BrandNewGuy

I once nicked Bill Oddie's pint at the Festival Hall, but that really is another story...

Very busy spring birds in Peckham Rye Park and Common earlier this morning ? on my 45-minute walk I clocked carrion crow, magpie, jay, wood pigeon, feral pigeon, blackbird, song thrush, mistle thrush, robin, wren, dunnock, greenfinch, chaffinch, great tit, blue tit, coal tit, long-tailed tit, starling, house sparrow, black-headed gull, greater spotted woodpecker, ring-necked parakeet, mallard, tufted duck, coot, moorhen, Canada goose and Egyptian goose. Binoculars not needed and all on our own doorstep.

London Wildlife Trust have an online survey to find out what the community thinks about their local woods (Sydenham Hill and Dulwich Woods in our case) in order to assess the impact of their 2017 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant. Whether you're a walker, a dog walker or a birdwatcher, please take 5 minutes to respond: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GNWcommunity

JMB2012 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Has anyone else seen a pheasant in the local area > recently? Just spotted a beautiful one near Ruskin > Park, and clearly heard one in Beckenham Place > Park last weekend. I've never seen one in London > before. Guessing they are easy prey to foxes so > doubt it will last long. Yes, they pop up from time to time but alas don't survive very long. They tend to use the undergrowth along railway embankments as a 'corridor' to get deep into the city. But once they're here, it's tough for them.

... I eventually found it too demeaning to dress as Bert and do a Cockney accent. Me and the missus are now thinking of Margot and Jerry...

I smiled when I saw the headline "Residents furious after South London cemetery ?taken over by IPA drinking yuppies?" for various reasons: in local journalism, most residents are "furious"; the exaggeration of "taken over"; but mainly the use of the word "yuppie" with its telltale epithet "IPA drinking". I might be wrong, but it seems that "yuppie" has undergone a resurgence in the last five years or so. Used all the time in the late 80s and 90s, it then fell out of favour, even though London continued to gentrify like mad. I wonder why it's back? And I'm confused by the mention of these "yuppies" having "brats", as I thought one mark of the yuppies was that they were mainly single and certainly yet to have children. Perhaps it's a reluctance to use the obvious term - "middle-class" - but talking of "middle-class" and "working-class" has fallen out of favour, as if all of our social characteristics are picked off the shelf consumer-style and not largely "inherited". Anyway, some class war musings to chew on. Finally, as a wordy person, I'd have hyphenated "IPA drinking" in that headline, although seeing a rampaging mini-tin of high-strength hipster IPA literally swallowing yuppies would be great fun. https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/residents-furious-after-south-london-19909985?IYA-mail=2101fe4f-baec-4d08-bd6b-6d573cd30a3a

Sue, no he's actually called Greenwood :) Great bloke, helped the Friends of Green Dale a lot over the years. Yes, I think it's different from that (shorter) Zoom session. Fascinating stuff.

... and talking of crocuses, the origin of the placename Croydon is 'valley of the crocuses', which were grown for their saffron. It's mentioned in passing in an excellent new podcast by Daniel Greenwood, who some of you might remember from his time as the London Wildlife Trust officer overseeing Sydenham Hill Wood. He's since moved to Sussex, but the first episode of his podcast is a fascinating discussion with local author Chris Sch?ler about the Great North Wood. Chris has written a history of the wood which will be published later this year. Well worth a listen: https://unlockinglandscapes.podbean.com/

Good to hear quite a number of greenfinches calling on Peckham Rye first thing this morning. Their population has suffered a big decline in recent years due to disease, but there are signs of recovery. I say 'calling', because they weren't blessed with the finest singing voices but make a sort of weak wheezy sound.

Many thanks for these posts, Wardy. A very vivid and honest look at a bygone age. Great stuff!

"... every person whose life is saved by a slow unlocking..." doesn't really reflect the pros and cons of lockdowns. People *will* die as a result of lockdowns ? through neglecting other and bigger life-threatening conditions such as cancer, heart disease and so on, lack of exercise, poverty caused by economic hardship and loss of work, mental health problems and more. It's almost impossible to quantify exactly the casualties, which is why, alas, these aspects of lockdown are less vivid than COVID deaths. I say this not as a COVID-denier or anti-lockdowner or whatever, but as someone who trying to grasp the real complexities and dilemmas involved in our situation.

Feeling a bit Northern Souly this afternoon...

You might be right, but then again, we can do all those things you mention as well. Incidentally, there's no suggestion that these trees are a threat to human life, just that the bridge repairs cannot be done satisfactorily without removing them. Our bit of the Great North Wood really is unique and every bit of chipping away at it needs to be scrutinised closely.

Hmmm, you say bigger battles, but firstly, you can do two things at once, you know. And secondly, these bigger battles are often not real battles, but online 'clicktivism' where the participants actually don't do anything in the 'real world' to ameliorate the wrong they see. Not accusing you of this, malumbu, but I see it all the time ? for instance, folks who are strongly 'against climate change' but who wont lift a finger to defend their little local patch of greenery. Activism should be about being active, not just expressing an opinion online. 'Holistic' approaches can be a great way of doing bugger all.

Yeah, as in "Mr Snatcha". Reminds me of the apocryphal record company exec talking to Meat Loaf and saying, "Ah, Mr Loaf ? or may I call you 'Meat'...?" Mr Snatcha clearly has it in for fat, balding, middle-aged, middle-class residents of East Dulwich. Luckily I'm only two of those.

Small flock of a dozen or so redwings at the top end of Peckham Rye Park, in the trees along Colyton Road just now. With these freezing north-easterlies, it's worth keeping an eye out for waxwings from Scandinavia. https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/waxwing-family/

On a bracing pre-dawn walk around Peckham Rye Common and Park, it was good to hear the usual thrushes, robins, great tits, sparrows, woodpeckers and wrens calling and singing ? but also a chaffinch. Not an uncommon bird in the country as a whole, but not often seen around these parts.

Adders are vipers, and vice versa :)

Very exciting - yes, buzzards have occasionally been seen, particularly around Sydenham Hill and Dulwich Woods. Not breeding yet, AFAIK.

First thing this morning I counted approx 1200 black-headed gulls on Peckham Rye Common. Very impressive flocks at this time of year. They lose their brown/black heads over winter to be replaced by a small black dot behind the eye ? though strangely a tiny number of them keep their summer plumage.

Half Moon Bay and Princeton-by-the-Sea just south of San Francisco are worth stopping off at. Beautiful bay, some great restaurants and walks along the shore. Spent many happy hours in the Old Princeton Landing bar and the brilliant no-frills fish restaurant Barbara's Fishtrap. I'd also recommend Santa Cruz for a stop ? hippyish arty vibe with some interesting galleries etc.

rahrahrah Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > That messaging from the council is so confused. Really? If you have a food/garden waste collection, leave it out for the binmen. If you don't have a food/garden waste collection, email environment@southwark.gov.uk stating your name and full address to request a Christmas tree collection - then leave your Christmas tree for collection outside your property at ground floor level in a place that does not cause an obstruction to pedestrians or vehicles.

Not just the increase in footfall, but the huge increase in dog ownership: "London has seen the biggest regional spike in UK dog ownership with an increase of 84 per cent in 2020." https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/london-sees-a-sharp-rise-in-pandemic-puppies/ Had to smile when I spoke to a local young couple before Xmas who said that they were becoming vegan ? and that they'd just got a dog. So, probably increasing their household meat intake then...

In truth, to my knowledge they haven't put out any information ? I had to go and find it. In previous years the info has been included on the Xmas/New Year collections leaflet, which I didn't receive this time around.