A pair of mating blue-tailed damselflies just flew in to my house through the open backdoor. Which is a bit of a surprise, given that I live in East London with no known ponds, streams, canals or water bodies of any sort within 100 metres. I always thought damselflies stayed pretty close to water. I guess I was wrong once again.
It's a reminder that we rarely know what's around us, which is precisely why this week's Make Your Nature Count survey is so important. Conserving wildlife is hard if you don't know what's out there.
Gardens and London's hidden green spaces are full of mystery and that's why we need Londoners to help us record the wildlife they see. Armed with this info we can look at large areas of the capital to see how, together, we can better link the different spaces; for people and wildlife.
If you're in any doubt about the rich diversity of London's non-human residents, then come along to the Springwatch Wild Day Out at Alexandra Palace Park on Saturday 5. I'm secretly hoping we will record more wildlife in this urban setting than can be found in a rural National Park. We'll soon know the truth.
This past week we took a huge leap forward in being able to understand how one species gets by in the city. We put coloured plastic tags,or rings, on the legs of four peregrine chicks that hatched on a building ledge in Lambeth. Thanks to the rings, we'll now be able to keep track of them as they grow-up and move away from their parents' territory. Their nest is a bit messy at the moment as the chicks can't yet fly. It's littered with the remains of meals and their own moulting fluff. The camera lens is a bit smeared too!
People are always interested in wildlife when confronted by it, but some remain baffled as to its relevance or worth in their lives. Part of our Letter to the Future campaign is about explaining those links. Nature is our life support system and neglecting or abusing it will cost us more than tackling the US oil spill or the world banking crisis.
What price would you put on nature?