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Donkey, Palm Sunday, Streatham

This beautiful brown donkey called Bramble was on the green in the centre of Streatham today, part of the Palm Sunday palaver, a woman told me Streatham was full of donkeys this morning, I asked one of the organisers what religion the donkey was and she answered, without a hint of irony, "C of E".

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Sparrowhawk, nuthatches and possibly a lesser spotted woodpecker

This morning on Tooting Bec Common I saw the Sparrowhawk looking unlummoxed by the Corvid bullying from Friday, parakeets and pigeons screamed as he approached, it's the best way to describe the terrified sound I heard as he flew down from a higher branch, I got a good view of a very pale Underwing and chest, on my home,  near the lido I'm very convinced I saw a lesser spotted woodpecker among the nuthatches , unless it was a very little great spotted, but I was struck by the striped tail, I think it was a male as it had a red head, very small and dainty compared to the great spotted I also saw.

Cloudy eclipse, Sparrowhawk has a difficult day

Below, my brother, Adam Dare's picture of the eclipse taken in Wales, below that, my foggy eclipse inStreatham, South London.

Eclipse of the sun (84%) 9:31 am in the Rookery, Streatham, flop of the year so far, though it was reputedly magnificent in other places.

The partial eclipse of the sun this morning was impossible to see as a dense bank of cloud covered Streatham, though it might have been dingier than usual, a few, mostly middle aged people, gathered in the Rookery to try and see it, a woman with a child embarassed him by making us sing happy birthday for his 4 th, he seemed intensely embarrassed. I took my colander with me to view the eclipse and saw people sniggering! On the news it looked wondrous, we all reminisced about the great eclipse of 1999, which I saw in Falmouth.

By 3 pm it was a dazzling spring day, I went to see the Sparrowhawk and was rewarded by first his flight into the woods then after I lost him, he was flushed out by an aggressive army of crows, I saw him very clearly, high in a beech tree, as the light caught his white chest, then he flew to another tree, looked peculiarly fluffed up as if wet, then the crows surrounded him again and he flew to another branch, I later saw him flying very high over the common, an hour or so later he flew back into the woods, Lesley joined me and we again saw him, this time chased by two magpies, he seemed very fluffed up and appeared to be washing under his wings, I'm still unclear re the gender, but he has a very white chest, light markings around the eye, what seemed like lighter markings in the neck, white flecks on his back and a long dark blueish tail, some reddish parts around the britches, couldn't see the eyes clearly enough today. We also saw  a beautiful little wren very close up, colour of a two pence piece with delicate dots along the wings, then saw three long, long loose lines of geese, like sprawling signatures in the distantce, flying East, the world seems to be coming alive with birds right now.

French smog?

There was a cold fog over London today which some elements of the press are describing as French pollution, it didn't seem particularly noxious, but I guess you can't always tell, there was no sign of the Sparrowhawk, I hope that means he/she was undamaged by the pollution. Lots of very large woodpeckers and trilling long tailed tits, I heard and saw them up close today, realised the distinctive, electronic sounds come from them, they seemed almost manic and excited flitting between bramble bushes today.

Spring trees, Tooting Bec Common

No sign of the Sparrowhawk this morning, but lots of song from thrushes, robins, long tits, blue tits, coal tits,woodpeckers, finches. Last night I dreamt about a gold finch...on the ground in front of me, dazzling yellow and red, unafraid...

I'm confused re Sparrowhawk genders now, another book I read categorically States the female has yellow eyes and the male orange, which makes the one I've seen a female, unless, of course, there are both in the wood.....

Sparrow Hawk Tooting Bec Commons, 81

The Sparrow Hawk was very active this morning in his Tooting Bec Common woodland niche, as I entered the wood he was on quite a low branch, stretching his wings before flying into an ivy clad tree, grabbing a small twig and flying up to a very much higher beech tree, where I guess  he must be building a nest;he stayed there for a while perching high and looking down at the wood, his wood, then flew to another tree, then another, out of sight.  I started chatting to a woman with two dogs about birds and which birds should be voted for as Britains' most loved, as we spoke the sparrow hawk flew very close, gliding right over our 
heads, so I got a good view of his slim, striped black and white undercarriage,, quite short, 
strong wings, yellow talons, elegant, effortless glidng flight, the woman kept on talking as if it was nothing. Then the hawk rustled around in the ivy for a short while and flew off again, shortly after that another woman with upper class dogs asked me what I was looking for, when I told her about the sparrow hawk she said he'd been nesting there for years and years, though how she knew it was the same hawk was not clear,she said she heard female tawny owls calling to each other at dusk in the wood, I said it was great the birds of prey had recovered their numbers, and that birds of prey had historically been very badly treated by the grouse hunting fraternity, she said, "All the people I know who go shooting are crazy for conservation". I didn't say, 'try telling that to the grouse'  but thought it..Tooting and it's Wandsworth/Clapham environs are a world apart from Streatham, I don't think many Streathamites are posh enough to go on shoots or know shooters (unless they are in a gang) though that's probably changing, but she was nice enough...

