Jump to content

Recommended Posts

kiera Wrote:

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

> Sue. - the bird may have seen a reflection of your

> garden in your window. I picked up a dead young

> blackbird which had killed itself flying into the

> glass at Peckham library. When I stood outside and

> looked at the window from the bird's perspective,

> I saw the reflection of a tree. Similarly,at

> home,we experienced a blue tit attacking a

> reflection of itself in a window. I think it's

> only in a certain light that the window acts as a

> mirror - probably when it's in full sun. Might a

> venetian blind reduce the mirror effect?



Oh no :( :( :(


Unfortunately there is absolutely no way I am putting up a blind - I had the new window so I could see more of my (very small) garden from my kitchen!


I will investigate what the window looks like from the outside at different times of day.

  • 4 weeks later...

Would it be a Dunnock that's been bouncing around our garden this last week?

Grey front and head like a female sparrow but with a slender bill and longer tail. Pecking on the ground a lot around the margins. Very pronounced hopping with long hops - more so than with a sparrow. Just a single one.


Any comments would be welcome.

  • 2 weeks later...
In an interlude to the wind a swarm of bees moved into the vacant hive I had provided on election day . They are piling the pollen in so the queen is laying. 'A swarm in May is worth a load of hay' as they say...... Great. A better democratic result for their species.

Ta, that's reassuring.


red devil Wrote:

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

> I think the singing in early Spring is more to do

> with territory and finding a mate. Most birds will

> have paired up by now and will be quietly sitting

> on eggs and/or feeding their young...

  • 2 weeks later...

For the past few days I've noticed this bird around. It's been landing on the roof of a neighbours shed, tearing the blue covering up and then flying away with bundles which must be for its nest. Hanging out washing yesterday and saw it flying towards me, over my head straight for the shed again! Have told neighbours.


Think the bird is a Mistle Thrush.

  • 2 weeks later...
Saw a bullfinch in the garden for the first time ever - v exciting. Also a greenfinch, which I haven't seen in the garden for several years. Seems to have been a bumper breeding season for birds too - we're getting baby sparrows, dunnocks, blue and great tits, goldfinches, blackbirds and robins at the feeder and birdbath. I'm spending way too much time looking out of the window when I should be doing other things.
  • 2 weeks later...

Green Woodpecker showed up this morning.


Very close to our rear window so that its red crown, black mask and green colouring were amazingly bright and attractive.


Unusually it was on the lawn and then went to a raised flowerbed for more pecking around the base of plants and flowers.

Have only ever seen and heard them before when they were high up on our neighbour's oak tree.


Made my day!

amlh Wrote:

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

> This is true. Even if it seems unbelievable. I

> have a photo. A turtle in the Peckham Rye lake.

> Two days ago


There used to be quite a few in there some years back. Apparently people who owned them had dumped them in the pond and they had multiplied. They had to take them out though as they were multiplying too much!

I don't think terrapins (Fresh water turtles) have successfully bred in Britain. All of the adults in London lakes were individually released. I think the young can't survive our winters. However a few mild winters giving time for a little evolutionary adaptation and we could have a future ecological problem.


https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/mutant-ninja-turtles-could-be-breeding-in-britains-canals


MarkT

  • 3 weeks later...

We have a population of Goatsbeard - Tragopagon pratensis - at the East Dulwich Community Centre. I see it probably every year. We had a dozen separate plants this time - my photo attached. The flowers are now over and the seeds are dispersed. Has anyone seen it elsewhere in the neighbourhood? Is it rare in London?


http://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/goats-beard




MarkT

Hi, there will be a meeting today, Wednesday at 7:30 PM at The Rose Pub, 108 Forest Hill Road, SE22 0RS to save the woods in Woodvale and Brenchly Gardens cemeteries. They council is planning on cutting down ten acres of woods.


aerial view. listen to local birdsong.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b76wj7BO8yI


Lewis Schaffer

Nunhead tree and heritage lover

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

    • Honestly, the squirrels are not a problem now.  They only eat what has dropped.  The feeders I have are squirrel proof anyway from pre-cage times.  I have never seen rats in the garden, and even when I didn't have the cage.  I most certainly would have noticed them.  I do have a little family of mice which I have zero problem about.  If they stay outside, that's fine with me.  Plus, local cats keep that population down.  There are rats everywhere in London, there is plenty of food rubbish out in the street to keep them happy.  So, I guess you could fit extra bars to the cage if you wanted to, but then you run the risk of the birds not getting in.  They like to be able to fly in and out easily, which they do.   
    • Ahh, the old "it's only three days" chestnut.  I do hope you realise the big metal walls, stages, tents, toilets, lighting, sound equipment, refreshments, concessions etc don't just magically appear & disappear overnight? You know it all has to be transported in & erected, constructed? And that when stuff is constructed, like on a construction site, it's quite noisy & distracting? Banging, crashing, shouting, heavy plant moving around - beep beep beep reversing signals, engines revving - pneumatic tools? For 8 to 10 hours a day, every day? And that it tends to go on for two or three weeks before an event, and a week after when they take it all down again? I'm sure my boys' GCSE prep won't be affected by any of that, especially if we close the windows (before someone suggests that as a resolution). I'm sure it won't affect anyone at the Harris schools either, actually taking their exams with that background noise.
    • Thanks for the good discussion, this should be re-titled as a general thread about feeding the birds. @Penguin not really sure why you posted, most are aware that virtually all land in this country is managed, and has been for 100s of years, but there are many organisations, local and national government, that manage large areas of land that create appropriate habitats for British nature, including rewilding and reintroductions.  We can all do our bit even if this is not cutting your lawn, and certainly by not concreting over it.  (or plastic grass, urgh).   I have simply been stating that garden birds are semi domesticated, as perhaps the deer herds in Richmond Park, New Forest ponies, and even some foxes where we feed them.  Whoever it was who tried to get a cheap jibe in about Southwark and the Gala festival.  Why?  There is a whole thread on Gala for you to moan on.  Lots going on in Southwark https://www.southwark.gov.uk/culture-and-sport/parks-and-open-spaces/ecology-and-wildlife I've talked about green sqwaky things before, if it was legal I'd happily use an air riffle, and I don't eat meat.  And grey squirrels too where I am encourage to dispatch them. Once a small group of starlings also got into the garden I constructed my own cage using starling proof netting, it worked for a year although I had to make a gap for the great spotted woodpecker to get in.  The squirrels got at it in the summer but sqwaky things still haven't come back, starlings recently returned.  I have a large batch of rubbish suet pellets so will let them eat them before reordering and replacing the netting. Didn't find an appropriately sized cage, the gaps in the mesh have to be large enough for finches etc, and the commercial ones were £££ The issue with bird feeders isn't just dirty ones, and I try to keep mine clean, but that sick birds congregate in close proximity with healthy birds.  The cataclysmic obliteration of the greenfinch population was mainly due to dirty feeders and birds feeding close to each other.  
    • Another recommendation for Niko - fitted me in the next day, simple fix rather than trying to upsell and a nice guy as well. Will use again
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

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