Not signed in (Sign In)

Categories

Google ads

Vanilla 1.0.3 is a product of Lussumo. More Information: Documentation, Community Support.

Local: Stroud Green stuff: Wildlife in Stroudgreen

Bottom of Page

1 to 74 of 74

  1.  
    • CommentAuthorLucy
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     

    I know we had a post a while ago about all the birds on Parkland Walk but just wanted to add that I've spent a happy 15 minutes watching about 10 starlings and 20 sparrows fighting it out in my back garden over the bird feeders.

    Also, I planted a native hedge 2 years ago (hawthorn, blackthorn, dogrose, field maple, hazel and one I can't remember and don't recognise - a 5m long, 1m wide hedge) and it was covered in sparrows eating the insects.

    There used to be no sparrows at all in our back garden and these two relatively small things have brought them back.

    It makes me very happy.

    Feel free to shout "hippy" at me in an Eric Cartman voice. Only the Eric Cartman voice is acceptable though.

    • CommentAuthorColette
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     
    And on an only tenuously related note, I walked through FP to homebase (oh, the excitement of sunday afternoons!) yesterday, and had a lovely, warm, fuzzy feeling because the park looked so very very lovely. I think they've really done a splendid job of doing it up.
    The boating lake looks great now, and has lots of happy looking ducks and the like on it (that's the tenuous link to Lucy's post).
    Lots of people playing sport too, albeit US sports, oddly - American football and baseball (or rounders? can't tell the difference).
    • CommentAuthorkatiejane
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     

    Even more tenuous link, only in so far that it's positive...

    I walked down Stoke Newington Church St yesterday afternoon, and it genuinely made me glad to live in Stroud Green. I love its diversity. I'm astonished at how the white middle class have managed to carve out their own ghetto there - in the middle of Hackney of all places!

    Hurray for SG.

    • CommentAuthordion
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     

    Back to the wildlife...

    I saw a baby rat crawling across the road towards the yellow car wash outside FP on Friday. It wasn't crawling very fast; I think it had a limp.

    It made me feel slightly queasy - I haven't thought about it very much.

    @KJ - apart from Rasa(s), I don't quite see the point of SNCS.

    • CommentAuthorLucy
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     

    Haven't been to SNCS for ages, although I used to think the point of it was the second-hand book shops (are they still there) and Abney Park Cemetry. That's the kind of place I'd like to be buried!

    • CommentAuthorBridget
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     
    I hear that the old Vorlex is a huge Nandos now! I havent seen it myself and always used to wonder what the first chain would be in Church Street.
    • CommentAuthorBridget
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     
    Sorry I meant to say Vortex!
    • CommentAuthorPete
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     
    ...wildlife?
    • CommentAuthorLucy
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     

    @pete - morning deary. what?

    • CommentAuthorColette
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     
    YumYum is good too, and terribly glam looking these days, although it's not actually on SNCS.
    I'd cheerfully move YumYum and Rasa to SGR, although I'd be worried about the implications for Jai Krishna. Actually, maybe I'd just move YumYum over.
    • CommentAuthortosscat
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     

    Last time I went to Rasa I misordered and everything was very similar, but all were nice.

    There was one thing though that had lots of woody stalks in it - it said so on the menu, but I didn't think it'd be quite so woody.

  12.  
    I love the parks and wildlife in N4 even though we regularly have to free birds that have accidentally flown into the kitchen and our cat has been known to sunbath a few feet apart from the neighbourhood fox, like they are best buddies.

    Similar to Lucy we decided to make the garden a patch of urban wildlife haven, i have just threw a few packets of wild flower seeds around, and have plans for a pond and small willow ( to lay in the shade under and pretend I'm in the countryside).
    • CommentAuthorPoxy
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     
    I think our community fox died. He looked like he had mange, lost a LOT of weight and struggled to get over the fences. I've not seen him for a couple of months. He's probably dead under next door but three's trampoline which is where he lived.

    Has anyone else noticed a proliferation of little bitey beasts? We were out in our garden late on Friday night. When I spoke to everyone over the weekend it transpired everyone had three or more bites on exposed areas of flesh. As usual I came off worst with huge itchy bites on my hands and neck. I'm trying not to scratch them. Grrrrrrrr.
  14.  
    i love watching the squirrels taunt the cats in the back gardens along the railway... and there's a couple of wood pigeons in the tree in next door's garden which are nice.
    • CommentAuthorLiz
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     

    We must live quite close as mine is one of the cats that is taunted by the squirrels near the railway. It always entertains me how little effort they make to be inconspicuous!

