Category Archives: natural history

natural history

There were two parrots sat in a tree

We awoke again the morning to a scattering of snow making the trees look pretty. Then I spotted these two Ring-neck Parakeets sitting in our apple tree.

There were two parrots sat in a tree

Needless to say Ring-Neck Parakeets aren’t native to this country. Originally they come from the Himalayan foothills of India so they are quite unperturbed by the snow and the cold.

They appear to have originated as escapees some time in the 1950s or early 1960s (there are several urban myths as to how this happened). Now there are several large colonies around London and they’re gradually spreading — mainly because they have few natural predators here except Sparrowhawks.

There is a large roost (I’m told 2500 birds!) just a handful of miles from us at Wormwood Scrubs which is where our birds seem to belong as we regularly see them and others flying off in that direction at dusk.

We have a pair (sometimes more) around our garden several times most days. Whether they are always the same birds I don’t know, although I suspect pairs/small groups may well have defined feeding territories so I could be seeing the same birds regularly. They’re colourful, comical and acrobatic birds which makes them fun to watch.

They’re always chattering and calling to each other, especially in flight. And they don’t half get through the bird seed!

Their bodies are noticeably bigger than a Blackbird but much smaller than a Magpie. And they have those superb long green tails, which make them quite distinctive in flight. As one would expect from their size they definitely rule the seed feeders. One Parakeet will defer to a Magpie, although it isn’t normally scared right away, it just stands aside. But two Parakeets will stand their ground against a Magpie.

I know many people think that, because they are invaders, they should be culled. I don’t agree. I think they are a delightful, colourful and exotic addition to London.

As well as the usual selection of birds, this morning I’ve also had small numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare in the garden. It must be cold!

memes, natural history, photography

[50/52] Ring-Neck Parakeet

Ring-Neck Parakeet
Click the image for a larger version
Week 50 entry for 52 weeks challenge.

Ring-Neck Parakeet this afternoon on one of our seed feeders. We seem to have two or three visit several times a day; I’ve no idea if they are the same birds all the time, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they have their own defined feeding territories.

I know a lot of people don’t like these birds, but I do. OK they’re not native but they are colourful, brash, noisy, intelligent and incredibly comic to watch. Their body isn’t a lot bigger than a blackbird, but they’ll stand their ground against a magpie, which is noticeably bigger. One bird will be respectful of a magpie but won’t give in to it easily. Two birds is more than a match for a single magpie. I’ve noticed this recently as our magpies have decided to try raiding the seed feeders, which they don’t find easy but they’re determined birds! Two parakeets on a feeder beats one magpie. One parakeet will give way, but not by a lot!

I also discovered recently that there is a big (like 2500 birds) parakeet roost at Wormwood Scrubs (the open ground and trees just north of HM’s hotel), which is only about 5 miles away as the parrot flies. I suspect our birds belong to this roost as we often see them and others flying in that direction around dusk.

amusements, links, natural history, science, sexuality

Links of the Week

This week’s collection of links to items you may have missed …

First off something scary. Just look at the size of this giant bug!

Not all critters are quite so scary … For instance, we know the crow family are highly intelligent, now Ravens have been shown to use ‘hand’ gestures to communicate.

But then who would have thought that there are cognitive benefits to chewing gum.

Now here’s a job that you never even dreamt existed, nor wanted … castrating sheep with teeth, which has been shown not to be a great idea!

Here is a list of ten of the most dangerous chemicals in the world. And to think I’ve worked with some of those, as well as a few which aren’t on that list!

Talking of dangerous, this one is really worrying … ‘End of virginity’ if women drive, Saudi cleric warns. WTF do these people think they are! Made me see red.

But then again the Egyptian authorities are clearly no better (and equally make me see red), prompting a young Egyptian woman to stand up for women’s rights and argue that modesty objectifies women. She reinforces this by appearing nude too. Two reports in a weblog here and this one from the Guardian. More power to her elbow. Let’s all hope for her safety.

Finally, for amusement, more on the vulva cupcakes. Maybe a new fashion statement?

food+drink, natural history, personal, pleasures

Reasons to be Grateful 3

OK the experiment is into week three: this week’s five things which have made me happy or for which I’m grateful:

    Harry the Cat

  1. Cats. Harry the Cat has been especially friendly this week, which is nice. He’s resting next to me on my desk as I write this, just as in the photo. He’s not so welcome though is when he throws up on the bed at 6am!
  2. Lamb & Kidney Pie. This has become one of Noreen’s specialities. Make it like Steak and Kidney only with lamb neck fillet instead of beef: cheaper and tastier.
  3. Parrots. Or rather Ring-Neck Parakeets, which seem to be spreading rapidly around London. We regularly have them in the garden — fun and colourful. And yesterday driving out of central London at dusk we saw several groups, one of 100 birds, flying off to Wormwood Scrubs where there is a nightly roost of 2500 birds.
  4. Vegetables in Cheese Sauce. A much loved favourite of my childhood when it was usually either runner beans or butter beans, we recently resurrected this as a quick, simple and cheap meal. Cook the veg (anything of your choice, root veg works well as do beans, cauliflower, fennel, potato, Jerusalem artichokes etc.) and serve with a good thick cheese sauce. Real comfort food.
  5. Wild Boar Sausages. Eaten yesterday with red cabbage at the Queen’s Head & Artichoke in Albany Street.

