ED Nature Watch

[Ridgley]

We have a white calico female cat, and this other male cat keeps tapping on the door for her. Will not let her out as she will be nutted very soon untill then no hanky panky.

[maxtedc]

I happened to notice there were a lot of orange butterflies around on Sunday. By orange they weren't gatekeepers, more like tortoiseshell. I've never seen them before (alas I don't have a garden) so when I saw half a dozen in various, distant corners of ED and Peckham on the same day it stood out.

[The Minkey]

Have a look on here to see if you can identfiy it: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species_family.php?name=Nymphalidae

That's how I found out what my orange flock were. I also saw a small blue one today but was moving too quickly to see which one.

[Sue]

Oh no, potential disaster.

I went out in the garden and one of my froglets was perched on top of the pile of stones I had thoughtfully provided as an escape route out of the tub.

I went to get my camera, and when I came back it was hopping along the side of the tub.

Then suddenly it made a great leap off the tub.

Sadly, not into the water, and not into the nice green sanctuary I had provided on the side of the tub near the pile of stones, but into a dusty abyss on the other side, landing on a ledge on a wall.

Last I saw it was cowering (sorry, anthropomorphic) near the dust.

OMG will it ever be able to reach safety? I didn't want to try to rescue it in case I made things worse. :-$

I had netted over the tub but cut a hole in the netting around the escape route, but now I'm worried it is going to get caught on the netting if it tries to get back in.

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH

I guess I'll never know .... as it is about a centimetre long and indistinguishable from any other froglet as far as I can see .......

:-S

[lousmith]

They're pretty intrepid those froglets!

[Sue]

I went outside just now to see if it was still there, and it's gone - so let's hope it keeps safe during its adventures.

How is it going to climb back into a tub which has an outward-facing rim? Unless it finds the magical sloping slate ....

What is it going to eat when it doesn't have lovely freeze-dried bloodworms dropped into its tub every morning???

Suppose a hungry bird finds it?

Hope I can sleep tonight :))

:-S

[Sue]

This afternoon - two froglets on a stone, one on the rim of the tub and another in the water.

They seem to be sticking out their tongues - do they do that when they're so tiny? It's so quick I can't quite see exactly what they're doing ......

[Sue]

maxtedc Wrote:

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

> I happened to notice there were a lot of orange

> butterflies around on Sunday. By orange they

> weren't gatekeepers, more like tortoiseshell. I've

> never seen them before (alas I don't have a

> garden) so when I saw half a dozen in various,

> distant corners of ED and Peckham on the same day

> it stood out.

xxxxxxx

I think they might have been these, maxtedc?

There's loads of them around at the moment.

They are orange when they fly, but when they come to rest they are black and white.

See these pictures:

Tiger Moth

[Sue]

I've just seen drop off my birdfeeder (fat balls) a small animal which was bigger than a mouse but smaller than a squirrel, about hamster sized and a sort of tan-brown colour.

Couldn't see a tail. Didn't look like a rat. It disappeared into ground cover.

Any ideas what it might be? Anyone lost a hamster?

[The Minkey]

Wow, Sue - it sounds like a hazel dormouse. My OH saw what he thought was one hanging around in a collapsed wisteria in someone's front garden fairly locally. I just did a google and found this site which shows a couple of dormice on a peanut feeder: http://www.wbrc.org.uk/worcRecd/Issue9/dormice.htm Do they look like your visitor?

[Sue]

Hey yes it looked just like that, that's amazing! Thanks, Minkey!

I looked in a garden wildlife book I have earlier today, and I did think it looked like a dormouse, but the only one there was a pic of was what they called a garden dormouse, and it said they weren't found in the British Isles, so I assumed it couldn't be that.

And by a weird coincidence, I just went up the road, and going down a hole in the pavement (Ulverscroft Road - sorry to break the news, folks) was the back end of a rat - and the thing on my birdfeeder was very definitely not a rat :))

I also have a tiny mouse living in my garden which seems to come and eat the bits dropped off the birdfeeder, from the ground. Haven't got close enough to see if it's a wood mouse or a house mouse, but I think it might be a baby, as it's light enough to run over leaves without bending them too much.

