ED Nature Watch

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

One becomes 12 little ducklings, all to one mama. And the drake is still trying to roger her - typical man.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

And then there were four. That's eight overnight - I'm convinced it's the heron.

[SteveT]

Must be a night heron!

[first mate]

Steve T,

With regard to your earlier post, are there pike in the big lake on PR?

I'm genuinely interested.

I've seen a fair few rats, both water rats and the normal kind, but was not aware of pike. How thrilling if there was a huge, ancient pike (not to mention wild cats) that lived on the Rye.

[SimonM]

It seems a high mortality rate for a heron. When there are ducklings/goslings in Dulwich Park the numbers only seem to shrink gradually, and the heron are there all the time. I'm wondering about rats too.

[pearl1]

Last year my friend's cat brought home several ducklings over the period of a week. Not from this area, but it shows that A) cats go a long way to hunt B)there are many predators and could be a combination of rats, herons and cats...

[louisiana]

The jay (which just did a 100-yard dash across the backs)

a robin

several tits

two blackbirds

a wren

two starlings

And far too many pigeons! Is it permissible to make pigeon pie? And does anyone have a shotgun? B)

Lots of bumbles too.

[Rita]

Herons do eat chicks witnessed one last year eating baby moorhens , the mum was going mad , not nice .My friend and me saw the disappearance of chicks on a daily basis from the lake in Peckham Rye park.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

None left after the Easter weekend! Hope the goslings fare better when they come.

Anyone know why the sun dial in The Sexby Gardens seems to be set on winter time? One would have thought it would have more application in the summer!

[Huguenot]

"the sun dial in The Sexby Gardens seems to be set on winter time"

Tell me more!

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Little to tell. A little quirk of mine, I like to look at it most days and see how accurate it is. There is a squiggly graph at the bottom which tells you how much time to add or subtract depending on the month.

Using the graph, it was pretty accurate until the clocks went forward. Now it's way out, man.

[Huguenot]

Hmmm. I guess it's an hour out? ;-)

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Eee, tha's sharp lad.

[Huguenot]

So did someone forget to move the sun when we changed the clocks?

[LostThePlot]

I was running down by Beckenham last Sunday, and saw a kingfisher. First one I've seen in the UK! Guess out of the postcode so doesn't count.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

No turf wars here! There was a kingfisher about three years ago on the Rye - would be lovely to see it again.

[Rita]

There was one last year in the japenese garden by the little stream.

[louisiana]

I seem to have two teeny tiny birds living in a teeny tiny hole in the brickwork next to a large window sill.

They flew so fast in and out that I could see nothing except that they were tiny and perhaps brown with a white flash on the front. Will have to investigate.

[dazeykat]

Wrens maybe?

[louisiana]

Yes, I thought wrens too. Right size, but flew past so quickly that not easy to say for certain. Will need to actually try to spot them as they whiz in and out.

Very excisted by having birds nesting in the brickwork of the house. The hole is really miniscule.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Could well have been pied wagtails. Quite a few up the Rye. They are always in pairs and like nesting in crevices.

[Sue]

One of the things about wrens is that they have very thin beaks, which are quite long in relation to their tiny bodies, or always look that way to me.

Also "rounder" bodies than pied wagtails I think.

And I think they are completely brown, not with a white flash anywhere.

But I don't have the energy to look up my bird book :)

I love wrens, had one who used to be about my (very small) garden a lot a few years back.

[dazeykat]

Pied wagtails are very distinctive. I know that wrens will nest & roost very close to people. But, anyway, lovely to have them so close louisiana. Must confess have become a bit nerdy about bird spotting in the garden of late - old age?

[louisiana]

Likewise dazeykat. I'm pushing against the big 49 next month :-S

Will check the RSPB site right now for pied wagtails...

[Moos]

To me the distinctive things about wrens is that they are remarkably tiny in comparison with other small birds, and their bodies are very deep, if that's the right way of putting it - very round bodies, as Sue said.

Pied wagtails are black and white and not so small, so perhaps not?

Anyway, here are some pics