Mabaker

Agree with everything Sue says. For some people XR will never be seen to do the right thing. If they have camped without permission, they fall foul of the "rules are rules" camp. If in deed they did get permission from the Council, some people are still complaining about that. And what's all this nonsense about tyre slashing? I'm sure people's nearby cars will be quite safe.

I find it quite depressing to read such hostility about a group of people who are standing up for you and your children and grandchildren against the horrors of climate change and habitat distruction.We have just a few short years to turn this around and yet some contributers seem to be more bothered about possible minor disruptions in the park. You shouldn't assume that they will leave a mess for the Council to clear up or have a negative impact on the park. Instead of condemning them out of hand why not go down there and actually talk to them and listen to their point of view. You might actually come away with a different opinion of them.

Bus services in our part of London are inferior to other parts of London, which I've never understood. If anything, it should be better due to no tube service. Is it because the decision makers live north of the river?

Sparrows seem to me to be quite picky about where they hang out. I've noticed a gathering of sparrows at the bottom end of Friern Rd.

Good job Alice. Have you got email address? I can contact them too

The Council lists the reserve as being under management if Dawson's Hill Trust but that website appears to be dormant. Actually there are a couple of signs there. I'll check that for information.

Not emptied along Donkey Alley either, although that's nothing new!

Every time I walk through the top path along Dawson's Heights I've noticed that there are fewer bramble bushes. Some have been cut down but some hedges have been taken out completely. As the blackberry hedges provide food and shelter for wild life, I'm finding this hedge cull worrying. Does anyone know what's going on there?

Last night I heard the hooting of an owl from nearby Dawson's Heights. This was quite exciting for me because in all my born days I have never seen or heard an owl in the wild. I'm no expert but looking it up in my bird call app I think it might have been a tawny owl.

Ok. Thanks

I'm having trouble accessing this forum. I'm being blocked out and had to go to historical page to get in. Never had this problem before. Has the login changed?

For anyone interested in recording life events of plants and animals, e.g, first blooms, leaves etc, woodland trust are always looking for recorders for their database. The information is helpful in tracking the changes in seasons. Go to naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org

Thanks for two posts endorsing my bird as black cap. That's what I'll record

Thanks for the suggestion. I thought it might be a black cap too but then wondered if could be a marsh tit.

So I've just been participating in the Great British Birdwatch and noted down robins, great and blue tits and wood pigeons, but there is one bird which came very briefly to the feeder which I've never seen before. It had a black cap and fawny brown body with no distinctive features apart from the head, about the same size as great tit. Does anyone have any ideas of what it could be? I'm in Donkey Alley and Dawson Heights is at the back.

There has been extensive renovations further down the hill and also one at the bottom of the hill but l have seen skips there so can't imagine that it comes from there. It's a mystery. It wasn't long ago that someone left bags of rubble there and we had to report it. If you look carefully, you can see debris still there from the last lot of flytipping

Truely worrying to see plans are to dig down two floors. Will this not cause subsidence to neighbouring properties and trees?

Thanks for advice. I have reported via 101 who referred my to council so filled in anti social complaint form. Ill see if I get any reply.

I got home from a lovely holiday last night to find that someone had poured a lot of white paint all over the ground at the side of our house. Anyone who walks through Dawson Heights nature reserve to Donkey Alley will see it. It has seeped through the fence and spread all over my flower borders. I don't understand why anyone thinks that this is a good place to dump their rubbish. What baffles me is that there is no paint tin there so presumably someone has tipped it out of its tin. On a more practical note, I'm wondering if it is worth asking the Council to put a no fly tipping sign there. Any suggestions gratefully appreciated.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree that no response to reporting missed bins has only been a problem since covid.Where I live in Donkey Alley this has been a problem for years and reporting has been a waste of time. At one time my blue bin wasn't collected for 6 weeks. We had to put it all in the car and take it to the tip. One day my husband saw them at the bottom of our hill and ran down to ask them to come up and take our bin. They only came up after having an argument about it. Reported it to my councillor who never even sent me an acknowledgement. I'm hoping they pick up all the food that they didn't collect last week.

I agree with you Nigello. We need as many trees as we can get to re-wild our country and fight climate change.I think the trees are likely to enhance the view. I'm sure we will still be able to see the skyline as the trees would have to be really tall to block it.If I hear anything back from the Councillor I will post it here.

I have emailed the councillor so lets see what happens

Will do. Thanks