Author Archives: Amanda Tuke
20th November 2019 – Tunnel to another time
https://www.placecloud.io/feed/c/0/i/39670239/tunnel-another-time Both restless and looking for somewhere to be still, I’m drawn to an old favourite. Through the gate into the woods, I turn south along the old track bed towards the tunnel. The mouth is muzzled with metal gates, once an incongruous grey, then lovingly painted with bats whose furry faces are now beginning […]
18th October 2019 – Back garden blog – tapping
It has been relentlessly wet almost since the start of October. Over the last few days at home, I have been distracted at intervals by the sound of gentle tapping at different windows. This afternoon, a blue tit and then a dunnock sat on the windowsill at the upstairs window less than a metre from […]
29th September 2019 – Back garden blog – up to no good
I’m distracted from writing by a disturbance in the garden and suspect there’s something going on when I see two jays perched on the fence. Jays do visit but don’t usually hang around very long. These two are clearly up to no good. Watching jays, it’s easy to believe that birds evolved from meat-eating dinosaurs. […]
July 2019
16th – So enjoying the swifts that it’s almost unbearable the thought that they will be heading home soon. A whirlpool of them over Sydenham station yesterday… feels like they’ve got the urge for going (in Joni’s words). Ordered Lack’s book, Swifts in the Tower, today and will see if I can resist reading it […]
June 2019
The surface layer in the woods this morning had the imprint of yesterday’s torrential rain firmly marked on it. Later on in the quiet of Wildside at the Wetland Centre, I enjoyed watching black headed gulls tenderly caring for their somewhat stroppy chicks.
May 2019
11th At last the swifts are back here. I walk through the woods and along to the park with the aim of seeing them and gratifyingly 5 or 6 appear briefly.
July 2018
The swift are still here but appear to fly together in a purposeful way suggesting they might be off soon. We’ve had six weeks without any rain. Some trees are beginning to shed leaves and gardens and grass are parched.
May 2018
10th May – Joy! A squadron of swifts over Sydenham this morning. SHW/DW flowering records: 1.5.18 hazel, oak, hawthorn, cow parsley, holly, dandelion, garlic mustard 11.5.18 sycamore, hawthorn, holly, bluebell, garlic mustard, wood millet, elder, cow parsley, herb robert, rowan, annual meadow grass, dandelion, cleavers, pendulous sedge, nettle, broom, common vetch, meadow buttercup, goat willow, […]
April 2018
Five frogs in the garden pond. SHW/DW flowering record: 29.4.18 bluebell, wood anemone, primrose, dog violet, fringecups, wild garlic, thale cress, wild cherry
March 2018
10th – A red-tailed bumblebee queen in the garden and a couple of large moths flying around the streetlights one evening near then.
The Urban Naturalist 