If you've ever set out to see a kingfisher, the chances are you've returned home disappointed.
I hopped on London's Northern Line to Gospel Oak to work at our Date with Nature on Hampstead Heath with no expectations for the day what so ever. What a day it proved to be. There were the usual but wonderful suspects; cormorants, tufted ducks, coots, moorhens, starlings, crows, swans, mallard and of course parakeets.
You know what's coming so, yes. I did see a kingfisher. Twice! They are so gorgeous. The movement, the colour and dynamics. Everything about them makes you stand and stare slack-jawed. One of our great volunteers, Don Wright had brought along a nifty digital video camera and while his partner, Clare, chatted to visitors, he captured some great footage of the kingfisher.
The same day I was within two metres of a pair of jays, pecking at the ground, oblivious to the people and dogs around them. Luckily, I have a pair of jays that visit our garden at home. Jays too are stunning to look at; maybe I'm a sucker for anything turquoise. The British Museum's Aztec collection is a typical example where the colour is at its best, with turquoise mosaics on skulls, carved snakes and all manner of artefacts.
It was incredibly mild on the heath and ladybirds were nesting in the corners of our marquee. If they didn't find somewhere to shelter over the weekend, I fear this week's cold weather will have taken its toll. They'll look for soft centres of twigs and crevices in trees and buildings. Some will shelter in shrubs or dead wood and this is another area of concern as quite a few piles of wood and cut shrubbery have been gathered ready for bonfire night.
Please give your bonfire a good check over before you set it alight. I'm not suggesting a painstaking CSI style fingertip search. Just look for wildlife before burning. Bugs, hedgehogs and birds may be sheltering in or around your Guy Fawkes night pyre. If you fancy a wildlife walk with Guy Fawkes history thrown-in? Visit our Rye Meads reserve in the upper Lee Valley. The gunpowder plotters supposedly met in the old Rye House ... all that remains is the gatehouse but it's a link with the past in an unexpected spot.