Walking The Walk Again

Yesterday I finally managed to go for a walk along my usual patch of the canal again. My resolution to go every week has lapsed recently but it was great to get out and see how things have been changing over autumn.


As you can see from the photos the leaves have almost all fallen now and with the morning sun behind me on the walk out there was a definite feel of winter in the air. Despite this, even in mid November there are still flowers in amongst the hedges. A welsh poppy and some purple and pink flowers that have been there since I moved here in early September. It's nice to be reminded that even in the season we associate with decay and winding down new shoots and petals are pushing through.

The canal path was busy yesterday, with lots of dog walkers and joggers as well as a man fishing patiently. I wish I'd stopped to ask him what he normally catches. I've only ever seen one fish in the canal, a pike last spring, but there must be lots of fish in there. Unlike the fish the birds were easy to spot. Still in their morning flurry of activity there was lots of birdsong and I easily spotted most of my normal species. Pigeon (always the first one as they live under the bridge I walk down to the canal by), sparrow, great tit, black headed gull, mallard duck, moor hen, swan, as well as the more unusual blackbird, starling and pied wagtail.


Almost all the berries have gone from the hedges now and the sparrows are hooked on the bird feeder in the garden. They're still only eating from one of the two seed feeders though, it's definitely their favourite.

Feed the Birds Day

Today is the RSPB's Feed the Birds Day, where they ask everyone to put food out for garden birds. Bird feeders are important all year round in urban areas but they're particularly important when wild seeds and insects are hardest to find during the winter months. My bird feeders are nice and full in the garden this weekend. I haven't seen many other bird feeders in the area but maybe there will be more after today!

Have a look at the RSPB's website for more information on feeding the birds in your garden and identifying what turns up. You could even have fun making bird cakes to hang up outside- a great activity for kids at the end of half term week.

Why not let me know what you saw on your bird feeders this weekend? I'm expecting sparrows and not a lot else but maybe I'll be surprised.

I'm Back!

After a week offline I'm back! Lots has happened in the last week and I'll be talking about some of it over the next few days. I'll have updates on my veg box ventures and my weekly walks, why I was dressed as a Viking for a day and recent environment news.

Suddenly Autumn seems to have really arrived. With the first frost last night and the clocks changing in just over a week the nights are feeling a lot longer and darker. The heating has come on at home as we need somewhere warm enough to dry clothes. The occasional sunny days are enough most of the time but when washing stays wet for days inside something needs to be done. Our lights are on more now too and since the weekend all our bulbs are energy saving, saving us money and fossil fuels.

As I've said before while we're tucked up in ever warmer houses the wildlife outside has to find other ways to cope with the onset of winter. The sparrows in the garden are at the feeders constantly and I'm going to give them all a good clean and make sure they're filled before the RSPB's Feed The Birds Day on the 29th.

Flowers in the Rain

I managed to find almost an hour of no rain yesterday for my walk. It was still very damp and dreary but nice to be out in the fresh air. Now it's part of my routine it's easy going out for a walk but the trickier thing is remembering to take my headphones out. When I remembered yesterday there wasn't much to hear other than the wind in the trees. Occasionally I heard sparrows but there were very well hidden, hopefully in the middle of nice dry hedges.

It wasn't just the sparrows hiding from the rain. I saw my usual pigeons and mallard ducks but even they were sheltering under branches and reeds. There were moor hens, which were quite happily bobbing around on the canal, and I saw my first blackbird on my weekly walk. In fact there were two blackbirds, chasing a pigeon for some reason. The black headed gulls were numerous overhead but noticeably quiet, it was one of those days where everything feels muffled.
The most exciting bird was right at the end of my walk. Just before leaving the canal I saw a grey wagtail! These birds are really pretty, grey on top with a very long tail and a yellow tummy. This yellow tummy always makes me think they should be called yellow wagtails but looking at their pictures on the RSPB website the one I saw really was more grey.
I didn't think I'd seen many birds but now I've written it down it doesn't seem too bad!

There were less people around because of the rain too. Normally I see about 6 people or couples out for leisurely walks but yesterday there were 3 very quick dog walkers trying to get home as fast as possible. Once I was actually out in the cold and wet it wasn't too bad but after the heat wave of a few weeks ago it's definitely Autumn here in Preston with warm coats and scarves all round.

