ED Nature Watch

[Sue]

malumbu Wrote:

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> gold finches prefer

> this to Nyge's

Niger seed?

I was very confused there for a minute. I thought my partner had somehow provided you with a seed feeder which the goldfinches no longer rated 😶

[malumbu]

Sue, is your partner named after bird food? How very peculiar. Nyger/nyjer/niger seeds. Think they are similar to nigella seeds, which of course the cook Nigella Lawson is named after.

It's nice that we get named after seeds, like flowers (Petal, Daisy, Rose etc) although don't know any blokes names that are botanical.

[Rockets]

Has anyone seen that amazing fox on Court Lane that hangs around the entrance of Dulwich Park on occasions? The most beautiful creature you will see - someone is obviously taking good care of it as it is not at all timid and has the most luscious coat.

[Sue]

malumbu Wrote:

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> Sue, is your partner named after bird food? How

> very peculiar. Nyger/nyjer/niger seeds.

No, your typo is named after him! Nygel aka Nyge 🙃

[Nigello]

My Niger feeds go uneaten. Incidentally, why the Y in Nygel?

[louisemurray]

Toad - Just a small one, many more to follow

[Sue]

Nigello Wrote:

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> My Niger feeds go uneaten. Incidentally, why the Y

> in Nygel?

I have his permission to tell you that his father made a spelling error when registering his name :)) :)) :))

ETA: My niger seeds in the feeder go uneaten too, however something eats them when I put them on the ground. Not the birds I am trying to attract though .....

[Sue]

louisemurray Wrote:

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> Toad - Just a small one, many more to follow

❤️❤️❤️

[cactus]

I don't have a pond, but one of my favourite childhood memories is of collecting frog spawn from a nearby tarn

in Cumbria, loved watching the transition from eggs to tadpoles then frogs.

On another note, we had a sparrow hawk in our garden yesterday, feasting on a feral pigeon! Never seen that before, although they must be pretty common. I often see scattered pigeon feathers in various spots, so plenty of food for them.

Does anyone know where they might be nesting?

[Nigello]

It?s great you saw a raptor nearby, and one ?in action? to boot. Where was this? I?d love to see one near me (near Goodrich School and about 30? on foot to Dawson?s Hill).

[cactus]

I'm just near Goose Green, in that newish looking development on East Dulwich Road.

Really surprised though, to see such a bird in my fairly urban back garden.

[Sue]

cactus Wrote:

> Really surprised though, to see such a bird in my

> fairly urban back garden.

I have a very very small back garden near North Cross Road.

Some years back I heard a terrible commotion and looked out of the window to see what I think must have been a sparrowhawk sitting in the corner of the garden with its wings spread over a starling.

I ran out, but obviously it then flew away with the starling.

I used to get loads of starlings in my garden, but I haven't seen one since. Strange coincidence or what?

[Zig-Zag]

I live in West Dulwich and at least 3 times a week see a sparrowhawk in my or neighbours garden with a poor pigeon but also seen them take smaller birds. Always know when it's about as the other birds do a single alarm call and whizz away in great haste!

[Nigello]

I live in hope! A jay has returned to eat scraps from the top of my wall, as has a blackbird. Crows came a couple of weeks ago. Do they (all birds) have good enough eyesight to make out tiny food bits or do they think because they have found food on similar walls in the past it is worth a chance, or do they just follow the pigeons?

[Sue]

I find pigeon behaviour fascinating.

A pair of wood pigeons come to feed at the ground feeder in my garden.

The male (I presume. Large and bossy 🤣) takes over the feeder, wolfing down seed.

Whenever the female (I presume. Smaller and timid). gets anywhere near it, she is chased away.

She is left to scavenge for seed in other parts of the garden nearby. No wonder he is so fat and she is so thin! (I have now started putting another pile of seed on the ground a little way from the first one, but it isn't in a feeder).

However sometimes another male wood pigeon comes down and then the two males have a fight to see which gets to stay.

Also interestingly, all the sparrows seem to come down for their first feed of the day around the same time as the pigeons. Weird.

I don't put the seed out at a certain time each day, so it isn't that!

[RichH]

Bird bath etiquette is also fun to observe. When one bird takes a bath it seems to trigger a frenzy and suddenly they all want a go. Some species appear happy bathing together like the Blue Tit, multiple Long Tailed Tits and Black Cap I saw last week, whilst others, like Blackbirds, insist on bathing alone and will chase away other birds that try and hop in alongside.

[Sue]

RichH Wrote:

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> Bird bath etiquette is also fun to observe. When

> one bird takes a bath it seems to trigger a frenzy

> and suddenly they all want a go. Some species

> appear happy bathing together like the Blue Tit,

> multiple Long Tailed Tits and Black Cap I saw last

> week, whilst others, like Blackbirds, insist on

> bathing alone and will chase away other birds that

> try and hop in alongside.

Well, the blackbirds are rather larger than the others!

[alex_b]

I saw what I?m fairly sure was a peregrine falcon using our neighbour?s chimney as a lookout before swooping off to catch something.

[malumbu]

Talking to one of our local nature reserves and they see sparrow hawks, a buzzard and another raptor - assume a falcon. Nice one!

[Nigello]

Alex_b, where are you (approxmimately, of course)?

[alex_b]

Nigello Wrote:

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> Alex_b, where are you (approxmimately, of course)?

Adys Rd

[louisemurray]

First toad spawn of the year in the pond, a bit later than normal.

[JMB2012]

Has anyone else seen a pheasant in the local area recently? Just spotted a beautiful one near Ruskin Park, and clearly heard one in Beckenham Place Park last weekend. I've never seen one in London before. Guessing they are easy prey to foxes so doubt it will last long.

[malumbu]

No, I'm also not usually a pleasant plucker, but a pleasant plucker's mate.

Introduced species (as many are) and primarily managed for sport so not sure if they count as nature watch. Although Alison Stedman did a Radio 4 series on introduced birds, defending them! (the alien Birds have landed) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01m0lgg

Don't think urban foxes eat anything that is alive - more likely to be killed by a cat. The foxes round here just seem to ignore the other wildlife.

[lousmith]

malumbu Wrote:

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> No, I'm also not usually a pleasant plucker, but

> the a pleasant plucker's mate.

>

> Introduced species (as many are) and primarily

> managed for sport so not sure if they count as

> nature watch. Although Alison Stedman did a Radio

> 4 series on introduced birds, defending them! (the

> alien Birds have landed)

> https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01m0lgg

>

> Don't think urban foxes eat anything that is alive

> - more likely to be killed by a cat. The foxes

> round here just seem to ignore the other wildlife.

I'm sure a pheasant would be well within the bounds of a fox's lunch, but as they are fast flyers, the foxes would have to be stealthy. In the countryside, the young-uns are usually penned in to keep out foxes and stoats etc, but the adults are free to roam.