Jump to content

Recommended Posts

According to "Country Life" article*, coots aren't all fluffy and sweet:


"... where duck nest proliferate ... will take eggs opportunistically ... and will drown duckling by towing them down by the legs."


"Where food is plentiful, the chicks are fed for up to two months and may stay on parental territory for 14 weeks. However, in leaner locations, they are discouraged after the first few days and only the strongest and most persistent two or three per brood survive."



* "As bald as a coot", Country Life 13.02.19

Sue Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------


> I passed by there yesterday and only saw one

> sign?


There are about 3 :)


> I think if I had seen anybody feeding ducks bread

> next to it I might have had a polite word with

> them :)


The family who were there when we arrived, cleared off as soon as we pulled out the freezer bags of duck food. The other chap was wandering around with a plastic bag full of bread, throwing it mainly to the pigeons, then lobbing some into the pond - while stood next to the sign.


You're braver than I am. I just did the passive aggressive British thing of loudly agreeing with my 5 year old when he said that people shouldn't be feeding the ducks bread.


------


I think there may be 2 families of coots? I saw parents with 2, and then there's a nest full of the fluffy blighters at the end near the small playground.

tiddles Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Oh good i was worried about those baby coots - mr

> heron is very clearly abour

> We saw one set of parents with 5 and another set

> with just 1...

>

> Just waiting for the ducklings ....


Five fluffy yellow Canada goslings in the pond this morning.......

Went on a dawn chorus walk around Green Dale fields yesterday morning and heard and/or saw 27 different bird species: robin, blackbird, wren, dunnock, house sparrow, chiffchaff, blackcap, goldfinch, greenfinch, bullfinch, blue tit, great tit, long-tailed tit, song thrush, magpie, carrion crow, jackdaw, black-headed gull, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, cormorant, mallard, ring-necked parakeet, greater spotted woodpecker, starling, woodpigeon and goldcrest. Worth getting up before 4am :)

amlh Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------


> Also - saw a turtle for the first time in the

> other pond near the bamboo house/wooden shelter

> thing. First time ever.



Unfortunately, somebody may have tired of it as a pet (possibly when it grew larger) and dumped it there :(

amlh Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------


> Also - saw a turtle for the first time in the

> other pond near the bamboo house/wooden shelter

> thing. First time ever.


I'm sure I've seen turtles there every year for a long time. Will ask children to remind me when they get home.

Actually come to think of it, I have a vague memory of seeing a turtle there, out of the water.


ETA: But I don't think there is any way it (or possibly they) could have got there unless at some point somebody actually put them there. Unless they had made a bid for freedom from somebody's house or garden :)

There are also several in the village pond at Ditchling, where I once lived. We thought there was just one, until one day we saw three at once sunbathing on a rock.


I also found one wandering down the path at the horticulture department in Stanmer Park, where I worked at the time :) I put it in one of our ponds :)

Keep an eye and an ear out for the return of the swifts ? now's usually about the time. Here's what I've recorded as the first day they've been seen or heard in ED in 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 7

Nice! I think I heard one at about 6.00 this evening ? Barry Rd near Peckham Rye, so it sounds like they're back. If only for two months or so. It's funny that we think of them as 'our' birds that spend the winter in Africa, when in reality it makes more sense to see them as African birds that just breed here.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Ahh, the old "it's only three days" chestnut.  I do hope you realise the big metal walls, stages, tents, toilets, lighting, sound equipment, refreshments, concessions etc don't just magically appear & disappear overnight? You know it all has to be transported in & erected, constructed? And that when stuff is constructed, like on a construction site, it's quite noisy & distracting? Banging, crashing, shouting, heavy plant moving around - beep beep beep reversing signals, engines revving - pneumatic tools? For 8 to 10 hours a day, every day? And that it tends to go on for two or three weeks before an event, and a week after when they take it all down again? I'm sure my boys' GCSE prep won't be affected by any of that, especially if we close the windows (before someone suggests that as a resolution). I'm sure it won't affect anyone at the Harris schools either, actually taking their exams with that background noise.
    • Thanks for the good discussion, this should be re-titled as a general thread about feeding the birds. @Penguin not really sure why you posted, most are aware that virtually all land in this country is managed, and has been for 100s of years, but there are many organisations, local and national government, that manage large areas of land that create appropriate habitats for British nature, including rewilding and reintroductions.  We can all do our bit even if this is not cutting your lawn, and certainly by not concreting over it.  (or plastic grass, urgh).   I have simply been stating that garden birds are semi domesticated, as perhaps the deer herds in Richmond Park, New Forest ponies, and even some foxes where we feed them.  Whoever it was who tried to get a cheap jibe in about Southwark and the Gala festival.  Why?  There is a whole thread on Gala for you to moan on.  Lots going on in Southwark https://www.southwark.gov.uk/culture-and-sport/parks-and-open-spaces/ecology-and-wildlife I've talked about green sqwaky things before, if it was legal I'd happily use an air riffle, and I don't eat meat.  And grey squirrels too where I am encourage to dispatch them. Once a small group of starlings also got into the garden I constructed my own cage using starling proof netting, it worked for a year although I had to make a gap for the great spotted woodpecker to get in.  The squirrels got at it in the summer but sqwaky things still haven't come back, starlings recently returned.  I have a large batch of rubbish suet pellets so will let them eat them before reordering and replacing the netting. Didn't find an appropriately sized cage, the gaps in the mesh have to be large enough for finches etc, and the commercial ones were £££ The issue with bird feeders isn't just dirty ones, and I try to keep mine clean, but that sick birds congregate in close proximity with healthy birds.  The cataclysmic obliteration of the greenfinch population was mainly due to dirty feeders and birds feeding close to each other.  
    • Another recommendation for Niko - fitted me in the next day, simple fix rather than trying to upsell and a nice guy as well. Will use again
    • Looks great! but could it be possible to pinch the frames a bit tighter with some long nose pliers and add more struts to stop the tree rats getting inside? Also, the only issue with a mesh base is that it could attract rats towards your property.
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...