I hoped I’d achieved hedge immunity against the box moth; however, it appeared at the end of last month, much earlier than I expected.
As you can see the damage is limited, unlike this box I saw outside a restaurant in Chelsea.
Another pestilence has appeared in Barons Court: the Usutu virus. It sounds like something rather choice in the raw fish section of a Japanese menu and you may not have heard of it as like Covid it is a new visitor to the UK.
Usutu virus (USUV) is a flavivirus that has recently emerged in Europe where it poses a potential disease threat to both wild and captive birds. It is transmitted between birds (the primary hosts) by mosquitoes. Different strains of the virus have been found in different locations. Usutu virus was detected in wild Eurasian blackbirds (Turdus merula) in Greater London in late summer 2020: this is the first time USUV has been found in Great Britain. (Garden Wild Life Health)
It has greatly reduced the blackbird population. Only four were observed in the latest bird count in Margravine Cemetery.
The falcon chick is doing well, although there was a scare a few days ago when a Peregrine intruder tried to get into the nest box. Fortunately the mother was present to see it off. Nathalie Mahieu reports:
Day 22 – A very good day for the chick, which it spent sleeping mostly, as normal. It still hasn’t really moved from the back of the nest box but went to the camera corner a bit more. It only got 4 feeds but it must have been so full after its last feed (the Live session one where you can see it swallowing whole feet) that it refused food from both parents afterwards.
