ED Nature Watch

[Jenny1]

I've watched three attempts by robins to raise a family this year.

Sadly one pair seem to have lost both their broods. But a young robin is currently being raised in my back garden by a really over-worked parent. What with collecting fat caterpillars and throwing itself in the path of local cats in an effort to distract them from the fledgling it never seems to get a moments rest. I hope this particular baby makes it to adulthood.

[henryb]

Saw two stag beetles flying last night around twilight, then later a bat. I didn't know there were bats in ED.

[the-e-dealer]

pipastrilles inhabited Peckham rye.

[Sue]

Does anybody know whether nesting is likely to have finished?

I have a large tangle of climbers including a lot of ivy and dead wood at the end of my garden, which I would like to thin out a bit, but I don't want to risk affecting any baby birds, either by trashing their nest or by making predator access easier.

I would leave it as it is, but I have a very tiny garden and it is causing too much shade :(

I haven't actually heard any baby bird like tweeting from it lately.

Also, to save another post, does anybody know if birds eat Libertia seeds (from the plant, not dried)? Thanks.

[civilservant]

Sue, found this on RSPB website - posting from 2007 http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/expert/previous/hedges.aspx

"We do not recommend cutting or removing hedges or trees between the months of March and August.

Light pruning to neaten up a hedge from straggly shoots should not be damaging to nesting birds but the use of power tools and vigorous cutting and can be very destructive. ...The best time cut a hedge is generally autumn or if it is a berry bearing species, early spring but no matter when you do it, always check first.

Blackbirds can start breeding as early as February if the weather is favourable. It is normal for a blackbird to have up to three broods in a season, this activity can go on until late summer, sometimes even into autumn. Other species like the robin, song thrush, dunnock and wren are also common hedge nesting birds among many others that may be vulnerable from hedge cutting."

[Sue]

Thanks civilservant, it isn't a hedge as such but I guess the principle is the same.

Looks like my plants beneath will have to stay in deep shade till the Autumn then :(

I may cut a few of the very outer bits off ...... carefully .....

[Sue]

My toadpoles have back legs!

They seem to like the rain as when I went to feed them I found lots on the surface, whereas usually they are lurking in the depths :)

Or maybe they are just trying to let me know it's time to change their food to dried worm things, yuk.

[Vince]

I saw this feller this morning making his way up the path to platform 1 of East Dulwich station. About 2 inches long. Google tells me its a Sycamore moth caterpillar.

[louisemurray]

POsted in the wrong place yesterday.

These spiders lie in wait for visiting bees, this one has caught many since I started watching it.

Misumena vatia for those interested.

[Sue]

Poor bees :(

[Sue]

Anyone know if this is a frog or a toad?

He (or she) suddenly appeared in my tub today, and I don't want to pick him up in case I frighten him.

Or possibly one of my toadpoles has eaten all the rest of them and has suddenly become very large ..... :))

ETA: Apparently it's a frog ....

[Dopamine1979]

I'm not sure if it's a frog or toad but I do reckon your bathtub needs a good cleaning.

:)

[Sue]

Dopamine1979 Wrote:

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

> I'm not sure if it's a frog or toad but I do

> reckon your bathtub needs a good cleaning.

>

> :)

xxxxxx

It certainly does, but even I would draw the line at keeping taddies and a frog in it :))

[henryb]

It looks like a common frog to me. Toads are more warty.

[Sue]

Yes it's a frog.

That's why I edited my post above to say it's a frog :)

Sadly I gave it a fright today when I went to say hello. Maybe it was my bright orange tee shirt :( Anyway, it leaped off its perch and disappeared into the depths of the tub :(

[BrandNewGuy]

A straggly flock of sixteen magpies flying overhead at 8.45 this morning at the Grove Vale end of Melbourne Grove. "One for sorrow, two for joy... sixteen for 'you've got a plague of magpies...'"

[Sue]

SIXTEEN????!!!!????

It's an omen :(

:))

[Robert Poste's Child]

Could mean four boys. If you were expecting, that would completely freak you out.

[Penguin68]

Yesterday (Sunday) morning I was walking along Langton Rise by the cemetery and was attacked 3 times by a large crow; the first time I initially assumed it was an accident, it rose up and flew into my face/ head - but by the third time, when I saw it fly low down the length of the road before lightly pecking at my hat, it was clearly intentional.

I was not (in any way) injured - and the object of the attacks seemed to be a brown homburg style hat I was wearing - but it did seem curious. Clearly it wasn't defending a nest (or fledgelings) - far too late in the season - and there was nothing on the hat which might have appeared food-like (didn't have an alpine hat feather cockade in it). The crow was very bold, after the first incident it sat on the road, and then a fence, staring at me and no more than 2-3 feet away. After the third 'attack' it went back into the cemetery where it then roosted.

Has anyone else been assaulted by a crow around there? Is this usual behaviour?

[BrandNewGuy]

That is unusual! It is possible that it had youngsters nearby ? crows can breed late in the season given readily available food supplies. But more likely is that it mistook your hat for another crow. Which is unusual, as crows are normally more intelligent than that. A robin, for instance, will often mistake a small red object for another robin and attack it, but robins are a bit thick compared to crows ;-)

[Penguin68]

I had wondered about mistaken ID - but the hat is quite a light brown, and, well, hat-like. And we did stare at each other quite a lot, so I think he/ she wasn't mistaking my hat for a fellow corvid. Or lunch. Crows (unlike rooks) can be territorial, but I wouldn't have thought a road, as such, would be deemed territory. And it 'chased' me from one end to another -so I am not sure it was defending youngsters.

[ponderwoman]

Sounds like a hand reared crow to me. Crows are extremely suspicious and profoundly wary of people. I've been trying to photograph the abnormaly high population on Peckham Rye by feeding them frequently. They now recognise me from the other side of the Rye and flock to see whats on offer but will not go anywhere near a pile of food next to a small running camera- even when I move well away.

I have reared and released many corvids, take away their natural fear and they are too intelligent for their own good.

Perhaps it wasn't aggression and you looked like a food supplier it knew. Otherwise it is going to be a problem.

[Penguin68]

Hand-reared makes sense - perhaps even trained to take food from off a hat? Certainly no signs of natural timidity and clearly comfortable with people (well, a person).

I didn't actually feel (despite my words) it was a real attack - but that I was being involved in something the crow wanted to do. There was certainly contact with my head/ hat on 3 occasions, but, with that beak, it could have been much more aggressive. More Disney than Hitchcock.

[panda boy]

Saw a sparrowhawk in Peckham Rye today, it was on the ground rustling around in the leaves at first, then it flew off with it's freshly caught rat in its talons.

Very exciting spectacle.

[KirstyH]

Query about tree surgery cutting back - the absolutely beautiful cherry over the road has been almost clearfelled. When tree surgeons did someone else's tree along the road they left quite a few narrow branches that left height and some foliage(and privacy I imagine) as well as the 'look' of the tree. But this has been taken back to a trunk and some blunt branch stubs (about 1.5-2 floors of height has been lost). Is there any 'planning permission' / consultation stuff about this - privacy, light and - nature. I fully appreciate the root stuff/home foundations, but in this case it seems extreme and it impacts daily life re privacy (and mental health!)

Part of the reason to ask is that there's a substantial ash out the back (not in the garden of this flat) and I'm worried is going to come under the cosh at some point. I pretty much bought the flat because of that tree. Surely if you have to consult for building permission, then cutting a tree to its scalp should also be covered?