Photo by Daveoratox at https://www.flickr.com/photos/atoxinsocks/4650058579

Dear Readers, on two occasions yesterday I was asked what to do about young crows that , while fully feathered, appeared to be out of the nest too early. I know exactly why people feel so concerned about these youngsters – they seem so naive and vulnerable that it’s very tempting to scoop them up and take them off to a wildlife rehabber. However, in most cases this isn’t necessary, and I recommend this website which explains why in detail.  But, to summarise:

Young corvids (crows, jays, magpies, jackdaws etc) are often pushed out/fall out of the nest before they can fly properly. This might seem like a bad move, but in fact, as the youngsters get bigger, they get noisier and are more likely to attract a predator that will eat the whole brood. Unlike tits and finches, crow nests are often very obvious affairs, and are open-topped too, plus they have a certain shambolic quality which means they look to me as if  the whole thing is going to fall out of the tree anyway. So, the youngsters clamber out of the nest before they can fly any distance.

However, parent crows will normally be around, feeding their offspring and putting up a bold and aggressive defence against any predators. It’s best to retreat to a safe distance and watch/listen for adult birds. They will guard their youngsters even after dark, and I’ve seen crows chase off cats, and even pursue a greyhound. I saw two magpies chase a tom cat up a tree and keep him there for two hours. So, these are feisty birds that will protect their fledglings against all comers.

There are exceptions of course: if a fledgling is obviously injured it may need help from a wildlife rehabber. However, be aware that all organisations are absolutely overwhelmed at this time of year, so it really should be a last resort.

If there are dogs or cats about, it can be as simple as catching the bird and putting it into a makeshift ‘nest’ in a bush or small tree, so that it has some protection.

It’s always so hard to decide what to do about baby birds, and I know I’ve not always gotten it right. In general, though, if the youngster is fully feathered and not in any immediate danger, it’s best to leave it to nature to sort out. You’d be  surprised how often things work out fine.

Ah Readers, here in East Finchley it’s been pollarding season for the past few months (yes, I know it’s nesting season) but it’s nice to see the leaves gradually coming back on these High Road leviathans.

The pollarding seems to happen on a biannual schedule, and of course much of it is to do with the insurance companies, who require the canopies of trees such as London plane to be trimmed in order to reduce the root system – the larger the top, the larger the bottom of the tree. If you have a big blowsy set of leaves at the top, you need more roots underneath, and these will draw more water, so risking subsidence etc. Personally, I suspect that large trees get a lot of the blame for damage to foundations that is more  likely down to climate change and extreme weather events: one school of thought suggests that if you remove trees, the land rebounds because the water is no longer present (this is known as ‘heave’ and can be just as damaging as subsidence. But the trees come back with renewed vigour every time, and they are one of the great joys of the High Road here in East Finchley, especially in the hot weather we’ve been having lately, when the temperature drop under their branches is a welcome relief.

And, in other news, my final Open University assignment is practically ready to go, having spent a couple of hours sorting out the referencing and double-checking the charts. Yikes! What will I do with all my time when I’m a free woman? Suggestions on a postcard please!

A Bumblebee’s Bum! You’re welcome

Well, Readers, with just two days to go I have more or less finished my final assignment. I’m not 100 percent happy with it, but then I never am, perfectionist that I am. And tomorrow I’m taking the day off, with a final brush up on Monday and then off it will go and after six years I will be a free woman. Yay! I have loved this course, but I’m ready for a break, for sure.

And so I took a few minutes outside, as the lavender is coming into flower and the bumblebees are all over it. Most of them are white-tailed bumblebees….

But I think I saw one early bumblebee (it has a red backside, as opposed to a white or buff coloured one) – not very visible in this photo, but it did have one, I promise….

There were also a couple of zippy little fellows – it’s always worth watching a patch of lavender for a few minutes as there is often all sorts of shenanigans going on. These are Four-banded Flower Bees, and they seem to turn up every year. They are very territorial and will chase off bumblebees that are four times their size….

Four-banded flower bee (Anthrophora quadrimaculata)

And not only is the garden smelling very pleasantly from the lavender, the cabbage palm is also in flower, and there’s a lovely scent wafting in from that. The blossom is covered in honeybees, who are not paying much attention to the lavender – maybe the flowers are a bit too complicated for them, or maybe there’s just more nectar. Anyway, back to the grind!

The climbing hydrangea…

Dear Readers, it’s been a busy old week, what with my final OU assignment, and the temperature at night has made it tricky to sleep, so I’ve been in a bit of a fug. But today it’s cooler, and I’ve nearly finished my schoolwork, so I popped outside just to see how things were getting on.

The climbing hydrangea has been magnificent this year, and such a source of pollen, which is all over the side return. Such interesting flowers!

It’s just a shame that it doesn’t last for long, but it will be a squirrel highway and source of tiny invertebrates for the birds.

My progress was watched with interest by this beady-eyed parakeet – he’s been visiting the suet feeder on his own, and has more or less unpicked the wire mesh on one of them, bless him.

And the wildflowers have arrived for the windowboxes that I make for the raffle at the East Finchley Festival – they should be splendid in a week or so.

And now it’s back to an analysis of the success (or otherwise) of Incredible Edibles, Todmorden. Wish me luck!

Well, Readers, we’ve been looking after Abbie, our fourteen year-old shy foster cat, for nearly two weeks now, and she’s certainly making progress! We’ve been leaving the door of ‘her’ room open so she can wander about and explore at leisure, and for the first two days she continued to hide behind the litter tray, though she did come out to say hello if I sat on the floor.

