ED Nature Watch

[Lynne]

Can anyone recommend a pigeon proof bird feeder? The two who hang round my garden are as ft as chickens and I would like our wren and the great-tits to get a share. I've tried one of those sort of double wire affairs, but they seem to be able to poke their heads through and get the seed

[red devil]

Where is your feeder, on a bird table?

If so, get a feeder you can suspend, say under the table using a hook, or from a branch in a tree/bush. Pigeons aren't agile enough to access this type of feeder, doesn't mean they won't loiter underneath waiting for scraps to fall down though...:)

[moondancer]

Heron, flopping over Hindmans Road this morning at 9.50, heading west

and

a crane fly ? in the bathroom,

but with a long body and streamlined -

[moondancer]

Has anyone else read and devoured the article in the Guardian of the insect Ecosystem breaking down?

With the links and comments, it is time consuming, dismaying and confirmation of why so few butterflies,

moths, insects and small birds are to be seen in our gardens, or anywhere.

[Nigello]

Could have something to do with people driving too much and concreting over their front gardens to install their cars, thereby reducing the amount of greenery available to host insects (and do other beneficial stuff). Like many things, each of us can help change it for the better but there's also an excuse, eh?

[moondancer]

This cannot be a

butterfly and bird friendly area,

apart from magpies, crows and crazy parakeets

Supine as we are beneath a flight path

[Nigello]

It is pretty friendly - even to the extent that kingfisher have been seen in Rye Park, various raptors in people's gardens, stag beetles and hummingbird butterflies, enough bees for several people in the area to make honey. Small gardens help on their own but they also provide a kind of corridor, so when people cement over in a row, or even every few houses, it can make a dent. I'd say SE21/22/15/23 are well served tree/park-wise but more could help.

[Sue]

Nigello Wrote:

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

> Could have something to do with people driving too

> much and concreting over their front gardens to

> install their cars, thereby reducing the amount of

> greenery available to host insects (and do other

> beneficial stuff). Like many things, each of us

> can help change it for the better but there's also

> an excuse, eh?

Many people are also concreting/paving/decking their back gardens.

There is usually at least one thread on this forum offering topsoil :(

I have a paved garden myself, which I inherited from the previous owner - it is very tiny though and it would be an absolute pain to have to keep a mower to mow such a tiny patch of grass.

I have been gradually removing paving stones to increase the number of plants I can cram in, however I am a bit worried I will end up with just a few stepping stones amongst a tiny jungle :))

However, sad as the loss of urban plantlife is, I think the main cause of the problem is the commercial/agricultural use of pesticides. They don't just kill the pests that attack the crops in question, they kill other insects as well, and that has a knock-on effect on the things which eat those insects, or did do.

But there are loads more birds round here than magpies, crows and parakeets - blackbirds, sparrows, blue tits, great tits, goldfinches, wrens, sparrowhawks, seagulls, robins, pigeons, collared doves, probably loads more but I have seen all those in my garden.

Plus jays and magpies I have seen elsewhere, and woodpeckers I have heard. And long tailed tits I vaguely remember seeing in the woods, though I may be confusing that with another wood elsewhere.

Fair number of butterflies too, but I don't have any plants at the moment which specifically attract them.

[Jenny1]

Beautiful bird song in the garden this morning. I'm not good enough at identifying song to know which birds responsible! But really heartening. My neighbour is a great reader and told me about the Thomas Hood 'November' poem some years ago - 'No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, November!'. Wish Thomas were alive today to experience this glorious morning!

[Burbage]

No ducks, or geese, in the Dulwich Park (Boating) Lake this morning.

Have they been eaten, or is the 'hostile environment' to blame?

[rendelharris]

How likely is it to see a kingfisher in Peckham Rye? I've only seen two in years of tramping round the countryside, and Mrs.H is dying to see one. If we stake out the stream would we have a good chance? Definitely prepared to put the hours in!

[BrandNewGuy]

You'll be lucky to see one in Peckham Rye, but hop on a bus to Lower Sydenham and do the Riverview Walk to Catford and you'll stand a good chance of seeing them:

https://www.lewisham.gov.uk/inmyarea/openspaces/parks/Pages/riverview-walk-and-river-pool-linear-park.aspx

[rendelharris]

Many thanks - on a cycle route too, perfect!

[Nigello]

I saw one in PRP, on the lake island, at least five years ago. Never seen one there - or anywhere else - since.

[johnie]

I pick up this route from Ladywell, it's lovely all the way to Sydenham

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I've seen a kingfisher twice at PR in the Japanese Gardens. First time was before they built the kingfisher bank, second time was late spring this year.

[Sue]

Peckhamgatecrasher Wrote:

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

> I've seen a kingfisher twice at PR in the Japanese

> Gardens. First time was before they built the

> kingfisher bank, second time was late spring this

> year.

GRRRRR I am so jealous.

And never saw one when we did the Riverview walk earlier in the year, either :(

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Take a Sunday trip to Teston Lock nr Maidstone. Best place I know for kingfishers.

[rendelharris]

Peckhamgatecrasher Wrote:

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

> Take a Sunday trip to Teston Lock nr Maidstone.

> Best place I know for kingfishers.

Cheers, looks great - shall add to list and report back if we have any luck!

[perry611]

Most of the men are suffering from ED disorder for them Kamagra or other tablets which has sildenafil citrate as an active element.

[Nigello]

ED Forum!

[Jenny1]

It's snowing! I hope the semi-hibernating frogs are well ensconced somewhere.

[Sue]

I thought you were joking, but I just looked out of the window!

[Jenny1]

Didn't think we'd get snow today.... looking at the weather map it must to be the tail end of the weather hitting East Anglia.

[pearl1]

I think it's interesting that I see tonnes of pied wagtails in Deptford but I've never see one in East Dulwich or Peckham. Bird populations are clearly well confined. .