Despite being October there are still lots of flowers out along the canal. Mostly pinks and purples but also yellows and whites. I took some photo's of them so I could identify them at home. Here are my attempts (from left to right, top to bottom), if you can fill in my blanks or if you think I've got any wrong please let me know!
Welsh Poppy, Dandelion, Hedge Bindweed, unknown, Spear Thistle, Herb Robert, Himalayan Balsam, Some type of Hawkweed?, unknown, unknown.

 

After a week of strong winds across the country I expected almost all the leaves to have been blown off by now but there is still a surprising amount of green on the trees. The pond weed has also grown back on the canal so it's green too at the moment! Here are my pictures from the top of the canal from the last few weeks.

Week 3

Week 2

Week 1

October in the Office

We're ten days into October already and I've only just got round to looking at How Green Are My Wellies by Anna Shepard for this month. The book is split into twelve chapters giving tips and suggestions for green living month by month. I got this book for Christmas a few years ago and I love it. Each chapter's short enough to read in a spare half an hour and ends with tips and actions you can do to green your own life.
For October Anna looks at green office etiquette and how even if you're greener than green at home it's easy to slip into bad habits without noticing at work. Many work places now have environment champions or committees and small steps can often make the office a much more pleasant place to be.
Her main tips that everyone can do are:

• Install greenery - Putting a plant on your desk absorbs toxins and pollutants (a green air filter) and also absorbs CO2.
• Give your computer a lunch break- Even if you don't turn the whole thing off (turning it off then back on again later gives a nice 3 minute settling in period after lunch doesn't it?) definitely turn the screen off. The screen accounts for about 80% of the computer's energy and it only takes a second to turn on again.
• Lunch al-fresco - Bringing in your own lunch saves money, saves on packaging as you won't be disposing of a plastic box every day and is almost certainly more healthy for you. Eating outside (even sometimes in winter!) is even better for you as it gives fresh air, a walk and a proper break from the office.
• Right sort of cuppa - Using a proper cup from home rather than a plastic beaker makes drinks taste so much better. You could even ask the canteen whether they can provide milk jugs and sugar bowls rather than sachets.
• Ethical snaking - A mid afternoon snack always raises spirits but it feels that much better if you know you're helping the environment too. Did you know there are over 800 Fairtrade certified products available? Does you office stock any of them, and if not could they?
• Put the office to bed - If you, like me, turn lights out as you go round the house at night do you do it at work too? The last person out the door should check computers are turned off and lights are out, and make sure it's never you who is the one who's left things on!
• Promote a green commute - Some people enjoy their quiet alone-time on the way to work but other love company. Organise a lift-share board or cycling/bus group.

I'd add make-your-own recycling boxes to this list. If it's a long way to the recycling facilities use a cardboard box to collect your recycling and then do a trip at the end of the day. Group together with colleagues and take it in turns to make the trip. This will raise awareness of recycling and also create a feelings of community responsibility and achievement.
As well as all this office greening a quick look on Wikipedia showed up a few more things to do this month. October is Fairtrade Month in the USA, on the 21st October it is Apple Day in the UK (so remember to stock up with nice British ones) and on the 29th October it's the RSPB's Feed the Birds Day, so better stock up on bird food too! My sparrows have finally found the second seed feeder so hopefully by the end of the month I'll have lots of full happy birds in my area.

Curtain Twitching

Going out for walks to see wildlife is great, but we shouldn't forget what's right on our doorsteps or out of our windows.

Yesterday I looked up from typing and saw two birds right at eye level flying past. They were black headed gulls, although already in their winter plumage their heads were confusingly white. While you might associate gulls with the seaside black headed gulls are more commonly found inland and are the most common inland gulls in the UK. You'll often see them flying behind ploughing tractors or anywhere with a good supply of worms, fish or insects. The way they glided past my window was breathtaking, completely still except for moving forwards with the wind.

