ED Nature Watch

[Karrie]

[Deleted] Safety reasons

[SteveT]

Had a few green gages today the first of the season, the tree is laden.

The victoria plum looks close to ripening too, though not a good year for plum production.

[LadyTaTa]

My summer flowers have given up, I feel like Autumn is already here. The trees in the park look like they're already on the turn.

The baby pigeons are now cute and like mini-pigeons rather than alien monsters, although the mother still tries to sit on them at night, hilarious! She can barely cover one, let alone two.

I am hoping to see the meteor shower this evening...

[Nero]

Saw some - to me, at least - unusual snails on the top of a concrete gate post on Friern Road. They were smaller in length than the usual snails, and their shells were dark-brown and straw-coloured, shiny, and flatter.

[ruffers]

Saw loads of moths tonight, Tiger Moths I believe.

And also looking out for meteors....

[SteveT]

I have a baby robin flitting around the garden, it has no red breast yet, it looks like a young thrush with the speckles down it's front.

It is still being fed by it's parents, although it can feed itself when it chooses to.

[LadyTaTa]

I am now convinced Autumn is here - along with my ED observations, on a drive down south yesterday [apologies I'm referencing non-ETD for a moment ;-)] I noticed all the fields have already been harvested, the blackberries are ripe, and the horses have started to get their fluffy winter coats.

[Karrie]

[Deleted] Safety reasons

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

A bright green grasshopper/cricket thingy jumped on to my hand yesterday - he appeared to have come from a hazel tree I was sitting under.

[Alec John Moore]

I've got some spare strawberry plants if anyone would like them. I can also report that I had my first barter with homemade this morning. Some freshly picked stalks of rhubarb were exchanged for a flat white and a croissant with butter and jam. Result!

[SteveT]

The apples seemed to have increased in size in the last week or so I guess it's the inch and a half of rain we've had.

The green gages are becoming more yellow and getting ever nearer to ripening.

It is only a tiny little bush I bought last year, but it is absolutely laden with fruit so it seems to like it in ED.

[Alec John Moore]

"A bright green grasshopper/cricket thingy jumped on to my hand yesterday - he appeared to have come from a hazel tree I was sitting under." I noticed a couple of those in our garden today and I've just twigged (pun intended) that I was standing under our neighbour's hazel tree. How does one tell the difference between a cricket and a grasshopper?

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I don't know - that's why I fudged it!

[Alec John Moore]

See these links for pics and info. It seems there's a night and day thing about the difference:

http://insects.about.com/od/identifyaninsect/a/grassorcricket.htm

http://www.wildaboutgardens.org/wildlife/insects/grasshopper-and-cricket.aspx

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

So, probably a grasshopper, Master Po.

[Karrie]

[Deleted] Safety reasons

[sophiesofa]

Karrie Wrote:

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

> I saw a black fox today ::o

I didn't even know they existed! Are you sure it wasn't just dirty ;)

[Sue]

Bit of a long shot, but I posted a link on this thread a while ago re where I get my bird fat snax off the internet, and I can't find it.

Nobody made a note of it by any chance?

Pathetic I know but I can't track down my last receipt. Even though I have a file marked "birds and bird food", the latest thing in it is from 2008 :-$

I have googled Gardman fat snax but none of the suppliers who come up ring a bell, and I want to make sure I'm getting the best deal :))

[Karrie]

[Deleted] Safety reasons

[The Minkey]

Not sure about the night / day cricket / grasshopper thing - maybe the cricket is more active at night but it's also around and about during the day as that's when I've always spotted them. If it looked like this, it was a cricket: http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRo3fsaFtu-i9LLJ6UnQYp2B0YxXHxHpwWHoBWJhVUxJ184w_0&t=1&usg=__q8ytcbTByGtUx6ujIGG3T1pb2Ro=

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Cricket it was - luminous green!

[The Minkey]

Luminous green sounds about right ;-) They practically glow.

[agathoise]

Had a rat saunter across the road in front of my car as I drove up the top end of Crystal Palace Rd at lunchtime today. The children insisted that it was a giant mouse :-)

[ianr]

I was walking past the medical centre in Townley Road this afternoon when I saw what looked like two small furry dead animals on the pavement. I was just trying to work out what they were when I heard someone say "They've fallen out of the tree", and realised they were young squirrels. I wonder how those deaths came about.

[stephf72]

Franklins anyone???