ED Nature Watch

[Sue]

A good opportunity to talk to your children about what the pigeons are doing, I would have thought?

[Moovart]

How about you catch the Male one and neuter it. That's what we did with our cat!!

Failing that, move to Slough...no wildlife there!!

[annie7]

I live at the park end of Henslowe Road and have recently heard what I think is a little owl calling at night. I recall reading somewhere that a pair were sighted in Peckham Rye Park in the last year or two. Has anyone else seen/heard them?

[Asset]

flock of redwings have discovered the rowan tree in my garden and are currently stripping it of all the berries.

Quite thrilled as they've never visited before and I've had the tree for several years now!

[RichH]

annie7 Wrote:

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

> I live at the park end of Henslowe Road and have

> recently heard what I think is a little owl

> calling at night. I recall reading somewhere that

> a pair were sighted in Peckham Rye Park in the

> last year or two. Has anyone else seen/heard them?

Yes, I've heard them occasionally, particularly in the last 5 years or so, around One Tree Hill. Not nearly as frequently as Tawny Owls.

[Nigello]

On Dawson's Hill I think was/is an owl - it hooted, not screeched but IDNK which kind it is.

The Lake at D Park had a cormorant resting high up in a tree the other day.

[Mabaker]

So I've just been participating in the Great British Birdwatch and noted down robins, great and blue tits and wood pigeons, but there is one bird which came very briefly to the feeder which I've never seen before. It had a black cap and fawny brown body with no distinctive features apart from the head, about the same size as great tit. Does anyone have any ideas of what it could be? I'm in Donkey Alley and Dawson Heights is at the back.

[cookie]

I just participated too. And saw a similar bird. I put it down as a blackcap, but never seen one before. Saw more goldfinches than anything else.

[Mabaker]

Thanks for the suggestion. I thought it might be a black cap too but then wondered if could be a marsh tit.

[Waseley]

Did the bird count, fun but down on birds. Pretty random, but no woodpecker. Dunnocks and long tailed tits this morning, and no corvids too. Your black headed bird us deffo a black cap. Females have a brown cap.

[Mabaker]

Thanks for two posts endorsing my bird as black cap. That's what I'll record

[Sue]

I've just read this article, and I'm wondering what people have noticed locally re the increasingly earlier flowering of plants in their gardens and elsewhere.

I was at Kew yesterday and they are certainly seeing it there.

The knock on effects on insects and then birds is very alarming.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/02/flowers-arriving-month-early-uk-climate-heats-up-bloom-insects-birds?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

This link from the above article also suggests what plants we can plant in our gardens to help the situation:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/conservation-biodiversity/plants-for-bugs

I hope the trend for bare "gardens" with hardly any actual plants in them, let alone wildlife friendly plants, is on its way out.

Being around plants and trees and being able to see them from our windows is also very important for our own mental health, particularly in an urban environment where we increasingly have even the sky blocked out by high buildings and more and more loft extensions.

[yeknomyeknom]

Yes I?ve noticed early blooming plants and odd plant behaviour but unfortunately it?s been happening for 3 winters now so not sure it can be called odd anymore. Bit depressing.

[Mabaker]

For anyone interested in recording life events of plants and animals, e.g, first blooms, leaves etc, woodland trust are always looking for recorders for their database. The information is helpful in tracking the changes in seasons. Go to naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org

[legalalien]

The hellebores in our garden are flowering like mad and I?ve seen a couple of small bumblebees. Which seemed odd, but having googled, apparently winter-active bumblebees are increasingly a thing?

https://www.bwars.com/content/winter-active-bombus-terrestris-data-gathering

Some interesting bumblebee info

https://www.nzbct.org.nz/bee-informed

[jimmah]

Long tailed tits are back in my garden, I really think they might be my favourite garden birds.

[Nigello]

I?ve seen some taking crumbs from under caf? tables in the the Village - very bold and likeable.

[ianr]

House moths are back in my kitchen. Seen three so far this week, bagged one.

[Nigello]

Sleepy-looking toad clambering over paved ground in a front/side L-shaped garden near Friern/Goodrich. Looked rather skinny.

[Lynne]

I noticed a pigeon wearing a ring on its leg amongst those foraging in Sainsbury's park. Does that mean it was a racing pigeon?

[Nigello]

Bumble bee, honey bees and various hoverflies are about.

[Sue]

The three remaining Egyptian goslings in Peckham Rye park are getting quite big now ❤️

[Nigello]

I saw one of these on C P Road earlier this arvo, nearer to the Goose Green end. https://butterfly-conservation.org/butterflies/brimstone This is the first butterfly I have seen this year.

[Sue]

This morning I was astounded to see a large brown butterfly fly past my kitchen window.

I've no idea what it was, as I only got a glimpse of it, but it wasn't anything I recognised.

First butterfly I've seen this year, as well.

[Brian up the hill]

Yes, brimstones are some of the earliest butterflies to emerge.