Wildlife in Stroudgreen
  • Cat
    I put a squirrel proof bird feeder up in my garden about a week ago along with some of the fat balls but I don't seem to have had any visitors yet :-(

    Anyone any ideas how I can let the birds know that there's a feeder there?
  • krappyrubsnifkrappyrubsnif
    They'll find it. Do you have plenty of bushes and greenery close by? In my garden all the birdies seem to come at once, as if they're doing their rounds, then you don't see them for hours. Creatures of habit, I reckon.
  • Cat
    Yep plenty of bushes and greenery in our garden. I guess I'll just have to be patient.
  • miss annie
    Takes them a couple of weeks sometimes, they like to watch from a distance to scout for any danger and make sure it's all safe.
    When they've decided it is they'll bring all their birdy mates and you'll be inundated! The birds in my garden come for their breakfast as soon as it gets light in morning and then for supper just before sunset. Not much action through the rest of the day.
  • Misscara
    I've seen muntjac on the Parkland Walk and saw one on Upper Tollington Park when I was staggering home from The Fullback on Christmas Eve. It came down the steps from the Parkland Walk, along UTP, where it passed me and gave me a little snort, before rounding the corner to Oxford rd. When I lived on Hornsey rd a few years ago a fox family regularly used to visit my back garden. Saw the cubs just after they had been born, there were about 6 or 7 of them and the mother fox used to sunbathe on the roof of my shed.
  • taff bach

    Birds will never go near a bird feeder if theres a cat around.

  • dorothy
    Greater spotted woodpecker in my garden this morning. I've kind of got seriously into bird feeding. It's stressful though. The constant twittering, prowling cats, squirrels lunging at the bird feeder stuck to my window and the magpie carnage.

    I also feel like I'm a crack dealer, the feeders go down really quickly, and the wood pigeons and squirrels look fat enough to pop. When do you stop? and where can you buy cheap bird food in bulk?
  • ArkadyArkady

    Lots of foxes, young and old, in the Upper East Side recently.

  • tosscat
    Aren't they lovely and not very timid.
  • ArkadyArkady

    Yeah, a youngster ran between me and my missus on Saturday night by the garage.

  • Misscara

    Not SG but still fairly local - saw a kestrel the other day on that stretch of walkway near Gillespie park, the bit that runs between that beige housing estate and the railway.

  • leiba1
    We had two foxes visit us a few evenings ago. One was definately a dog fox but both of them were very dark and had a lot of black fur in their coats.
  • nick_m

    I have seen a few green woodpeckers in finsbury park, especially when training for the marathon and jumping the fence to use the athletic track early in the morning, they were on the American football field.

    Dilute a drop or two of citronella oil in water and, using a mister, spray some around the bird feeder to keep cats away. Same if they are crapping in your flower beds or veg patch.

  • sincers

    I've seen magpies on occassion tearing small birds to shreds around the backlands of FPR. Circle of life an' all that. Squirrels on the other hand are a bloody menace. Like the cane toads of Australia, I think they're very bad for other wildlife not to mention my tulips. I'm going to start laying dynamite in my lawn so when they come back for one of their many nut stashes, they get more than they bargained for. Although I hear Budgens are doing a roaring trade in Squirrel Pie, so I might start trading the little buggers.

  • Rona
    Yes there are kestrels in Gillespie Park (not Stroud Green I know). I went on a dawn chorus walk there at 4 am on 2nd May and the guide told us there were kestrels though they weren't up at dawn. We heard lots of birds singing there little hearts away and also saw a grey heron.
    Green woodpeckers in FP - that is really impressive. What time of day?
    Goldfinches have just started to come into my garden - I back onto the Gospel Oak-Barking Railway so get lots of wildlife but I am really thrilled about the goldfinches.
  • Agaton Sax
    I'm still excited by the greater spotted woodpecker who's now a regular visitor to my hanging fat snack. There seem to be a fair few of these around now - one was spotted in Hackney the other day. Any more sightings?
  • miss annie
    Yes, they are regulars whenever I have peanut or fatty things out but not when there is only seed on offer.
    I just had to edit as the iPhone thought that I wanted to say thongs instead of things!
  • Agaton Sax
    I'm sure your thongs are not fatty
  • Misscara

    Was stood outside WLM having a fag at about 10.30pm last night when I saw a fox appear to taunt something in the road opposite, I assumed this was a cat. Then almost instantly saw a brown dog with white feet (a Staffy I think) bolt out of the alleyway that is off to the right of the the road opposite WLM and chase said fox down the road. I didn't see anyone with the dog or out looking for it, and it didn't come back while I was standing there.

  • dorothy

    I also saw a greater spotted woodpecker in my garden, perching on the trellis. Didn't have any fat balls out at the time. It was very exciting though, nearly choked on my coffee. Going to get fatty things to try and attract them.

  • miss annie
    Watch out if gets hot, the fat things go rancid and mouldy really quickly and you might end up poisoning the poor little critters.

    Peanuts are better for them in summer but then you have to fight off the squirrels - it's a minefield! As previously discussed, crushed chillies will keep most squirrels off the bird food.
  • MazzyJ70
    Not seen our local pair of foxes lately - tended to see them visiting front gardens around SHR if coming home late at night. Also spotted snoozing in next door's overgrown garden backing onto the railway a few times.
  • Ali

    Just seen 4 young foxes praning around the backgarden, Mum has just come along and taken them back over the fence.

    Hope they didn't get a sniff of the rabbit next door

  • Misscara

    Nice to see the heron back in the park on Sunday.

  • Duncan
    So still it took me some time to confirm that it's real.
  • sophie

    i hope the heron wasn't preying on the tiny new ducklings and moorhens. i saw a seagull swoop very low over one mother duck and she went absolutely mental at it.

  • Misscara

    The black-headed gulls ate most of last years duckling/gosling population, but more of them seem to have survived so far this year. The heron was watching the water for fish when I saw him. I've seen a few people fishing in the part furthest from the boathouse, does anyone know what kind of fish are in there?

  • leiba1
    Carp, perch, roach, although a few years ago the council, in their wisdom, took the big carp (breeders) out and sold them to a fishery. They were quite big carp too. Then I heard that they had to restock the pond as there were no decent sized fish in there. Some could go as the pond is quite small and there were a lot of these big fish but I think they went a bit mad.
    It used to be free to fish in there and was a good little place to intoduce youngsters to fishing. I'd often pop over there for an hour or two on summer evenings. There was just one drawback from that though. Every other person walking past would say "Have you caught anything?" or more annoyingly "Are there any fish in there?" Why the heck do they think I was sitting there with a fishing rod if I didn't think there was any chance of catching anything?
  • krappyrubsnifkrappyrubsnif
    Where have all the squirrels gone? Haven't seen one in my garden for about a year ... Is someone trapping them locally & selling them to Budgens? Glad to see the back of the buggers. Legal trapping is the answer.
  • Jenowl
    We have been invaded by wildlife this spring and summer. Firstly moths, then ants. The ants are a new feature (we're on the second floor of the building). They swarmed through the edges of the bathroom window and have now taken up residence in every plant pot on the roof terrace. We also have some lovely blackbirds who like to sing in the early evening while perched on the TV aerial.
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