October ended with extraordinary warm weather –  I saw a confused bumblebee and a butterfly (not sure what as it was high in the trees) in the woods. It has been great for my winter vegetables but it now feels properly autumn.

After a couple of weeks of rain the ground is slippery.

The sound of folk tunes drift through the woods on a sunny afternoon. Children clutch fishing nets while their parents eat cake.

Hornbeam fruit cover the ground paving the way to autumn.

On a warm and wet early morning run, I startled wrens at intervals along the path, and was scolded severely. Chiffchaffs called overhead. Didn’t see anyone else on the whole circuit.

A chilly start to May but a lovely stretch of bluebells in the woods. I heard a mysterious mechanical buzzing coming from a tree and the mystery was solved when an adult parakeet appeared to feed its young, the call reaching a crescendo as the adult perched by the nest hole. A cuckoo followed me […]

We haven’t seen the redpolls for a week or so – I think they must have moved on.  The birds in our garden are eating significantly less seed so it really feels like summer is coming.  A neighbour reported hearing her first chiffchaff in the woods last week but I haven’t yet. This week everything […]

5 March – Our redpolls have now been joined by siskins.  Despite the cold snap we’ve had for the past few days it’s beginning to really feel like spring. The woodpeckers certainly think so and are busy drumming. I saw a long tailed tit the other day with so much nest material in its tiny […]

Hurray! A pair of redpolls appeared in our garden this morning to general whooping from the family.  I had heard from Dave, local bird expert, that he has seen them in Dulwich park but they’ve been notably absent around here.

The redwings are here. I watched a flock circling the wood against a blue winter sky. Our next door neighbour told me that the sparrowhawk had sat for a while on their garden fence. There was surprisingly little damage in the woods after another stormy night. We walked in the woods on Christmas day with […]