She sometimes seems desperate for attention, head-butting and miaowing, but as soon as she hears my husband move she’s off, and even though he’s the one who usually feeds her, her response to him is a hiss. We suspect that, as she’s lived with a single lady for most of her life, she’s probably not had much to do with men, but the hisses seem to be getting a little more half-hearted, so fingers crossed.

Then, a few days ago she wandered down to the living room while we were both watching television, and even came up on the sofa beside me. She gave John’s foot a sniff – he’s obviously less scary when sitting down – and then went back upstairs again.

She always comes in for a chat if I’m sitting on the loo. This seems to be a ‘cat thing’. If the door is ajar, she peers through the gap.

She really is a queen amongst cats, such a magnificent creature – she’s quite happy to be brushed (on her own terms) and her fur is silky-soft. Such a pretty girl!

In a week or so she needs her second vaccination and a bit of dental work, and then she’ll be up for adoption, so fingers crossed that she continues to make progress. She’ll be the perfect cat for someone with a quiet home, who likes an unassuming housemate.

Scene from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by Edwin Landseer (1848)

Dear Readers, on Wednesday I was at The Globe for my third production of Midsummer Night’s Dream in six months. At least I’m hoping that Bottom doesn’t get shot, unlike the last version I saw at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. It’s the right time of year for the play, for sure, though I hope the temperature will have dropped a little from the 32 degrees celsius when I’m writing this.

Samuel Pepys described MSND as ‘the most insipid ridiculous play I ever saw in my life’. Hopefully, I’ll be rather less dyspeptic about it, but only time (thyme) will tell. And here is a sample, just for you….

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight.
(Oberon, Act 2 Scene 1)

And also this, for my many small, fierce friends…

O, when she’s angry, she is keen and shrewd.
She was a vixen when she went to school,
And though she be but little, she is fierce.
(Helena, Act 3 Scene 2)

I shall report back later!

Dear Readers, I might have mentioned Postbox Toppers before – they are happening all over the country, wherever knitters and crocheters decide to adorn their local postbox with something commemorative, either of an event, or a season, or a person. You might have noticed that David Attenborough (the closest the UK has to a living secular saint in my opinion) was 100 years old recently, and so this topper, from Walthamstow in East London,  features the man himself plus 26 animals, the name of each one beginning with a different letter of the alphabet. What a treat!

There are lots of other postbox toppers commemorating  Sir David all over the UK, but this one will take some beating, I think. The makers are collecting donation on  behalf of Walthamstow Toy Library, so if you have any lose change jangling, you know what to do….

https://www.walthamstowtoylibrary.org/

I know, I know. We Brits are always complaining about something. But it is a trifle on the warm side when you have a final assignment to write, are getting over a throat infection and in addition have developed back ache. Harrumph. But it is lovely to see the sun, albeit from a distance through the window, and it does put me in mind of a few summer-related songs, so here are my favourites…

How about Ann Miller singing ‘It’s Too Darn Hot’ in a tasselled coral-coloured leotard? Ah, those were the days…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS_YAKZH3lw.

And this is Ella Fitzgerald’s version. My goodness, her phrasing….what a star.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhs3Qklz5a0

And this is one of those great party songs from the 1980s…the Merry Men with ‘Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbc_LxfhSoY&list=RDrbc_LxfhSoY&start_radio=1

And the Lovin’ Spoonful with ‘Summer in the City’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YgevxRGXIU

And my absolute all time favourite. Just right for leaning back in a hammock with a gin and tonic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T88fbHOmvRk

Stay cool, folks!

Oak Tree in Cherry Tree Wood

Dear Readers, there is an on-going arms race between plants and the creatures that eat them, that can involve everything from camouflage to chemical weaponry. However, scientists in at the University of Würzberg in Germany have discovered that oak trees that are badly infested with caterpillars in one year will delay opening their leaves by three days during the following year.

Caterpillar eggs are usually laid so that their hatching coincides with the newest, greenest leaves appearing – these are the most nutritious, and the easiest for those little jaws to munch. The scientists did an aerial survey of oak forests in 2019, during which time there was a dramatic infestation of gypsy moths, which caused extensive damage to many of the trees. It was found that the trees who had suffered the most drastically were the ones who delayed producing their leaves by three days in the following year, meaning that any caterpillars that hatched on them starved. This reduced leaf damage by some 55 percent.

While scientists agree that there’s a correlation between leaf opening time and caterpillar predation, it still hasn’t been proved that one causes the other – it could be that the delay is the result of the tree being weakened, rather than a precaution against future leaf loss. But  it’s certainly intriguing, and I look forward to future studies revealing more.

You can read the New Scientist article here.

The journal article is here.

Well, Readers, I’ve lived in London for most of my 66-and-a-bit years, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen Tower Bridge raised! I was sitting with my friend Robin (having a cocktail since you ask 🙂 ) when I noticed that the ‘superyacht’ that I’d seen moored beside HMS Belfast was making its way through the bridge. Very exciting!

The Star Pride had a tug at the front, and a tug at the back, and is apparently a ‘312 guest all-suite luxury motor yacht’, with a crew of 150. I was a bit puzzled when I looked at the pictures of the ship online, until I realised that she’s being towed backwards. I assume she did a three-point turn further up the Thames, where it’s a bit wider.

Now, I know that lots of people (including my Mum and Dad) loved going on cruises, and I’ve been on holidays that involved being on a smallish boat, but the threat of being stuck onboard during a Hantavirus/Covid/Norovirus outbreak does give me pause. Plus, supposing you were stuck with people you weren’t sympatico with? I’m not the world’s greatest one for small talk at the best of times. But it is a great way of visiting lots of different places if you’ve got the dosh, and, as this ship was en route to Norway, I imagine it could save you quite a bit of money in terms of food costs/transport costs.

Anyhow, you can read all about the Star Pride here, should the urge take you….