Our magnificent peacocks, Percy and Duffy, are often seen outside Reception, where they treat members to some glorious displays. Our amorous and sweet-beaked boys are apparently attracted to the blue of the Receptionists’ outfits as well as Rich Tea biscuits. They usually arrive at 2pm, then hang around the Clubhouse for some tasty cake to supplement their healthy early morning breakfast in the Grounds Yard, and natural foods found in our grounds and gardens. Despite all that Hurlingham has to offer, they sometimes like to step outside our gates to explore the neighbourhood, only to be collected by our Grounds staff – latterly on their way to a newsagent in Sands End on a Sunday morning. Duffy was acquired more recently as company for long-term resident Percy, whose son Zola became victim to a fox not once, but twice. He survived the first attack after

Neil Harvey and his wife administered antibiotics twice a day for three weeks in the shed, but everyone was devastated when he was killed on his first night out.

On the grass courts, pecking crows are in search of daddy longleg larvae – their beaks causing holes and creating another task for the Grounds Team. Their source of food is difficult to get rid of now that pesticides have been replaced by more organic methods. These larvae also attract swallows, which cause less of a problem with their smaller beaks.

Spotted on the lawns are ornamental Egyptian geese, which nest in our Plane trees, and the more mundane ancestor of domestic geese, the Greylag, leaving trails of excrement, despite the flying eagle kite deterrent. Both can be aggressive to their own species and other intruders during the breeding season. Most aggressive, however, are the Canadian geese which attack dogs and other waterfowl, including our own black swans. They battered and drove them out of the Lake into the clutches of foxes in April 2023. They are not native and, although migratory, are mostly year-round residents, protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

On the Croquet and Bowls Lawns, play has been interrupted at times by geese and the odd fox, but one of the strangest creatures trying to join a game was a mitten crab, visiting from the Thames foreshore, where it lives and breeds. Our foreshore is unique and is like a mangrove swamp that provides its own ecosystem for a variety of wildlife.

One of the strangest creatures trying join a game was a mitten crab, visiting from the Thames foreshore

On the Lake, our ducks have delighted generations of members. Traditionally wild ducks have been attracted to make Hurlingham their home, supplemented with purchased exotic species with wings clipped. Even our mandarins and mallards have been a mixture of wild and purchased ducks, whilst all the moorhens and coots are wild. At one point the Lake became an overcrowded haven with 400 ducks, 300 of them exotic purchased ones. This is changing on the advice of Joe Beale, our wildlife surveyor, to encourage native wild birds rather than buying exotic ones. There are compelling reasons for this: wing clipping is cruel as it is painful, and also prevents their escape from predators. Due to bird flu there is also a lack of supply. Be quick and you might see a duckling or gosling before they are snatched by their bird, mammal and fish predators. Also seen on the Lake are Cormorants diving for their dinner, and Herons, when they are not nesting in our trees and taking a stroll around the grounds. Lurking underneath the water, stealthily unseen, are the Zander, Flatfish and Eels. More difficult to see are the frogs, and the nine species of dragonflies on the banks.

Around the grounds at any time, large numbers of different bird species can be seen and heard. The more common are Robins, Blackbirds and Great Tits; others like Nuthatches, Chaffinches, Treecreepers and Bullfinches are less spotted. There are Woodpeckers in our trees and a large tree trunk provides a home for Parakeets in holes pecked out by them, helped by Cuckoos. At this time of year and into the summer, bees are foraging, and colourful butterflies are fluttering around our gardens. At dusk the hooting owl comes out together with three species of bat.

In addition to the multiple nesting sites made by birds, there are 16 man-made nesting bird boxes, due to increase to 25 in September, which are monitored in spring and autumn. The 11 dedicated bird feeders are due to be upgraded and increased to 20 in September. They are put to rest in spring, as more natural food becomes available. There are 19 bug hotels encouraging guests, such as the pest-controlling ladybird, to check in. These, together with the wild meadow, other native wildflowers, hedges, berry-bearing plants, pollinators, abundant nest-building material and trees around the gardens, encourage insects, butterflies and birds. As Joe Beale’s wildlife survey concluded, the Ground and Gardening Team’s work is impressive, with so much already being done to encourage wildlife, and they are now using his advice to influence what more can be done.

JENNY MONTEFIORE

Despite the not very bee-friendly weather this spring, one of our colonies decided, on 19 April, to swarm. Why so early? They’d been well-fed over the winter and had become densely over-crowded; it was time to find a new home. The colony was in fact a wall-to-wall capped brood of nine frames, and they thankfully chose to settle on the plant nursery fence.

Kathy Stephenson, our faithful Apiarist, coaxed them into a carton with the queen, and then re-homed them in a temporary nuc hive.

At dusk, Kathy closed the nuc entrance and the next morning relocated them into their new home in the Apiary, with the original queen from hive Bluebell. A bit of queen swapping here I suspect. Just as we were going to press I found out that another swarm was found in the playground and captured, creating yet another colony. So now we are six!

This will keep our new beekeeping team on their toes as they learn from Kathy how to nurture and protect our bees from viruses, wasps and any evil advances from Asian hornets. They sit outside honeybee hives and capture bees as they enter and exit. Just one Asian hornet can hunt down and eat 30 to 50 honeybees in a day. Researchers from the University of Exeter have convinced beekeepers here and in mainland Europe that an invasion of Asian hornets would spell death to honeybees. They are working on an AI solution which detects, identifies and kills them. We, at Hurlingham, might not yet be ready for this advanced technology, but we can all keep our eyes open and report any sightings to the BeeTeam!

JEAN BIRD

Mad about the Bees

From left: Beekeepers: Marina Peneva, Aby Parrott, Kathy Stevenson*, Jodie Fitz-Hugh, Leah Ponting and Tanya Pestriakova.

*Club Apiarist, Kathy, passed the BBKA Basic Assessment with distinction

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