Later in the day I saw movement in the corner of my eye and looked up again. A flock of about fifty starlings were flying round and round our row of terrace houses. Autumn starling roots are beautiful. What I saw wasn't really a proper roost spectacle, those at the RSPB Otmoor (video here) and Fen Drayton Lakes (video here) reserves are truly stunning. Thousands of birds flying in beautiful patterns just like shoals of fish in the sea. This behaviour helps to protect them from predators, flying in a flock makes it harder for birds of prey to pick out individual birds, but they also roost in large groups for warmth and to exchange information.
While these flocks are huge the starling population has dropped by 70% in recent years. There used to be common roosts over big cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Edinburgh but now you're much more likely to see them in rural areas. The reasons behind their decline aren't certain but could well be linked to increased use of chemicals on farmland and loss of permanent pastures.

So there are two really exciting birds I can see out of my window as well as my normal lovely house sparrows who are taking a while to find the new seed feeder, it's only two meters from the old one!

What's the most exciting wildlife you can see from your house? What's the most boring?

Falling Leaves

I can't believe how fast this week has gone! It's Monday again and I went for my weekly canal walk. I was lucky with the weather again too. Even though it had been raining all morning by the time I went out at 2:30pm it was a sunny day, although quite windy.

The wind was blowing lots of leaves out of the trees and the canal was almost covered with them in places. Most are still green but they're slowly turning yellow and some lovely oranges and reds. It's amazing how many different shapes and colours the leaves can be. Another colourful sight was all the wild flowers that are still out. Maybe it was last week's warm weather but I'm amazed how many flowers are still in bloom, even though it's October now! I saw three different types of purple flowers (the Himalayan Balsam I talked about last week is still there) and some white ones too.

There was still lots of birdsong all around but I think the birds must have been hiding today as I didn't actually see many. I did see mallard ducks, moorhens and pigeons and I'm sure some of the birds singing were sparrows but that was it.

Four red admirals on the ivy-can you see them all?

Even though it was windy there were other things flying around. I paused by a large ivy bush and noticed lots and lots of hoverflies moving from flower to flower. I shouldn't have been so surprised as I'd recently read September's Bug of the Month on the Buglife website, which is all about the golden hoverfly and it's fondness for ivy at this time of year. More on Buglife later in the week.
To my surprise, as well as the hoverflies, there were about six red admiral butterflies on the ivy. These big butterflies are really beautiful-although a few today looked quite tatty and might have survived a fight with a hungry bird at some point. When I looked them up on Butterfly Conservation's great website I discovered that red admirals are actual migrants. Last week I was impressed that house martins fly from Africa, I'm much more impressed that some of these butterflies do too!

As a walked back along the canal I tried to see whether anything had changed in the past week. There were definitely more fallen leaves and those in the trees still are definitely changing colour. It wasn't as warm and there were lots more berries on the hedges. I saw blackberries, haws, hips, sloes and plums, all just out of reach annoyingly. On the left below are pictures from last week and on the right are today's. Can you see any big differences? I can't get but I'm sure I will as the weeks go on.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 1

Week 2

Hungry Sparrows

Yesterday I wrote about what makes me notice Autumn. More jumpers, darker evenings and higher gas and electricity bills are probably the main differences in my home life. But the colder weather has a much greater effect on the lives of the animals outside.

The house martin nest on my friend's roof.

By the end of September thoughts of swallows, swifts and house martins are normally long gone. But this week some friends found what we think is a house martin nest on their new house. The nest still has young birds in. They look very cute from the street below but I hope they grow up before it gets too cold.
In September and October these birds fly south over the Mediterranean Sea, across the Sahara  to Southern Africa, not bad for birds that are only 13-15cm long. And after a warm winter breeding, they fly all the way back and build mud nests for their own young. 


In the small backyard of our terrace house we encourage visits from local birds. We have four bird-feeders, two with sunflower seeds and two with peanuts. One of each are stuck to the kitchen window. At the moment the local sparrows seem to love the sunflower seeds, but only in the feeder away from the window. Tomorrow I'm going to swap the feeders around to see if it makes any difference. It's great to look out the window and catch a glimpse of five or six hungry sparrows nibbling at the seeds.
The RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) has some great tips on how to look after the birds in your garden throughout the year. They even have a special day when they ask everyone to put out food for birds in their garden. Feed the Birds Day this year is on the 29th October, so you have just over a month to get ready for it!