West Ham Online

"I thought you might like this video.



It's a compilation of different birds singing. Beautiful photography. If you expand the 'title' under the video it gives a list of species and the times they pop up in the video. Most of the species are familiar to us in the UK, but there are some 'exotics' (the cranes - wow, what a noise!) It was filmed in Belarus. The guy has a channel you can subscribe to. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and maybe it'll take your mind off you-know-what for a few blessed minutes."

Yes it is. Good that the sun is still about. The colours haven't come out here yet - that's my favourite bit.

*waits for half-days of freezing fog*

Isn't autumn glorious?

"I broke a huge web this afternoon while gardening - didn't see it until it was too late. But I did apologize to the spider, so that's OK, isn't it? Exeter - I expect it was a sunny day when you saw all those webs in your garden - they show up so much more and look splendid."

"I feel your dilemma. I always feel really guilty if I have to break a spider web. One of my araneus diadematus caught a wasp yesterday. I took a (poor) photo of the scene, the wasp, all wrapped up in the web with the spider sitting beside it. Marvellous. Meanwhile on the hedgehog front: my 'main' guest, 'Tank', turned out to be female, which I kinda deduced when she started walking around with one of her babies/juveniles trailing her, feeding side by side and occasionally nuzzling. I don't know if I missed seeing the rest of the litter before they left her, or if this little hoglet (christened 'Biscuit') is the only one that survived. Mother and (apparently) now independent offspring are sharing my garden. Biscuit is getting bigger by the day. I've bought two SPLENDID hedgehog hibernacula. Really well constructed. For a few nights I put a small amount of kibble in both 'bed chambers' just to encourage them to explore. The food was eaten, and my daughter and I watched them exploring the houses. For the first time early this evening I felt a significant chill in the air, so I swept out the houses and put some 'fresh meadow hay*' loosely inside and also some outside, hoping it will give them a hint. I'm a bit worried Tank might either be pregnant or recently given birth. They sometimes have a late second litter but the babies are at risk of not being big/fat enough to survive hibernation. I might need to rescue them if that happens. *smells gorgeous."

"Garden dilemmas... Spider webs Is there a special day of the year similar to flying ant day, where spiders have a sort of display of webs day? Only my garden has gone from having none throughout the summer to 101 Charlotte's webs in the space of a week Took some really close up photograph of a spider spinning its web, and that web is now one of the biggest and impressively designed spiders web I've ever seen. I like to think we were inspiring each other Problem I have now is that the web in question cramps my movements in the garden unless I walk right through one of the threads holding the whole fucking thing together, and after watching him/her building it, I can't do that with a clear conscience. I'm of the John Lydon 'never trust a hippy' school of thought but fear I may be turning into one."

(Info from Fire of Learning youtube channel - but they didn't say why the ancients didn't know about Sainsburys)

Sainsbury.

"No-one in ancient Europe knew where cinnamon came from, although Ethiopia was their best bet (poosibly a result of misinformation by Arab traders). But the ancient Greeks thought they knew how the inhabitants of wherever the fuck it was harvested it. They thought that the cinnamonbolus bird made its nests out of cinnamon, and the natives gave these birds so much meat that these nests collapsed under their sheer weight. It was then a simple matter to collect the cinnamon from the detritus of the broken nests on the ground."

Don't know what I've had done without my garden last 18 months. Sit out in it about 4 times more than I ever did before.

"There are 2 robins in our street vying for territory, seen them squaring up to each other a few times but not seen them come to blows yet."

Bullet almost completely has his adult feathers (handsome bugger) and has now started singing the song of his people. Plenty of needle between him and the great tits. I am very happy indeed.

"Last week after putting some bird seed and paint trays of water (pigeons love bathing in them lifting each wing up in turn and so forth, great to watch) peered through the glass back door and a Sparrow Hawk was feasting on a Pigeon (not the first time, they jump on their back pin them down and pluck their feather's one at a time, then eat the whole head all while alive). When disturbed it didn't look too pleased, stared me in the eye, huge evil eyes like a gremlin then flew off, leaving me to clean up what was left of the poor blighter. Nature eh."

If only van Gogh had had Nurse's sunny disposition. He might have actually sold something for serious money.

"Just got back from the Isle Of Wight ,blimey can you do some serious walking out there, it’s like one big farm with footpaths . Saw a couple of red squirrels ,one really close , lovely ."

I love sunflowers. Always make me smile when I see them. The bees I get in my garden tend to be the ones with the really white fluffy bums.

"My kids this year bought me some sunflower seeds , which l sowed and they are now between 8 and 12 feet , most are yellow but some are a Reddy tan colour , they really attract the bees , not bumble bees but another type almost as big , l did have a lot of globe thistle this year which bumble bees love , some people reading this must think how boring butl don’t care l love having lots of bees in the garden !"

"Don't get me wrong, I love wild gardens and wild flowers. Especially when you get just a single one of a certain variety right bang on the middle of dozens of another type, especially when it's a bright poppy. Friday night's is the one night of the week I've stopped going down the pub, can't beat takeaways from the corner shop and a cracking episode of gardiners world"

"zebthecat 1:14 'My wildflower front garden has been beautiful and a awash with insects and birds since early spring' Could've also been posted on this thread :-) http://www.westhamonline.net/forum_flat.php?9791840||1|| Had a homeing/racing pigeon actually hop through the patio doors into our living room last week. Had been feeding and watering it for a couple of days previous as it kept landing in our garden. Thought it may have been injured, but was probably knackered."

Nice!

"Nurse Ratched 12:49 Sat Sep 18 I agree with that. My wildflower front garden has been beautiful and a awash with insects and birds since early spring. Loads of butterflies and moths including Cinnabar Moths, Brimstones (planted an Alder Buckthorn hedge last year) and Hummingbird Hawk Moths that love Night Scented Stocks. Contemplating converting the back garden as well next month."

"Nurse Ratched 12:49 Sat Sep 18 I agree with that. My wildflower front garden has been beautiful and a awash with insects and birds since early spring. Loads of butterflies and moths including Cinnabar Moths, Brimstones (planted an Alder Buckthorn hedge last year) and Hummingbird Hawk Moths that love Night Scented Stocks. Contemplating converting the back garden as well next month."

Wild gardens are good. Wild means weeds giving off seeds and providing food and shelter and egg-laying spots for insects. Seeds and insects bring birds and hedgehogs.

Gardeners World...where's Monty Don and Petra got to ? The programmes full of young upstarts now. If it's not Japanese or wild garden theyre not interested.

"im not gonna google it. is a female pochard black with grey embroidery and a grey tail and say"" beep beep"" like roadrunner?"