  16.  
    I am along the railway in stapleton hall, we had a wood pigeon in our kitchen last week, the squirrels really make me lol especially when they get carried away and fall into next doors pond (thankfully they are great swimmers).

    I was worried about our fox too, he went on the missing list for a few weeks and had been limping, but i saw him yesterday be it a lot thinner.
  17.  
    The Tawny Owls were very active on Thursday evening of last week.
    I haven't seen or heard the Barn Owls from St. Peter in Chains though.
    • CommentAuthorLucy
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     

    ooh, I thought I heard tawny owls along parkland walk the other day, but as it was the afternoon I ruled it out. It was very overcast though, perhaps they were confused.

    Is St Peter in Chains a band? Seriously, is it a real church or am I being really dim/old?

    One of our dog's very few signs of intelligence is that he recognises the word "squirrel".

    One of our dog's very many signs of dim-wittedness is that I am able to use it every single time to distract him from naughtiness, squirrel presence or not!

    He's never caught one, in case anyone was wondering/worried! Would love to see what he did with one if he ever caught it in water!

    • CommentAuthorEmma
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     
    @ Poxy - my tummy is covered in bites from being in the park after dark the other night (ack, that makes me sound classy).

    Anyway do bitey creatures come out at night?

    Also, this year I have noticed lots more emo ladybirds, black with red spots. They are so fashionable.
    • CommentAuthorLucy
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     

    @ emma - I think they're the harlequin ladybirds that are wiping out our native ladybirds. Does that fit with emo ethos?

    • CommentAuthorPete
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     
    @Emma Because things are easier to bite when they're asleep and not moving

    SCIENCE!

    @Lucy, actually, all the native ladybirds are wearing black and following the trend.
    Couple of years time, they'll be wearing something else.
    • CommentAuthorAgaton Sax
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     
    Well, I've had an outbreak of flies in my kitchen. They're not normal flies either, but slightly blue in colour, and they fly around in groups. There were only two the other day, but the group has now grown to about 12 or 13. It's quite sinister, and I feel like Tippi Hedron in The Birds. Do you think I've got a dead mouse lurking anywhere?

    I told this a friend, and she told me how when she first moved into her flat there was a wok that someone has left behind in the kitchen, with a lid on. After several weeks, she went to use it, and was puzzled to find it warm to the touch. When she took off the lid, a couple of hundred bluebottles swarmed out...
    • CommentAuthorAgaton Sax
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     
    @ Jeremy, you should wear this

    http://store.theonion.com/owls-are-assholes-p-171.html
    • CommentAuthorTabbie
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2008
     
    @ Agaton Sax, the warm wok of bluebottles is the stuff of nightmares! What did your friend do?

    Could you perhaps get a pet frog to manage your fly problem?
  25.  
    @Lucy
    <http://www.stpeterinchains.com/>

    <http://www.stpeterinchains.com/location.htm>
    • CommentAuthorAli
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2008
     
    We have been plagued by fruit flies for weeks when it is warmer. Hundreds of the little things flying around. Fly spray doesn’t work so I chase them around with the Dyson extension tube and suck them up. It is a bit like the reverse of big game hunting and it is quite difficult to suck them up while they are flying.

    It is really annoying as they seem to get inside you wine bottles and even have come flying out of the fridge !

    The cause I think has been that we have discovered that the washing machine has had small leak and the floor between the damp course membrane and the floor covering has become saturated so providing the breeding ground! It will take ages to dry it out
    • CommentAuthorEmma
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2008
     
    Uggghhhh I can't bear fruit flies - so creepy.

    We had a fair number of big fat flies come in over the past couple of days - I assumed there's been a disgusting bout of fly sex recently which has led to a bumper crop of the bastards.

    I hate flies.
    • CommentAuthorGreg
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2008
     
    Pooles Park school garden in Lennox Road is one of the best kept secrets in Stroud Green. We hold open days during the school holidays so that it can be enjoyed by the whole community. The next open day is on 29th August from 10am - 12 noon. Please come along with children and grandparents. You are welcome to bring a picnic and enjoy the peace, or learn to garden with Sophia our environmental tutor. Access to the open day is from the rear entrance to the school in Hatley Road.
    • CommentAuthorAli
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2008
     
    Is this the one with Chickens I peeped over the wall once
    • CommentAuthorGreg
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2008
     
    It is indeed.
    • CommentAuthorandy
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2008 edited
     

    Hi Greg - if you're announcing an event like that, it's worth creating a new thread so everyone will see it. Also, we can make it 'sticky' in the few days before it, so it stays at the top of the page.

