A good news story: Making merry: how we brought Melbourne’s Merri Creek back from pollution, neglect and weeds.

I often walk and cycle along Merri Creek, do birdwatching, have seen kangaroos and swamp wallabies.

#MerriCreek #Restoration #Biodiversity #StoriesOfHope #urbanBiodiversity

https://theconversation.com/making-merry-how-we-brought-melbournes-merri-creek-back-from-pollution-neglect-and-weeds-226231

A sheltered #ivy is a magnet for late insects: bluebottles, wasps, droneflies and three Red Admirals still about in the November sunshine #UrbanBiodiversity #Hull

A nifty pic for #ThickTrunkThursday off of our #Seattle front deck. This little lady is making an impressive #spider web backlit in front of our Douglas Fir.

My first odonata of the year, a teneral blue-tailed damselfly (I think), I momentarily looked away as I heard toads, and when I turned round a Carrion Crow had picked it up, probably for its chicks! #dragonflies #UrbanBiodiversity #Hull #EastPark

Some highlights from a sunny morning at #EastPark #Hull: Pink-footed Goose still around, many Canada and Greylag Goslings, two Mallard families. Noisy male Sparrowhawk, 3 Swifts chasing, two Swallows, 36 bird species, somehow missed Robin #UrbanBiodiversity #LowCarbonBirding

Some visitors during our sushi al fresco

Back to the #Sculcoates #patch early today for a spot of #UrbanBiodiversity. Two playful foxes, a pair of Mute Swans parading along the drain prospecting for a territory, singing Reed Warbler and my first zebra spider of the year #LowCarbonBirding #Hull

Peregrine over Cafe Gelato, Red Kite over Princes Quay, and Shelduck pair at Albert Quay, #urbanbirding doesn't get any better than that! #Hull #UrbanBiodiversity #LowCarbonBirding

Finally a warm, sunny afternoon brought all the butterflies out. Six species on the wing, Brimstone too fast to photograph, Small Tortoisells around too #Hull #UrbanBiodiversity

First Swallow of the year, patch tick in the shape of a singing Reed Bunting, a Jay and two singing Willow Warblers migrating through. A female Greenfinch collecting nest lining material. A Roe Deer on the railway line. A feeling of spring today at #Sculcoates #Hull #UrbanBiodiversity #LowCarbonBirding more at: https://wildathull.blogspot.com/2023/04/spring-at-sculcoates.html

Frost in the morning, then sunshine brought all the songsters out #sing #spring #Hull #UrbanBiodiversity #LowCarbonBirding #Sculcoates

A cold and wet day, I went to #OakRoadLake and then up the #RiveHull to Reich Carter Way and back. Highlights were the Mute Swan pair nesting, 3 Buzzards, 2 Sparrowhawks, drake Goosander, 17 Shoveler in the Bransholme reservoir #UrbanBiodiversity #Hull

A Jay at the patch and at #PearsonPark, maybe the same one. Caching shelled peanuts suggests that it's a resident. Also found Dog's Mercury in the patch, which was unexpected. 5 Chiffchaffs singing today at #Sculcoates #Hull #UrbanBiodiversity

Lovely to have a Siskin on my street alders on the way back from work with beautiful light #Hull #UrbanBiodiversity #LowCarbonBirding #weekend

A cloudy, initially drizzly, but enjoyable walk to #EastPark this morning. 46 bird species, including Teal, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Coal Tit, Grey Wagtail, singing Chiffchaff, Siskins...#Hull #UrbanBiodiversity #LowCarbonBirding

First Chiffchaffs singing, Greylag's first egg, Moorhens and Coots occupied nests and this Reed Bunting singing by #OakRoadLake a sunny day with a strong #spring feel #Hull #UrbanBiodiversity

First Anthophora plumipes of the year in the garden, quite late as I usually see them the 1st week of March. It was cool so I could approach this male and take a photo with my phone! #Hull #UrbanBiodiversity

A wet and gloomy day, but a Blackbird singing on my way back home cheered me up #Hull #UrbanBiodiversity #AerialBirds

It's been a great winter for Siskins in #Hull, this is one of a small group that were feeding, chasing and twittering in a small group of mature alders in the Amazing Community Garden #UrbanBiodiversity

Sunshine and thermals despite the icy start got the Sparrowhawk pair rising and displaying high over their territory near the drain. The Herring gulls are only thinking about breeding, they have nothing to fear from Sparrowhawks, but they flew in panic, calling plaintively and mobbing the raptor #Hull #UrbanBiodiversity #LowCarbonBirding