A foodie week, then. And off shortly to eat a pork version of Osso Buco (known here as Osso Piggo). Mmmmm …

amusements, arts, food+drink, links, medical, natural history, science

Links of the Week

Here’s your usual selection of things which interested/amused me and which you may have missed. And do we have a bumper selection this week!

First something useful? There’s a view that “use by” dates on food are a myth which needs busting. So it’s American but I don’t see much being different in the UK. But I do worry whether people have enough common sense to safely abolish “use by” dates.

And now to the very unuseful. Why does the search for the Higgs Boson matter? Actually to most people it doesn’t matter; whether physicists find it or not it won’t change the lives of 99.9999% of the population. That doesn’t necessarily mean we shouldn’t look for it, but in the overall scheme of broken banks and countries it actually doesn’t matter.

Sociable wasps have an eye for faces. But not for caterpillars. And you just thought they were animated automatons sent by the Devil to annoy you!

And talking of the works of the Devil, pyjamas are another … The joys and benefits of sleeping naked. And no, it isn’t colder!

Think you’re good at sudoku? You’ll need a good night’s sleep before you try this! He-he!

A few weeks back we told of these strange paper sculptures left in libraries. Well the phantom has returned, for the last time.

Not got enough to do in the run-up to Christmas? Need a craft project? Make storybook paper roses (above).

And finally … Do you need an udder tug? Well who doesn’t? — Certainly no self-respecting mutt!

amusements, food+drink, medical, natural history, personal, photography, science, sexuality

Reasons to be Grateful 2

OK so here’s week two of my experiment: this week’s things which have made me happy or for which I’m grateful:
Crab Apples

  1. Autumn Colours^ — there are still some gorgeous golden leaves around as well as bright red fruit on our ornamental crab apple, especially in …
  2. Sunshine* — which makes those autumn colours all the more vibrant
  3. Vagina Cupcakes — they’re a hoot!
  4. Beaujolais Nouveau* — I’ve now tasted three different ones and they’re all excellent
  5. Sleep — it’s so restorative to sleep well and undisturbed as I did last night
^ Click the image for a bigger version, and for other photos.
* No-one said I couldn’t choose the same things as last week!
environment, links, natural history, thoughts, topographical

Links of the Week

This week’s small selection of the curious and not-so-curious you may have missed …

According to a recent survey people spend too long in the shower and use too much water. And it isn’t as green as we were told. Now there’s a surprise!

But then no wonder we go for the therapeutic, because according to uSwitch the UK is the worst place in Europe to live. Well it is if you care about what they measure. For geeks like me you can follow their method, recalculate the scores, exclude things you don’t care about and add in other things you do care about. But you’ll still get much the same answer. 🙁

HornetNow here’s a seriously WOW! image. Yes it’s a European Hornet, Vespa crabro; a humongous but relatively docile wasp**. Sadly you don’t see them often. But just look at those compound eyes … and the detail which I’m sure shows the substructure underneath the eye. I’ve looked out other images of hornets and they all seem to show the same eye substructure. Absolutely amazing!

** Note. Hornets are brown and yellow, as in the image. If what you see is black and yellow it’s a wasp, not a hornet, regardless of its size. Please leave all these creatures alone. They generally won’t attack you unless you provoke them. Wasps and Hornets are superb predators of other insects, on which they feed their grubs. Without them we’d be knee-deep in caterpillars etc. They also chew up old wood for their nests. Besides Hornets are becoming endangered.

If you had a pet monkey, would you feed it crap food and never let it exercise or play and tell it how stupid and ugly it was? No, you’d love your pet monkey! So love your Monkey!

We all make mistakes. They’re nothing to hide. But we all do hide mistake, because they make us feel stupid. Don’t be afraid of Stupid. Stupid means self-awareness. Stupid means you’re learning. Love your Stupid.

natural history, photography

Green Autumn

It’s a warm and green autumn in the UK this year. It is mid-November; the daytime temperature is stills several degrees above average; I’m not aware that we’ve had any frost yet; and the fish in the pond are still feeding (in a normal year they stop feeding for the winter in mid-October).

What’s interesting is that it has highlighted something I’ve known about for some time but which we don’t usually see in action so clearly. That’s the way in which (deciduous) trees lose their leaves.

As I understand it (and I can find nothing to substantiate this) there are two triggers to autumn leave loss: day length and temperature. Some trees start losing leaves when the hours of daylight fall below some critical point. For other trees the trigger is consistently low temperatures.

No I have no idea exactly what the trigger points are in detail, and I would expect them to vary between species. Some trees may also of course have a combined trigger where day length and temperature both have to fall; and again I would expect this to vary greatly by species.

But it is noticeable this year that some trees have lost their leaves according to much their normal schedule (presumably due to changes in day length triggering the process) and others are still green (where presumably the trigger is a drop in temperature).

Coming back from the supermarket this morning I did a quick, fairly unscientific, check and found:

Trees that have (mostly)
lost their leaves		 Trees which are (largely)
still green
Ash
Poplar
Hawthorn
Horse Chestnut*
Beech
Cherry
Silver Birch
London Plane		 Alder
Oak

Can anyone confirm that I am right about the triggers and that the trees I see are acting the way they should?

And can someone please arrange some proper cold weather. I don’t like these warm winters — if only because they tend to be grey and murky. I’d rather have cold and alpine. And besides, as the old saw goes:

A green Christmas means a fat churchyard.

* Horse Chestnut may be a red herring as most of the trees around here are infected with the leaf-mining moth Cameraria ohridella which is affecting these trees progressively across most of the country. This causes early leaf death.