    • CommentAuthorGreg
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2008
     
    Hi Andy

    Thanks for advice. I will do so tomorrow. I am the headteacher at the school. I hope this website will help us to get more involved in the wider Stroud Green community.
    • CommentAuthorberrynice
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2008
     
    @ Jeremy Fisher - are you serious about the barn owls?

    And has anyone been bat-spotting on the Parkland walk?
    • CommentAuthorColette
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2008
     
    Can grownups learn to garden too, or just children? I need window box tutoring.
    • CommentAuthorToddlesocks
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2008 edited
     
    I really wanted to go on the last bat spotting event ( since would not know where to look alone) but did not make it, hopefully the next one....when ever that is ?
  36.  
    ooooo! bat spotting!!! i know i've heard bats around at twilight, but i've never known how to actually track them down. i'd love to go on a bat spotting event.
    • CommentAuthorGreg
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    Colette - I am sure Sofia will give advice on window boxes. at the open morning. Please come along. It is for adults as well as children. We have not yet provided regular classes in gardening for adults. If there was sufficient demand we could do so. I will look into this in September. Environmental education, and growing food in particular, are an important part of the curriculum at Pooles Park. We are funded to help other school develop environmental education and last year won the London schools Environment award.

    I have not seen a barn owl at the school but we do have chickens.
    • CommentAuthorBridget
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    Well that's solved it!

    Thanks Greg I live in Moray Road and I hear lots of little childrens voices every day and can never work out where they are from, I look into the little park on Woodfall Road and its empty and have never seen a school on Lennox Road!

    Must look harder. Can parents of very little ones come along I have a 9 month year old?

    Thanks for clearing up the mystery.

    Bridget
    • CommentAuthorGreg
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    Hi Bridget - We are a bit tucked away. All ages welcome - We hope to to run a parent and toddlers gardening club in the spring for anyone in the area. Hope the sun shines.
    • CommentAuthorPhil
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     

    Bridget, the little children's voices you hear are most likely coming from the charming little day nursery tucked away behind Moray Road. It's accessible via the little alley off Moray Road (Charteris RD end), or down Everleigh Street (next to MAH Brothers) off Tollington Park. It's a good nursery with a nice, safe play area, too.

    • CommentAuthorGreg
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    Phil, I think you are right about the voices. North islington is an excellent nursery. The two schools work closely together. The nursery site is closing for twelve months while extensive building work takes place. It re-opens as a Childrens Centre in Sept 2009. Bridget, If you can still hear little voices in September, it is probably Pooles Park.
  42.  
    @berrynice

    Yes, I've seen them sitting up there in the twilight.
    • CommentAuthorsophie
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    i'm glad to have it confirmed (by a headteacher no less!) that hatley road counts as stroud green. i have no excuse not to come as i live about ten steps away from it and would love to see what's inside those forbidding walls.

    colette i may well join you for an adult window boxing session, mine are the ones with the dead nicotinias in that i replace about once a week.
    • CommentAuthorGreg
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    Good to know we have barn owls. We must put up an owl box.

    The walls are a bit formidable. inside, all is lovely. Glad you can come Sophie. Ancient documents, recently discovered, confirm that Hatley Rd is in Stroud Green.

    On the advice of Andy, I have started a new discussion to advertise the open morning.
    • CommentAuthorDuncan
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
     
    I quite like the idea of that bat trip, next time someone is organising one
    • CommentAuthortosscat
    • CommentTimeAug 15th 2008
     

    Are you thinking of 'finding' the bats, or just looking at them in flight?

    • CommentAuthorandy
    • CommentTimeAug 15th 2008
     

    We were playing with a torch and a bat detector in the deepest countryside. It was great fun. You shine the torch straight up in the air to attract bugs and after a while the bat detector starts to go crazy as the bats overhead start swooping around the beam, eating the bugs.

    • CommentAuthorPete
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2008
     

    Bat detector?

    Bats?

    Where does he get such wonderful toys?

    • CommentAuthorandy
    • CommentTimeAug 28th 2008
     

    Never thought of it like that - the Joker just had a Maplin catalogue

  50.  
    Tawny owls were very active last night after midnight.
  51.  
    Had to lol at a squirrel teasing one of the neighbourhood cats on top of our shed roof the other day, could not believe it when i saw it just 2 foot from the cat twitching around as if daring it to try and catch it, the cat doing its best to look uninterested be it a bit bemused.
  52.  
    I've got a very noisy squirrel in my garden. I didn't realise squirrels actually made noises, but my one makes a noise a bit like a spluttering goose. Quite disturbing.
    • CommentAuthortosscat
    • CommentTimeSep 2nd 2008
     

    Honk.

