Asian invasion!

 I was constantly reminding myself this was on 'Pleasant Conversation'.

It is a beautiful bird, though.

How does a sub topical bird flourish in your climate?

The post Ice Age warming era?

Looking forward to millions of acres of frozen tundra becoming farmable land.

So there is zero upside to a changing climate? I believe there is an upside that is never discussed.

Species evolve and adapt, including humans. Slowly, we move from less desirable places to more desirable places. 

Factoring in there are far too many humans anyway (the population here has doubled in my lifetime), we have troubles way beyond climate change.

Please explain exactly how we can do more than we are doing, and make any measurable difference. If today we stopped cold using fossil fuels, no difference would be measured for hundreds of years.

I’ve just been reading about an American invasion near me.

More Mink sightings in Wanstead Park

The number of reported sightings of Mink in Wanstead Park seems to be increasing. During the icy weather over the Christmas period, one was seen crossing the ice on Perch Pond, and there have been a couple more reports of them on the same lake since then, even as far up as the islands at the west end. This is further afield than previous sightings over the years which were either on the Ornamental Waters or the Roding.

The most recent report I have received was from Helen G. who wrote : " I just wanted to let someone know that I saw an American mink on the Ornamental Waters today (8th February) at around 4pm. I had a good look with my binoculars and it was clearly a mink and not an otter unfortunately. It was on the island bank of the Ornamental Waters near the pylon where the waters are nearest to the Roding river. I do hope this doesn't mean too much trouble for all the other wildlife on the waters."

Unfortunately, it does mean trouble for other wildlife, for mink will grab whatever they can and are quite general in the predatory habits. They will take both land and water based life including fish and water birds, mammals and reptiles.

Generally speaking, mink don't have any real predators in these parts, so unless they are trapped and dealt with in some way they will prosper at the expense of other wildlife. However, recent reports have shown that the resurgence in many areas of otters has had quite an effect on the mink population. In the Home Counties mink numbers have fallen by as much as 50 per cent with the increase of otters. I haven't seen any certain reasons why this should be, but it does seem that otters displace the minks and in rare cases are are even killing mink in direct combat.

Over the years we do have occasional reports of otters nearby, usually near the Roding of course, but an animal thought to have been an otter was reported within the last couple of months on the Shoulder of Mutton Pond. The Roding is a very healthy river, usually, and it isn't too far fetched to hope that an otter may take up residence somewhere nearby, with Wanstead Park as part of its territory. Perhaps then our mink will leave home.

www.wansteadwildlife.org.uk/index.php/en/general-articles-and-wildlife-news/296-more-mink-sightings-in-wanstead-park

According to the London Wildlife Trust they probably escaped or were “rescued” from fur farms during the 50s or 60s and like our parrots have been breeding under our noses.

www.wildlondon.org.uk/wildlife-explorer/mammals/american-mink