State of Nature

We’re get­ting on for a third more people liv­ing in this coun­try over the last fifty years and on top of that we have this extraordin­ary expert­ise in des­troy­ing things, in pois­on­ing things, in knock­ing down things …”

House-Sparrow-Park-Street-SE1

House Spar­row, Park Street SE1 © Cath­er­ine du Toit / 51% Studios
 

Listen to David Atten­bor­ough on the State of The Nature Report released today [22 May] by 25 wild­life organ­isa­tions here

Down­load the full report from the RSPB here

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The Cathedral Starlings

This little gang of six as ten­a­cious as ever — though the cathed­ral gar­dens packed at four o’clock on a sunny after­noon, they weren’t afraid to play and fight over scraps of left over lunch.

Cathedral groundsIMG_0286.1

Earlier they were spot­ted play­ing in the gut­ters of of Bor­ough Mar­ket, at first drink­ing, and then bathing …

Wet-starlingIMG_0241.3

 
Pho­tos © Peter Holden
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Spotting on 02/05/2013 by Catherine du Toit & Peter Holden

Spot­ted at Union St Urban Orch­ard Pair of Gold­finches fly­ing east at speed along Union Street. At some point the site of the former Urban Orch­ard was turned into the Reunion Pub­lic House. All foliage gone. Large block of flats being con­struc­ted next door. One Nest­work miss­ing from wall.

A spotting from the location Union St Urban Orchard

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Spotting on 02/05/2013 by Catherine du Toit & Peter Holden

Spot­ted at Cop­per­field Street Black­bird, three squir­rels and Holly Blue But­ter­fly. Vir­ginia creeper removed from facade, and ivy from base of tree, but a con­sid­er­able dense patch of ivy remains on the garden perimeter.

A spotting from the location Copperfield Street

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Spotting on 02/05/2013 by Catherine du Toit & Peter Holden

Spot­ted  at Lucy Brown House Pair of spar­rows in dense bushes and another pair heard in ivy near Blocks 1 & 2

Park-Street-Sparrows

Photo © Peter Holden

A spotting from the location Lucy Brown House

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Spotting on 02/05/2013 by Catherine du Toit & Peter Holden

Spot­ted at Little Dor­rit Two male Dun­nocks singing in shrub­bery near Boughs. Three Mal­lards fly in form­a­tion onto lawn of Babing­ton House. Pair of crows in large Plane Tree. Blue Tit heard but not seen. Upwards of 30 pigeons on the lawn.

Little-Dorrit-Dunnock

Photo © Peter Holden

A spotting from the location Little Dorrit

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Spotting on 02/05/2013 by Catherine du Toit & Peter Holden

Spot­ted at Mint Street Chaffinch heard singing in trees oppos­ite fire sta­tion. Lawn full of pigeons … con­struc­tion work continues.

A spotting from the location Mint Street

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Spotting on 02/05/2013 by Catherine du Toit & Peter Holden

Spot­ted at St George the Mar­tyr. Male Blue Tit singing in large plane, in hedge and planted screen. Female heard singing from within the block 7, before emer­ging to join her mate, then return­ing a few minutes later. Two crows busy over­head, back­wards and for­wards. Squir­rel patrolling peri­meter and upwards of thirty pigeons in con­stant state of flux on lawns.

BlueTit St George the Martyr.2

Photo © Peter Holden

A spotting from the location St George the Martyr

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Spotting on 30/04/2013 by Catherine du Toit & Peter Thomas

Spot­ted at Mint Street: Work under­way on land­scap­ing and con­struc­tion for the “Fresh Mint” pro­ject which fea­tures a new path, deck­ing, improved seat­ing, more grass and new flower beds. Black­bird unper­turbed, singing from top of bough …

Blackbird with Bough Mint Street

A spotting from the location Mint Street

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Spotting on 30/04/2013 by Catherine du Toit & Peter Thomas

Spot­ted at St George the Mar­tyr: A pair of Blue Tits seen enter­ing and leav­ing the top cham­ber of block 7 sep­ar­ately and together. The lower cham­ber of the same block suc­cess­fully fledged a Blue Tit brood in July 2012.

A spotting from the location St George the Martyr

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