Monday miscellany

Evening sunlight over the Thames

"arteverywhere" - Neighbours by Stanley Spencer, 1936

September sunshine in Kensington Gardens ...

... bringing out the colours of flowers

The Edwardian glory of Crouch End, from the top of a bus

Aerial view of freshly-tidied front garden ... it awaits a complete makeover

Do birds see colour? Yes they do, even into the ultraviolet range, which might be why they can identify individual birds that look exactly the same to us, due to the secretions of the uropygial gland that have been spread onto the feathers during preening. African grey parrots react to people wearing red clothing, or even red nail polish. Birds are also thought to be able to see light into the near ultraviolet range. This might be why they can identify individual birds that look exactly the same to us, due to the secretions of the uropygial gland that have been spread onto the feathers during preening. Birds can also detect and follow movement much better than humans: a bird and a person might both be able to see a mouse from a height of 250 feet, but a person can do so only if their attention was accurately directed to the mouse, while the bird can see it without even directly looking at it.