice for when to move it on to minimize disturbance for the bird. Hopefully the answer isn't leave it til the end of summer.

alex_b Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't know if this is the right thread but...
> I have a robin nesting in the peg bag for my
> clothes line, I'm happy to leave it there for the
> time being (until the chicks have fledged) but
> would appreciate any advice for when to move it on
> to minimize disturbance for the bird. Hopefully
> the answer isn't leave it til the end of summer.

The fledglings will leave the nest approximately 2-3 weeks after hatching, once they're gone the parents will abandon the nest too and you can move it. Envy you, should be fun watching them!

Can we have ED Robin Cam please, alex_b?

rendelharris Wrote:
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>
> The fledglings will leave the nest approximately
> 2-3 weeks after hatching, once they're gone the
> parents will abandon the nest too and you can move
> it. Envy you, should be fun watching them!

Thanks. I’ll keep an eye on the nest and remove it when they’ve gone. They are fun to watch, although it will be nice to be able to get into my shed without a robin flying at my head!

The best isn’t oriented in a good direction for a web cam. I’m putting up some nest boxes and may try to wire them up for later in the year.

Yellow butterfly in Dulwich Park on Thursday. Brimstone? It was the sunny, warm day this week. Was it a Brimstone or something else (it was medium/large but too far away to see any markings - but very yellow 🙂).