Richmond Park

[Ukwildlifeo]

After the aborted WAB visit earlier this year I finally made it up there saturday. A good visit the weather held, it wasn't too busy, plenty of deer and some invertebrate life. Anyone else been up there recently?

[derelict]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

After the aborted WAB visit earlier this year I finally made it up there saturday. A good visit the weather held, it wasn't too busy, plenty of deer and some invertebrate life. Anyone else been up there recently?

The unpredicatable weather means the park has been very quiet esp for August, though I have gotten soaked on a couple of occasions - you don't think of packing the waterproof trousers for an afternoon circuit in South London do you?


I've been looking at the trees and there are a lot of pretty bad infestions of knopper gall around:

Deformed Acorns

- the underneath of some oak trees look like they're carpeted with green walnuts! So more bad news for the 2008 acorn crop after the caterpillar damage of the spring which left some oak trees defoliated and the mildew that has hit others.

On the other hand the success of the season seems to be the chestnut trees - one of the red stags was wearing a crown complete with spiky cases!

Although exotic introductions like the knopper gall and the pesky ring-necked parakeets [grrr] seem to do little harm to the trees themselves one has to think about the animals that will be deprived of their winter feed... the sheer wastage caused by the parakeets in the chestnut trees has to be seen to believed - they hit the trees just before the fruit is mature and the nutshells harden.

The red deer stags are in the process of removing their velvet - it seems to start with the larger ones and works down. 10 days ago they were just starting. now it's nearly over and the younger members of the stag herd are already tentatively trying their new kit out. The fallow deer do it the other way round ...

[Ukwildlifeo]

I noticed the velvet coming off on a couple of the fallow bucks. I actually stay out of the woods, enjoying the sun as I had the gf in tow

I didnt see much in the way of bird life, except for a close encounter with a kestrel hunting BETWEEN all the people on Richmond Hill. Oh and 10+ flock of goldfinches in a large thistle patch. But even in the high wind I saw a couple of dragons and damsels and a number of kite tailed robberflies.

[aeshna5]

I was last there on a hot day (remember them?) at the end of July on a grasses course + the Ragwort was covered in clouds of insects- dozens of Meadow Browns + Gatekeepers, Small + Essex Skippers, 6-spot Burnets, Cinnabar larvae + a variety of bees + flies.

With the grazing effects of the deer- Ragwort + thistles are the main nectar plants that are avoided by them.

White Ash Lodge Pond (the only one I visited on this day) was alive with dragons + damsels.

Whilst being shown some grass flowers there was plenty of Roesel's Bush-crickets in the Juncus +a Wasp Spider also revealed its presence.

I'll be up there the weekend after the bank holiday hoping to find some good insects+ other wildlife too.

[derelict]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

With the grazing effects of the deer- Ragwort + thistles are the main nectar plants that are avoided by them.

I'm not sure about either of these - I know the ragwort is controlled by cutting but I suspect the deer eat the very young stuff. Likewise with thistles and the nectar-free bracken.



(For thistles, look for "fallow deer" + "toolmaking" on YouTube!!)

I suspect they have a go at everything that can't run away - if you look at their faces the fallow deer do look like African goats - but I've yet to see them eating mushrooms... these tend to be hidden in the grass so unless you're in the right place at the right time...

[Redfern]

On Saturday around 6.30 pm I saw a buzzard flying low over the trees being mobbed by a dozen or more parakeets. I didnt have binoculars so could not clearly tell if it was a Rough Legged as reported here - it had the pale underwing markings of a Common Buzzared and I did not see a white tail.

The parakeets... are the dominant bird species in the park - there must be many hundreds. In the central woodland area their song (shriek) drowns all other noise. Why are they so prolific in Richmond Park and have they displaced endemic bird species?

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Redfern

On Saturday around 6.30 pm I saw a buzzard flying low over the trees being mobbed by a dozen or more parakeets. I didnt have binoculars so could not clearly tell if it was a Rough Legged as reported here - it had the pale underwing markings of a Common Buzzared and I did not see a white tail.

The parakeets... are the dominant bird species in the park - there must be many hundreds. In the central woodland area their song (shriek) drowns all other noise. Why are they so prolific in Richmond Park and have they displaced endemic bird species?

Probably too early for a Rough-legged Buzzard + is an extremely rare sighting in London, though one was photographed in the park last year. There have beena lot of both Common + Honey Buzzards over London in the last couple of weeks + I saw 2 Common Buzzards at the weekend. I was doing a wildfowl count in Richmond Park on Sunday + saw 30 Ring-necked Parakeets mobbing a Heron.

Yes there are hundreds- there's plenty of food + nesting places for them. So far there doesn't appear to be a negative effect on native species from the bird transect data done in the park, but I guess this could change if the birds continue to increase at their current rate.

[Ukwildlifeo]

Does anyone know if the deer have started to rut yet?

[derelict]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

Does anyone know if the deer have started to rut yet?

Sort of... the big stags have started rounding up the females and the bachelor herd has largely dispersed. Evening bellowing has started - I got challenged for the first time down at Kingston Gate early last week. But there still are plenty of hinds still to be rounded up in the park and when they start to come on heat it will be more frenetic. The young males are still largely with their mums and they're often the first to be chased off. I saw the most incredibly lacklustre bit of sparring between two not-quite-big-enough stags last time I was up there. Talk about just going through the motions. They won't be getting their Equity cards renewed.

[Ukwildlifeo]

lol my local herd (in an enclosure) where doing the half hearted rutting and bellowing last wednesday. I wondering if I should postpone my trip to richmond till later. But I doubt we ll get another nice weekend like this one coming till after the rut if I do! Im planning an early morning trip to avoid the masses