Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Saw a recently flattened frog as I cycled up Court Lane today.


Huge bumblebee apparently on a recce, carefully inspected indoors then left again.


Two blue tits chasing each other around the garden looking very much like a couple.


Magnolias halfway open and the trees that look like a winter cherry (not sure what they're called) are starting to scatter petals like confetti in my road.


It's like the bit in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers when the snow starts to melt.

dimples Wrote:

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

> Do you recognise these ducks I spotted at peckham

> rye park ? Their feathers were beautiful !



Egyptian Goose dimples. Hyde park has quite a few, could be blow ins from there... https://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/e/egyptiangoose/

the-e-dealer Wrote:

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

> Whats this butterfly in my front garden - it flew

> away before I could get closer !


xxxxxxx


Looks like a Peacock? Butterfly, that is :)


ETA: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.php?vernacular_name=Peacock

  • 2 weeks later...

We have been on a Dawn Chorus walk in Horniman Gardens this morning (starting at 5am!!!!)


It was led by a very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and - importantly - audible guy from a company with the excellent name of Bird Brain :)


Many birds are already nesting and some already have young.


We heard - and in theory are now able to identify the songs of - blackbird, robin, blue tit, great tit, goldcrest, wren, nuthatch, song thrush, dunnock, wood pigeon, green woodpecker, one of the spotted woodpeckers but can't remember which, redwing (I think), magpie, parakeet, crow.


Well obviously we already knew some of them .....


Well worth making the effort to drag ourselves out of bed and going out into the freezing cold dawn, though we did have to go back to bed after we'd had breakfast :)


Apparently there are at least thirty types of bird at various times in the gardens, probably more. Didn't hear any house sparrows but came back to see several in my garden :)

  • 4 weeks later...

I saw a bee-fly for the first time in my garden in late April last year - and only knew what it was because someone else posted about them on the forum.


They're like tiny, woolly humming-birds. I saw my first of 2014 in the garden this morning.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombyliidae

I thought they were gorgeous, until I discovered that some species need to live as parasites in other insects, before they emerge as winged adults.


First Orange Tip butterfly seen this week, flying alongside the trees of Camberwell Old Cemetery.


It tells you here what the larval food plants are, worth knowing so as not to be over zealous with the 'weeding'


http://www.britishbutterflies.co.uk/species-info.asp?vernacular=Orange-tip

What a great thing to be able to see in your own garden!


I'm excited because for the first time ever I have a clear view of a robin's nest from my sitting room window! They've nested in a hole some distance up a substantial tree trunk. Peeking out this morning I could see a substantial young fledgling sticking its head out eagerly - waiting to be fed. I'm being very careful not to go anywhere near.


I learnt recently that robins can nest two or three times in a season if the weather's good.

I took a very spring-like walk down Green Dale just now. In addition to all the different bright greens of the trees coming into leaf - poplar, oak, ash, birch, sycamore, willow and elder - there was a host of birds, visible or audible - starling, house sparrow, dunnock, blue tit, great tit, robin, wren, blackbird, mistle thrush, chaffinch, goldfinch, feral pigeon, wood pigeon, carrion crow, magpie, green woodpecker and greater spotted woodpecker. Not bad for a ten-minute stroll. We?re very lucky to live where we do.

I love cutting through Green Dale on my way to Denmark Hill, but haven't ever seen/heard quite such a variety of birds. Maybe it's the Bank Holiday that brings them all out!


Speaking of nests - I leave the combings from our dog in the garden, and by the end of the day, it's all been taken to line nests. It's very funny seeing a tiny blue tit flying off carrying a ball of dog-fluff amost as bit as itself!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Two subjects here.  Xmas cards,  We receive and send less of them.  One reason is that the cost of postage - although interestingly not as much as I thought say compared to 10 years ago (a little more than inflation).  Fun fact when inflation was double digits in the 70s cost of postage almost doubled in one year.  Postage is not a good indication of general inflation fluctuating a fair bit.  The huge rise in international postage that for a 20g Christmas card to Europe (no longer a 20g price, now have to do up to 100g), or a cheapskate 10g card to the 'States (again have to go up to the 100g price) , both around a quid in 2015, and now has more than doubled in real terms.  Cards exchanged with the US last year were arriving in the New Year.  Funnily enough they came much quicker this year.  So all my cards abroad were by email this year. The other reason we send less cards is that it was once a good opportunity to keep in touch with news.  I still personalise many cards with a news and for some a letter, and am a bit grumpy when I get a single line back,  Or worse a round robin about their perfect lives and families.  But most of us now communicate I expect primarily by WhatApp, email, FB etc.  No need for lightweight airmail envelope and paper in one.    The other subject is the mail as a whole. Privitisation appears to have done it no favours and the opening up of competition with restrictions on competing for parcel post with the new entrants.  Clearly unless you do special delivery there is a good chance that first class will not be delivered in a day as was expected in the past.   Should we have kept a public owned service subsidised by the tax payer?  You could also question how much lead on innovation was lost following the hiving off of the national telecommunications and mail network.
    • Why have I got a feeling there was also a connection with the beehive in Brixton on that road next to the gym
    • Ah, thanks,  it all comes flooding back. I've actually been to the Hastings shop, I'd forgotten all about it, along with her name! Didn't she (in between?)  take over what  was then The Magnolia, previously The Magdala, now The Lordship, with her then partner? Or is that some figment of my imagination?  In fact, didn't they transform it from The Magdala (much missed) to The Magnolia? With flowery wallpaper covering the front of the bar? Which reminds me of the pub's brief period after The Magnolia  as the ill-conceived and ill-fated The Patch.
    • Looking for crate/toys/play pen etc. Ideally will buy in a bundle. Can collect!
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...