Categories
Construction Ecology

The parrots are back

My ring necked parakeets have returned. In London the reaction to these is a bit mixed, some people like me get quite excited, others are a bit non-plussed or even hostile. I like them though, each year they come along for about a week. They make a load of noise ( I think this may be why some people don’t like them) and spend the week stripping the Indian bean trees outside our flats. By the end of the week the whole street will be covered in bean husks and they will be gone.

I think the transient but regular nature is what appeals to me, they are only there for a short time but usually herald the start of warmer weather and cheer everyone up. I first saw them only three years ago and discovered the next year when posting photos to my flickr account that they come back at the same time each year. It’s the nearest we get to the changing of the seasons in central London.

Also cheered me up as I was back from the dodgiest client I have met in a while. They are supposed to be worrying about lizards on their site but are very reluctantly paying lip service. This morning they were a little like naughty schoolboys because I caught them digging a trench in an area they shouldn’t have been. No damage done and they assure me it won’t happen again but you never know. I prefer dealing with the parrots.

Categories
Construction Ecology

Lizards at large

Lizard catching season has started already and I have been quite successful catching them on a site in South East London. So far I have caught 9 and some judicious strimming has been corralling them effectively.

We have a splendid new residence for them in some specially restored grassland. Hopefully we will be able to clear the rest of the lizards from the site in the next five or six weeks and the council can get on with building a school on the site.

Categories
Ecology

Alex 2 Lizards 1

I had a successful afternoon chasing lizards at a new development near Crayford for Ecology Consultancy.

I have been to this site a couple of times and only caught 1 lizard before, the little blighters proving too speedy. Today I was particularly prepared using a lizard trap made from a 30cm diameter pipe. Very effective and I took them off in the back of the car to a lovely new home near Welling.Queen lizard