Wildlife in Stroudgreen

Lucy

I know we had a post a while ago about all the birds on Parkland Walk but just wanted to add that I've spent a happy 15 minutes watching about 10 starlings and 20 sparrows fighting it out in my back garden over the bird feeders. Also, I planted a native hedge 2 years ago (hawthorn, blackthorn, dogrose, field maple, hazel and one I can't remember and don't recognise - a 5m long, 1m wide hedge) and it was covered in sparrows eating the insects. There used to be no sparrows at all in our back garden and these two relatively small things have brought them back. It makes me very happy. Feel free to shout "hippy" at me in an Eric Cartman voice. Only the Eric Cartman voice is acceptable though.

Colette

And on an only tenuously related note, I walked through FP to homebase (oh, the excitement of sunday afternoons!) yesterday, and had a lovely, warm, fuzzy feeling because the park looked so very very lovely. I think they've really done a splendid job of doing it up.
The boating lake looks great now, and has lots of happy looking ducks and the like on it (that's the tenuous link to Lucy's post).
Lots of people playing sport too, albeit US sports, oddly - American football and baseball (or rounders? can't tell the difference).

katiejane

Even more tenuous link, only in so far that it's positive... I walked down Stoke Newington Church St yesterday afternoon, and it genuinely made me glad to live in Stroud Green. I love its diversity. I'm astonished at how the white middle class have managed to carve out their own ghetto there - in the middle of Hackney of all places! Hurray for SG.

dion

Back to the wildlife... I saw a baby rat crawling across the road towards the yellow car wash outside FP on Friday. It wasn't crawling very fast; I think it had a limp. It made me feel slightly queasy - I haven't thought about it very much. @KJ - apart from Rasa(s), I don't quite see the point of SNCS.

Lucy

Haven't been to SNCS for ages, although I used to think the point of it was the second-hand book shops (are they still there) and Abney Park Cemetry. That's the kind of place I'd like to be buried!

Bridget

I hear that the old Vorlex is a huge Nandos now! I havent seen it myself and always used to wonder what the first chain would be in Church Street.

Bridget

Sorry I meant to say Vortex!

Pete

...wildlife?

Lucy

@pete - morning deary. what?

Colette

YumYum is good too, and terribly glam looking these days, although it's not actually on SNCS.
I'd cheerfully move YumYum and Rasa to SGR, although I'd be worried about the implications for Jai Krishna. Actually, maybe I'd just move YumYum over.

tosscat

Last time I went to Rasa I misordered and everything was very similar, but all were nice. There was one thing though that had lots of woody stalks in it - it said so on the menu, but I didn't think it'd be quite so woody.

Toddlesocks

I love the parks and wildlife in N4 even though we regularly have to free birds that have accidentally flown into the kitchen and our cat has been known to sunbath a few feet apart from the neighbourhood fox, like they are best buddies.

Similar to Lucy we decided to make the garden a patch of urban wildlife haven, i have just threw a few packets of wild flower seeds around, and have plans for a pond and small willow ( to lay in the shade under and pretend I'm in the countryside).

poxy

I think our community fox died. He looked like he had mange, lost a LOT of weight and struggled to get over the fences. I've not seen him for a couple of months. He's probably dead under next door but three's trampoline which is where he lived.

Has anyone else noticed a proliferation of little bitey beasts? We were out in our garden late on Friday night. When I spoke to everyone over the weekend it transpired everyone had three or more bites on exposed areas of flesh. As usual I came off worst with huge itchy bites on my hands and neck. I'm trying not to scratch them. Grrrrrrrr.

unaesthetic

i love watching the squirrels taunt the cats in the back gardens along the railway... and there's a couple of wood pigeons in the tree in next door's garden which are nice.

Liz

We must live quite close as mine is one of the cats that is taunted by the squirrels near the railway. It always entertains me how little effort they make to be inconspicuous!

