ED Nature Watch

[dazeykat]

Swifts arrived yesterday (or that's when I first heard,then saw, them)And I still haven't got round to putting up a nest box. Next year..!

[Sue]

BrandNewGuy Wrote:

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> Just heard the first swift of the year near

> Dulwich Hospital. Summer is definitely on the way.

> Here's how the arrival compares to previous

> years:

> 2011 ? May 9

> 2012 ? May 1

> 2013 ? May 17

> 2014 ? May 8

> 2015 ? May 9

> 2016 ? May 4

> 2017 - May 6

> 2018 ? May 8

Thanks for that! We have been wondering when they would arrive!

[BrandNewGuy]

dazeykat Wrote:

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> Swifts arrived yesterday (or that's when I first

> heard,then saw, them)And I still haven't got round

> to putting up a nest box. Next year..!

Ah, thanks! I was in Mitcham yesterday biting my nails and then celebrating Dulwich Hamlet's victory, so didn't notice any local swifts :-)

[Asset]

I noticed some on Saturday (also near the hospital) but haven't seen any since. Maybe they were the advance party and have gone further north?

[rendelharris]

A pair of beautiful small but perfectly formed greater spotted woodpecker fledglings in the garden on Copleston Road a few days back, exhibiting a behaviour I've never seen before: they seemed to be making repeated passes through the stream of the little ornamental fountain in the pond, though whether to catch a drink or just get a bit of water on them (it was one of the scorching days) I don't know. I know there are plenty of insects hanging over ponds, but they were quite definitely deliberately flying straight into the stream.

[Robert Poste's Child]

Robert Poste's Child Wrote:

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> In Brockwell Park there's a swan sitting on a nest

> with seven big blue eggs. It seems completely

> unfazed by all the interest from passers-by but

> the park keepers have put up a fence to stop

> people getting too close.

Now six fluffy grey cygnets swimming on the pond in a tight group, one parent in front and the other close behind.

Can't help wondering what happened to number seven.

[Sue]

Heron? :(

[Jenny1]

It's reached that time of year when it feels unfair to venture too much into the garden (which is small). If I do I disturb a pair of harassed blackbirds as they frantically try and feed their enormous baby.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I think we can safely cast our clouts. The hawthorn blossom on ED Road is beautiful.

[Robert Poste's Child]

The walled garden in Brockwell Park is looking gorgeous and smelling delicious right now. There are big fat peony buds just about to open. A great place for shirkers like me to spend the afternoon with a book.

[Sue]

Robert Poste's Child Wrote:

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> The walled garden in Brockwell Park is looking

> gorgeous and smelling delicious right now. There

> are big fat peony buds just about to open. A great

> place for shirkers like me to spend the afternoon

> with a book.

That's my favourite garden.

Apart from the hideous thing they did to the pond :(

[Comeback Book Group]

Clearing up behind my garden shed this morning, I lifted up a bin bag in which I've been storing a dismantled mini greenhouse. Underneath was a small smooth newt - around 5-6cm in length. It didn't appear to be discomfited by having been disturbed but I quickly replaced the bin bag and left it in peace. The clearing-up can wait until another day!

[Jenny1]

Comeback Book Group Wrote:

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> a

> small smooth newt

How exciting! And may I congratulate you on your flawless 'newt etiquette'. I spotted my first dragonfly of the summer yesterday - not quite such a big deal, but still really pleasing.

[cornelia]

Anyone else seen this? I had always heard rosemary leaf beetles had no natural predators in the UK but I've just seen this spider eating one... Is the spider an alien invader too?

[Sue]

No, but please can you train it to eat lily beetles and asparagus beetles too :))

[civilservant]

... and snails? I must have picked off half a stone of the blighters, by hand, over the last week

do blackbirds eat them?

[Sue]

Thrushes do. They hammer them on rocks to break the shell, so they can get the snail out. I've seen one do it (not in London).

Don't think blackbirds do that though.

[civilservant]

that's bad news - because if they (blackbirds) did eat them (snails), i probably wouldn't have a gardenful of bare chewed stalks - and good news - because me getting rid of the snails hasn't left the blackbirds to starve. well, i hope you see what i mean...

and does anyone have any humane suggestions for getting rid of snails (besides tying them up in a dog-poo bag and sticking that in a bin?)

[Sue]

civilservant Wrote:

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>

> and does anyone have any humane suggestions for

> getting rid of snails (besides tying them up in a

> dog-poo bag and sticking that in a bin?)

Take them to a wood or something far, far from your house :))

[Lynne]

Any suggestions? Last night, around dusk, something flew slowly a couple of times around my garden. It was about the size of a bat or very small bird, but it flew like an insect. It looked like an enormous bee, but I suspect it was a large flying beetle.

[BrandNewGuy]

Possibly a stag beetle. They do fly, but very badly.

[MarkT]

Wot about this?

https://www.buglife.org.uk/bugs-and-habitats/common-cockchafer

[Sue]

Stag beetle?

Ooops sorry hadn't seen other posts.

[Robert Poste's Child]

There are definitely stag beetles about at dusk, I saw one a few days ago in Burbage Rd which has a hotspot. There have been a lot of small flying insects in the air with all the wet weather so perhaps they're after those.

[MarkT]

I should have mentioned my link above was about the Cockchafer bug. Quite dramatic in flight.

MarkT