  54.  
    @Toddlesocks: was it a white cat? If so, it was probably ours. She has feline dementia and occasionally thinks she's King Harald of Norway. Probably thought the squirrel was an equerry...
    • CommentAuthortosscat
    • CommentTimeSep 2nd 2008
     

    As long as she doesn't think he's poor old Mette-Marit.

    • CommentAuthorToddlesocks
    • CommentTimeSep 6th 2008 edited
     
    @ out-and-stroud , it was a little tabby . Your cat sounds like quite a character, amazing how many seem to think they are royalty :)

    It seems we have to be careful not to ruffle the feathers of Stroud green birds.

    Today around 6pm they were making such a noise i went to investigate, along with several other neighbours who had heard the commotion too and came out (upper east -Stapleton hall rd ).

    Around 15 white blue and black birds ( dont think they were magpies but may be wrong ?) had surrounded a cat ( large fluffy black and white) up a dead tree next door . They actually chased it, around the branches of the tree then along the gardens swooping the rather freaked out cat , it lasted about 20 minutes. Even some crows came to watch, leaving the cat attack to the others. My cat came flying in the back door like his tail was on fire obviously worrying they were going to start on him next .

    I took a few pics , this is the best one, can just about make them out. The red dots are above some of the birds heads.

    Photobucket
    • CommentAuthortosscat
    • CommentTimeSep 7th 2008
     

    They are almost certainly magpies looking at the photos.

    Are the sort of middle size?

  58.  
    @tosscat, yeah middle size ;)

    A gang of them were back again tonight, looks like they have taken up resedency .
    • CommentAuthorkatiejane
    • CommentTimeSep 7th 2008
     
    They do indeed look like magpies - nine of the buggers. In which case, nine's for a kiss!!

    Oooh - lucky toddlesocks.
    • CommentAuthortosscat
    • CommentTimeSep 8th 2008
     

    9 is rare. Ma-ah-ah-ahg-pie-eeay-eeay-aaey!

    • CommentAuthorkatiejane
    • CommentTimeSep 9th 2008
     
    I had to look it up - I only knew up to seven thanks to the programme Magpie which, errmm, my older brother told me about.
    • CommentAuthorandy
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2008
     

    That is a fantastic cat/magpie infographic Toddlesocks. Do you work for BBC news? I would like to see you put in charge of their election coverage.

  63.  
    @Andy lol, i think the SG wildlife is more interesting, certainly tamer ;)

    Our neighbourhood fox sleeping on top of my garden hut today :)

    Photobucket Image Hosting

    Leaving at dusk
    Photobucket Image Hosting
    • CommentAuthormagicP
    • CommentTimeSep 13th 2008
     
    Excellent pictures!

    A fox sometimes curls up for a sleep in our back garden. I wonder if it's the same one.
  65.  
    wow, that's a surprisingly non-skanky urban fox!
    • CommentAuthorkatiejane
    • CommentTimeSep 25th 2008
     
    I saw a dead cockroach on SGR this morning. Does that count?

    I also saw a man locking the door to Hanoi on his way out of there, but sadly was feeling to shy to ask him when it was going to open.
  67.  
    I was staring out the window this morning and saw an unfamiliar, dowdy little bird on my patio. I looked him up, and blow me down if he wasn't a dead ringer for a chiffchaff. How exotic is that?
    • CommentAuthorandy
    • CommentTimeSep 30th 2008
     

    @kj - do you think woodward and bernstein broke the Watergate story by being too shy? We need brave investigative journalist types to find out when that place is going to open!

    • CommentAuthortosscat
    • CommentTimeOct 1st 2008
     

    @ andy - and what kind of predicament would we be in if Kajagoogoo had not been Too Shy? Hmmm?

    • CommentAuthorandy
    • CommentTimeOct 1st 2008
     

    hush hush

  71.  
    limahl for prime minister!
    • CommentAuthorkatiejane
    • CommentTimeOct 1st 2008
     
    and Colette didn't even pick up on my typo!
    • CommentAuthorColette
    • CommentTimeOct 1st 2008
     
    Katiejane!
    • CommentAuthorkatiejane
    • CommentTimeOct 2nd 2008
     
    that's more like it!

1 to 74 of 74

  1.