Toddlesocks

I am along the railway in stapleton hall, we had a wood pigeon in our kitchen last week, the squirrels really make me lol especially when they get carried away and fall into next doors pond (thankfully they are great swimmers).

I was worried about our fox too, he went on the missing list for a few weeks and had been limping, but i saw him yesterday be it a lot thinner.

Billy Bookcase

The Tawny Owls were very active on Thursday evening of last week.
I haven't seen or heard the Barn Owls from St. Peter in Chains though.

Lucy

ooh, I thought I heard tawny owls along parkland walk the other day, but as it was the afternoon I ruled it out. It was very overcast though, perhaps they were confused. Is St Peter in Chains a band? Seriously, is it a real church or am I being really dim/old? One of our dog's very few signs of intelligence is that he recognises the word "squirrel". One of our dog's very many signs of dim-wittedness is that I am able to use it every single time to distract him from naughtiness, squirrel presence or not! He's never caught one, in case anyone was wondering/worried! Would love to see what he did with one if he ever caught it in water!

Emma

@ Poxy - my tummy is covered in bites from being in the park after dark the other night (ack, that makes me sound classy).

Anyway do bitey creatures come out at night?

Also, this year I have noticed lots more emo ladybirds, black with red spots. They are so fashionable.

Lucy

@ emma - I think they're the harlequin ladybirds that are wiping out our native ladybirds. Does that fit with emo ethos?

Pete

@Emma Because things are easier to bite when they're asleep and not moving

SCIENCE!

@Lucy, actually, all the native ladybirds are wearing black and following the trend.
Couple of years time, they'll be wearing something else.

Agaton Sax

Well, I've had an outbreak of flies in my kitchen. They're not normal flies either, but slightly blue in colour, and they fly around in groups. There were only two the other day, but the group has now grown to about 12 or 13. It's quite sinister, and I feel like Tippi Hedron in The Birds. Do you think I've got a dead mouse lurking anywhere?

I told this a friend, and she told me how when she first moved into her flat there was a wok that someone has left behind in the kitchen, with a lid on. After several weeks, she went to use it, and was puzzled to find it warm to the touch. When she took off the lid, a couple of hundred bluebottles swarmed out...

Agaton Sax

@ Jeremy, you should wear this

http://store.theonion.com/owls-are-assholes-p-171.html

VictorMoses

@ Agaton Sax, the warm wok of bluebottles is the stuff of nightmares! What did your friend do?

Could you perhaps get a pet frog to manage your fly problem?

Billy Bookcase

@Lucy

Ali

We have been plagued by fruit flies for weeks when it is warmer. Hundreds of the little things flying around. Fly spray doesn’t work so I chase them around with the Dyson extension tube and suck them up. It is a bit like the reverse of big game hunting and it is quite difficult to suck them up while they are flying.

It is really annoying as they seem to get inside you wine bottles and even have come flying out of the fridge !

The cause I think has been that we have discovered that the washing machine has had small leak and the floor between the damp course membrane and the floor covering has become saturated so providing the breeding ground! It will take ages to dry it out

Emma

Uggghhhh I can't bear fruit flies - so creepy.

We had a fair number of big fat flies come in over the past couple of days - I assumed there's been a disgusting bout of fly sex recently which has led to a bumper crop of the bastards.

I hate flies.

Greg

Pooles Park school garden in Lennox Road is one of the best kept secrets in Stroud Green. We hold open days during the school holidays so that it can be enjoyed by the whole community. The next open day is on 29th August from 10am - 12 noon. Please come along with children and grandparents. You are welcome to bring a picnic and enjoy the peace, or learn to garden with Sophia our environmental tutor. Access to the open day is from the rear entrance to the school in Hatley Road.

Ali

Is this the one with Chickens I peeped over the wall once

Greg

It is indeed.

andy

Hi Greg - if you're announcing an event like that, it's worth creating a new thread so everyone will see it. Also, we can make it 'sticky' in the few days before it, so it stays at the top of the page.