[The Minkey]

Sue: How exciting. You can report the sighting here: http://www.ptes.org/index.php?page=186

[Sue]

I am wondering whether it was a

Bank Vole

as it looked more this colour .....

[Twirly]

Sue Wrote:

> I think they might have been these, maxtedc?

>

> There's loads of them around at the moment.

>

> They are orange when they fly, but when they come

> to rest they are black and white.

>

> See these pictures:

>

> Tiger Moth

I had one of these land on me the other day. Saw it fluttering around as I was walking up the road so paused to watch it and it landed on me till I had to move again, then fluttered off. Was lovely :)

[Penguin68]

When I was young (1950s) I remember that sparrows used to go round mob-handed - then more recently I've only seen them in the garden in twos and threes, if that. This year however a flock of 15+ (as far as I can count them) descends regularly on the feeders on my patio. They move round together in a mob, although often separating into 2 smaller groups before coming back together again.

Has anyone else noted a recent plethora of garden sparrows?

[Sue]

Can't help re the sparrows, but can anybody tell me what bird has a call which sounds like "sweep sweep" with the words quite long drawn out?

I remember learning it in school but I can't remember, and haven't found anything by googling.

Is it a thrush? Heard it yesterday in ED but never before round here so far as I recall.

[lousmith]

Chaffinch doing a rain call? bizarre though it sounds

Thrush song usually varied and beautiful.

[Alec John Moore]

Saw a heron flying over Burgess Park this morning as I was cycling to work. I've seen the one in Peckham Rye park and the one at the pond by Pond Cottages in Dulwich but they were both perched. They look quite majestic in flight.

Alec

[peterstorm1985]

Penguin68 Wrote:

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

>

> Has anyone else noted a recent plethora of garden

> sparrows?

This year we did have a mob of sparrows (not any more), last year only a pair. But the year before we had a mob. I think it depends upon the success of hatching and the food supply. But it also may have a lot to do with how good the local cats are at catching birds. There's a new kitty in our street and I've found two dead bodies in the garden already and no more sparrows on the bird feeder.

[Sue]

lousmith Wrote:

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

> Chaffinch doing a rain call? bizarre though it

> sounds

>

> =related

>

> Thrush song usually varied and beautiful.

xxxxxx

Yes, thanks, that sounds like it.

You mean they do weather forecasting? How weird!

[Penguin68]

how good the local cats are at catching birds. There's a new kitty in our street and I've found two dead bodies in the garden already and no more sparrows on the bird feeder

To all you cat-lovers and cat-keepers and cat fanciers out there - BAH!!!

[Cas59]

I would love to see the parakeets , there is supposed to be so many in ruskin park but i have never seen one , bt my garden is now full of wildlife since i startred tending to the communial garden for the last 3 yrs tits finches thrush blackbirds sparrows robins and more and so many new type of butterflys including the camberwell blue , its lovely.

[civilservant]

I've waited in vain to see someone post about hedgehogs in ED - there was a vague rumour some time ago that one had been heard snuffling around Nunhead. So in a week full of disheartening news about rioting and looting, here is more disheartening news: the hedgehog has now joined the list of Britain's 10 most endangered species.

I used to champion urban foxes, but it looks like they may be part of the problem http://www.thehedgehog.co.uk/foxes.htm

Can't we do something?

[edhistory]

Thank you for the reference, civilservant.

I had assumed (bad thing) that out of all the mammals that re-colonised our valley about 12,000 years ago the hedgehog was an assured survivor.

John K

[civilservant]

Sadly not, it seems, edh

I got in touch with Hugh Warwick at the British Hedgehog Preservation Society some time ago - his book here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prickly-Affair-Charm-Hedgehog/dp/0141034297/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313268496&sr=1-1 - and one thing he said was that their hedgehog census showed that the hedgehog population is particularly low in SE London, which I find hard to understand given that we have big parks and so many leafy spaces.

I'm sure that he/they can advise on what we can do in ED.