ED Nature Watch

[Karrie]

[Deleted] Safety reasons

[Alec John Moore]

just had two blackberries from the bush in the garden that we've allowed to grow freely. The question, how do you define a weed, springs to mind. I heard a blackberry farmer - that's one who grows them not one who communicates with the device of the same name - on farming today on Radio 4 a few months ago predicting that this will be a bumper year for blackberries given the hard winter. The blackberries we ate today were slightly tart but definitely black.

[SteveT]

It's my first year of having a blackberry and very glad it's a thornless too, but the fruits are as big as a man's thumb.

[sheilarose]

Mother duck on Peckham Rye pond still has eight ducklings as of this morning.

[5imon]

saw a whopping big stag beetle on the patio t'other day. whipped out my macro lens and got a picture of the brute.

also squirrels have eaten all my redcurrents blueberries and young apricots, the rotters. anyone with any advice on (humane) deterrants?

lastly, i've noticed greenfinches only popped by my garden if i put thistle seed out for them. Haven't seen them since i stopped filling the feeders for the summer....is anyone still putting food out for birds, and is it recommended? (i've heard conflicting opinions on this)

[LadyTaTa]

I take my hat off to you, that photo is amazing! Very nice.

I have some fatballs in a feeder (no mesh) and the birds are either not hungry, or haven't realised that it's food. They've been untouched for weeks.

[Sue]

Great pic of the stag beetle!

Apparently Herne Hill and thereabouts is a hotspot for them? I heard there is a window of opportunity to see them at dusk when they fly.

Lady TaTa, my fat balls are rapidly being gobbled up by birds, even though it's summer. Have you got yours in a place where the birds can have some shelter and are not highly visible to cats?

[LadyTaTa]

Hi Sue, hmm that's interesting. Yes I do, but I'm on the 4th floor, perhaps they don't think to look there. They used to come and eat peanuts from the same place though. Perhaps I'll try shifting it's position.

Saying that, being on the 4th floor doesn't stop the pigeons looking longingly at the feeder :))

[The Minkey]

Bat-eating Great Tits is exactly the sort of bizarre fact I like, Cate - thanks for that ;-)

5imon - I feed the birds all year round, as do lots of people. The feeders are visited by adults and juveniles alike.

[Alec John Moore]

Gooseberries are more painful to harvest than blackberries IMHO. We've had a good crop of purple berries this year - enough for me to attempt to make jam this w/e! This despite the leaves being stripped from the bushes by gooseberry sawfly larvae. We picked them off by hand - scores of them - and fed them to the chickens.

[Sue]

LadyTaTa Wrote:

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> Saying that, being on the 4th floor doesn't stop

> the pigeons looking longingly at the feeder :))

xxxxxxxxxx

I know someone who lives in a 12th floor flat.

In an effort to deter the pigeons from his balcony he obtained a life-sized plastic crow (I think), stuck black feathers all over it and attached it to the rail.

This backfired when it was divebombed by the real local crows, who pecked all the feathers off :))

Simon, I believe the RSPB advises feeding birds all year round. I have fat balls, peanuts and seeds out at the moment, and they're all getting eaten, even though the birds are clearly eating insects etc as well.

I also have water out all year round, though I didn't see any birds drinking from it even during the very hot weather (or bathing come to that) though maybe I just wasn't looking out of my window at the right time.

[SteveT]

I have a miniature pond for the birds which is regularly visited, though it gets foul looking quite quickly,

so I use a free disposable.

When I buy produce from the supermarket some come wrapped in plastic trays and they are flat open and hold enough water for them to drink from or bathe in.

I usually put a stone protruding above the water line to hold down the tray when it's blustery, plus they can perch on it to drink.

When it becomes revolting with green algy I exchange it for the next tray that comes along, I never leave them without even if it is revolting to look at.

Recycling for wild life.

[sheilarose]

Only six ducklings left today. And, in addition to the usual plump, well-fed looking heron, there is now a smaller, skinnier one. Seems that word is getting round in the heron community that there are rich pickings in PRP pond.

[Sue]

sheilarose Wrote:

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In addition to

> the usual plump, well-fed looking heron, there is

> now a smaller, skinnier one. Seems that word is

> getting round in the heron community that there

> are rich pickings in PRP pond.

xxxxxxxxx

There are three herons, probably a pair plus their young one, see further up the thread :)

[LadyTaTa]

What type of bird is it that lives on Peckham Rye in a large flock? I know it's a type of crow and thought it might be a rook, but it looks like rooks have bigger beaks than these birds.

I've noticed that every night when the sun sets, they fly up into the trees for about an hour, and then they all fly off in the direction of nunhead cemetery. Who knows why they don't just stay in the park...

[BrandNewGuy]

Saw an adult male kestrel flying over Green Dale yesterday at about 6pm - East Dulwich Grove end. Probably making the most of the summer rodent population.

Also noticed that yesterday was Flying Ant Day, one of those miracles of nature when a large local population seems to act in a co-ordinated way.

[Sue]

Flying ants in ED noted in the lounge

HERE!!

[Karrie]

[Deleted] Safety reasons

[Sue]

Gardener's Delight are good croppers I think, and also because they're tiny I guess there's room for more on each plant!

Delicious flavour :)

[Karrie]

[Deleted] Safety reasons

[Sue]

Yeh it's coming up to the spider season isn't it.

Go into the garden and get your hair full of spider web before you've even got there.

Yuk.

[The Minkey]

I Lady Tata - I think they're Crows. Crows have shorter beaks than Rooks. Also, they have neater legs - apparantly Rooks look like they're wearing baggy trousers.

I saw a nuthatch in my garden the other day - a first..

[citizenED]

sheilarose said; "Only six ducklings left today. And, in addition to the usual plump, well-fed looking heron, there is now a smaller, skinnier one. Seems that word is getting round in the heron community that there are rich pickings in PRP pond"

And then there were five. Walking past the pond today I saw a heron 'take' one of the ducklings. Had to try to explain it to my two little boys. Playing hide and seek?

[Sue]

Lot of these about at the moment .... garden tiger moths

[LadyTaTa]

Thanks Minkey!

The pigeon babies have hatched... they're not very attractive... scaly grey with sparse yellow feathers and large beaks. They are still being sat on all day every day (I'm sure there's a technical term for this :-$), I'm suprised they don't suffocate.