24+26/2/10: Few 'spots' - apart from Ladybird

24/2/2010

- Fox crossed north end of Barnehurst Avenue in daylight.

- 6 House Sparrows in street tree opposite the 'Royal Oak', Northumberland Heath. Chirruping from scrubby gardens both sides of Northumberland Close.

- 2 Collared Doves in Barnehurst Av. as I made my way home.

- 22-spot Ladybird found amongst Geranium macrorrhizum as I was weeding Couch Grass out of it.

26/2/10

- Fox in the back garden in broad daylight, with a hen's egg in its mouth, looking for somewhere to bury it. Foxes have been leaving eggs round the garden for years now.

25/7/09: Butterflies, birds and a buried newt

In my Barnehurst garden today:

- 1 x Peacock butterfly, possinly the same one as the other day
- several Gatekeepers, including a mating pair
- 1 x Speckled Wood

- 1 x Greenfinch (the first for a while)
- 1 x Dunnock

- 3 x 22-spot Ladybirds on an Aquilegia plant. This species eats fungi (mildew) on the soil surface or on low-growing plants.

A good site for helping identify Ladybirds is:

http://www.ladybird-survey.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/londonla.htm

And then there was a male Smooth Newt, found hiding out in a plastic sack amongst stones being kept to put in the foundations when repairing terracing in this hillside garden. The species has been seen in a pond next door, but this is the first one in my garden for a very long time.