Great spotted woodpecker

I saw three Great Spotted Woodpeckers ( Dendrocopos  major) today on Streatham Common, near the paddling pool at the top and in the woods, where a flash of bright red whizzed past me. I think one of them was female as she had a yellow tinged chest. They look really exotic to me, it's always a pleasure to see them. As described in guide books, one was either feasting on insects or fastidiously cleaning the area around it's nest, the RSPB says they have a 'distinctive, bouncing flight', this was also clearly on display today.

The mysterious 'Duke Night Store' Brockley Cross

The mysterious 'Duke Night Store' Brockley Cross, it reminds me of somewhere in an Edward Hopper painting, Even more so at night-time, when it must actually open. 

Croydon tram stop, Threepenny Bit Building

The diverse architecture of Croydon has always interested me, it's been a long term goal to do a book of drawings of the Victorian, Edwardian and 1960s-1970s buildings, including 'No. 1 Croydon' (a facile Internet search reveals it was also known as the '50p building' or 'NLA Tower') the distant round building in the drawing above. The building was completed in 1970 and is currently, again, according to a superficial degree of research, 'the 88th tallest in Britain' , woo!  Before decimalisation it was apparently referred to as the 'Threepenny Bit Building', this does actually ring bells, when we were children a trip to Croydon seemed like a jaunt to the Champs Élysées, oh how it has changed...many people observe a strange,  lightning-swift depression that sets in after a trip there, I've experienced it myself numerous times.

Winter bird walk, Sydenham Hill Woods

 The astute reader might notice that the image above is not of a bird, but a giant puffball, Calvatia gigantea. Daniel Greenwood led this very interesting walk, the birds were at first quite challenging to spot though highly audible, We did see a pair of Goldcrest as hoped, also some Nuthatches and lots of Bluetits, We clearly heard a Greater Spotted Woodpecker, which sounds like a squeaky toy, this apparently is its contact call. Below, this is meant to be a Goldcrest, they are one of the tiniest birds in Britain, weighing no more than a 5 p piece. 

We also heard the carousel like call of the Goldcrest, the tic tic ticking of a Wren, the jiggly Bluetit call, the dee dit, dee dit of the Nuthatch, (did someone say it's like a referee's 
whistle?) We heard the 'Seapy' sound of Redwing, which we also saw flying in a tight-knit group above our heads, Redwing also fly en masse at night and are  hunted by birds of prey. Daniel also said the glade in the wood is a good place to spot birds of prey, who are looking for mice etc, 

Other factoids: Apparently the oak tree by Belair house has a little owl in it. 
Tawny Owls are often seen at midday in Sydenham Hill Woods, they are the apex predator 
of the wood and may be emerging as a particular British species, as they do not migrate (if I understood this properly?). We also saw long tailed tits, Daniel said brother and sister ones 
often help rear the next generation, how gregarious and tribal they are!  The grand houses that were  once located in the woods had names like Sydenham Hoo and Beechcroft, in the image of the fallen trees below  you can see the remains of tennis courts behind them.

We saw quite a few fungi, the Hen of the Woods grows year round according to Daniel, I also saw some bonnets, the Miller, Candlesnuff fungus, which look like white antlers,and what I thought was jelly fungi, but is actually Hairy Curtain Crust, all looking pretty healthy, although the Hairy Curtain Crust on the fallen  tree branches were frozen. 

There was ice on the pond (see the image furthest below) the giant puff balls really were huge , at least as big as footballs, I never would have spotted them on my own as they were tucked away, hidden by ivy, not far from the Hen of the woods. 

The lovely Tooting Bec tube station and a strange painting

Croydon mystery sounds

Yes it could be the start of a great mystery, but I did hear the sounds and they were very much like fireworks, so, by the principal of Occam's razor, in which the most obvious line of reasoning should be adopted, I guess that's exactly what they were....it did sound like a gun battle or the blitz, but that's also what fireworks sound like, isn't it? What's more interesting is the widespread willingness to believe in a range of sinister alternatives, from terrorism to millitary experiments. 

Crystal Palace, me in a Christmas jumper

Above, Woodland Road, Crystal Palace, looking towards central London on a cold afternoon, below, me in a Christmas jumper! 

Below,  a shopper in Tescos cafe having a break and texting:

Below, Miki on a  telephone conference call