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Marlene Dumas, Tate Modern, 75,76,77,78

A very knowing artist here, art about art...art about photography, each piece is self consciously a text, artifice of apparently rough shod presentation, surfaces that are mortal, a nice turn of phrase but without Sophie Calle's resonance...death of the artist discourse, male gaze discourse ..I feel a 1991 PhD thesis coming on...

Emily Carr exhibition, Dulwich picture gallery, 73,74

There were some energetic paintings of the Canadian rainforest in the Emily Carr exhibition , though I sensed a melancholic dissatisfaction in the work, like Georgia  O'keefe's paintings I can't fathom their littleness, considering the vast topics depicted, and here the vast, invisible vortexes and energy fields she was trying to evoke, if they were men's paintings it's hard not to think the work would have been  painted on  a huge scale, women seem to get wedged into small worlds..the Carvings and masks by indigenous Colombians were very interesting, with shamanistic themes of wise Ravens and soul catching technologies...the work intrigued me most when it had a strong element of trance, as if she'd tapped into a shamanistic altered state....that would make an interesting film...19th century European lady painter entering the Shaman's realm, becoming animal...human ...howling body without organs...
"When you will have made him a body without organs,
then you will have delivered him from all his automatic reactions
and restored him to his true freedom. " Antonin Artaud.

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Sparrow hawk Tooting Bec Common, 66, 67, 68, 69

I saw the sparrow hawk again this morning, for the third day in a row, he flew into a tree directly above my head, accompanied by screeching from wrens and thrushes and the frantic flapping of pigeons...lots of long tailed tits now, goldfinches on the Streatham side, I think I might have seen a lesser spotted woodpecker in the trees near the lido, in one week everything has transformed...life is sprouting and squawking where ever you look and listen on the commons and other open spaces of South London. The smell is fresh, sweet and warm, at least in the corners of the woods away from the roads.

Sparrow Hawk again, Tooting Bec Common, 3 Egyptian chicks still alive!

At the edge of the wood on Tooting Bec Common I spotted the sparrow hawk again this morning after a long search, very high in a beech tree, he seemed to be nursing his right leg, I hope he hasn't been injured by crows, I saw them mobbing a Bird of prey yesterday, perhaps it was him, though without my binoculars I would have guessed a kestrel.

The sparrow hawk turned to face me with small, piercing egg yellow eyes, deep black centred, he has a speckled creamy chest, the rusty speckles in neat lines, he is lithe and long, with some reddish colouration around the eyes, almost like eye shadow, pigeons whizzed away in terror when he flew across the wood to another tree, the back was a bluish grey, with some paler flecks, and a  distinctive blue tail feather that looked a bit wonky like maybe he has been knocked about a bit, yesterday the behaviour matched the reputedly male mate-attracting behaviour of diving down from a tree ostentatiously - perhaps there are both genders here? He does seem small as a male would be, according to what I've just looked up on the RSPB site, what a privilege to see this beautiful, princely, bird twice in two days.

By the pond on Tooting Bec Common I saw three, markedly bigger looking, Egyptian Geese chicks strutting around with their noisy parents, they must have been asleep on the island the other day when I feared they'd all died, what a relief ...I can't help feeling horror at the thought of them being drowned by swans, some people I met saw this happen to the other chicks...

Sparrow hawk, Tooting Bec Commons, 64, 65

I saw a very good, half hour view of a sparrow hawk nesting on Tooting Common today , it was the yellow talons that alerted me, I hope there will be the pattering of tiny yellow talons soon...I think I saw a Goldcrest as well.

first long tailed tits on Streatham Common, green finches, chaffinch great spotted woodpecker

lots to see today, including I think, the Egyptian geese on the island on Tooting Bec common without any chicks, maybe one left, but hard to tell. First long tailed tits of the year on Streatham Common, green finches, chaffinch, great spotted woodpecker just now at dusk, no sight of the little owl despite perfect conditions ....

Below, that's a long tailed tit in the tree, I spent almost every second outside today apart from when swimming, my cheeks are red...

Bull finch, nuthatch, greenfinches, 60, 61, 62, 63

A beautiful spring weekend, yesterday I saw a green wood pecker on Tooting Common, a bull finch and a nuthatch on Streatham common later on and today two greenfinches outside the swimming pool at West Norwood, it was so warm and springlike, very mood enhancing..

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