All fall down

Cliff falls are nothing new in our area, but every now and again one is large enough to attract the attention of the media.

This one, between Fan Bay and Langdon Hole was reported on the BBC South East news a couple of nights ago. The area of cliff exposed by the fall is certainly very bright white.

The view above was taken on May 13th last year. It is at a slightly different angle, but is of the same stretch of cliff. You can see the same left to right slightly diagonal line dropping down from the topof the cliff. There must be a good few tons of chalk at the bottom, but from the top there is little see.

As I was looking at the fall I was aware of the "song" of a nearby Stonechat. They're not grat singers but do brighten up the scene on a day when there seemed to be few birds other than gulls around.

A passing Peregrine did circle over me for a few seconds, but I didn't get the photo opportunity that some have had recently.

They're always a joy to watch, the big barrel chest and powerful flight makes them a formidable predator.

The Gulls seem to take little notice of them and don't afford them the reception they give to other birds of prey daring to arrive at the cliff top.

It was a shame the the Peregrine didn't drift by a such a convenient height and in such a leisurely was as this Jackdaw.

A new recruit

Many baby animals are particularly attractive in their own rather gawky ways and the foal of the Konik Ponies is no exception. Konik, or Polish Primitive Horses are derived from attempts to breed back the recently extinct Tarpan Horse from cross bred Tarpan and domestic horses in Eastern Poland during the 1930's. By choosing horses that showed significant Tarpan characters and breeding them herds of semi wild Konik Ponies were produced. Koniks show many primitive markings including a dun coat and dorsal stripe.

In the South Foreland Valley at the moment a new recruit to the conservation effort has just arrived. I'm told that this Konik Pony foal was born around last Tuesday. Of course at the moment his main sustenance will provided by his mother, but soon hopefully he will be munching away with the other ponies.

In this stance the foal looks somewhat out of proportion with far too much leg for a stable existence but in fact he was quite steady on his feet today.

The others carried on with the job in hand. It is certainly a big task to recreate the chalk grassland in all it's glory. I still look forward to the days when we have meadows of Orchids and other wildflowers along with all the butterflies and other insects that specialise in this habitat.

I realised when we were doing our I-spy at Epping Forest on Sunday that many of the eye-spiers, including the parents weren't seeing any Black-headed Gulls, in spite of there being loads around. The majority were still in their winter garb and few had much black on the head, like the photo we used on the guide. This one down in the Bay this afternoon is almost there, but still has a few blotches to moult out.

They're never too young

Yesterday our 5 year (two month and 9 day) old Grandson, Sam, held his belated birthday party. The family had been away on Jan 2nd, the actual date, and Sam decided to wait until later to celebrate this ripe old age with his friends.

He decided on an open air celebration which would commence with a nature walk. To try and make it more interesting Simon and I hit on the idea of some simple "work sheets" done like one of the old fashioned I spy books, with just a few pictures with names to fill in.

I did take along a couple of telescopes and these proved a big hit with some of the kids, although I'm not convinced any of the saw what I originally put into view. Nevertheless the sky certainly got a thorough looking at!

The event was held at Hollow Pond, on Whipps Cross Road, which stands at the southern end of what is still called Epping Forest. It is still an interesting green areas where there was quite a lot to see in a good accessible way for the children.

I was pleased that there were more than the expected Mallards representing the Ducks, although this female didn't match the black and white picture on their "work-sheet".

Luckily the male appeared from behind and Island and at times even its eponymous tuft was visible. Every one seemed to enjoy the even, especially when Pam arrived with some hot food, followed by birthday cakes and various other nibbles. I think it's great to start to sow the seeds of some interest in the natural world at an early age, let's hope that Sam's generation are better custodians of their environment than ours has been.

Today I tootled along to the Restharrow Scrape in the hope of seeing the Garganey's that had been present yesterday, but unfortunately they seem to have moved on. Peering through to gloom towards the railway at Mary Bax I eventually found the two Cranes that have been around for a few days. They were not photographable, but through a scope they OK and were obviously very actively feeding in one area. Wouldn't it be great if the work done by the RSPB on their new reserve brought breeding Cranes to Kent, as has been done in Somerset and Norfolk/Suffolk.

Short-toed Treecreeper Samphire Hoo

What a terrible photo, but the only one I got before I had to leave. To be fair the bird had already crossed the railway line and was now distant and difficult. It called like a Short-toed and the brownish flank is quite evident above. It managed to keep stems in the way of the wing. Hopefully it will come back later and someone will get a proper definitive picture so that the BBRC can't reject this one!

Outside with the Brock

Quite early this evening (7.45pm) Pam went round to the greenhouse to close it up and on the way back bumped into a Badger foraging on the lawn.

It was quite dark, even with the light of a moth trap shining over the garden. I did try to focus on the badger from the window but there just wasn't enough light for automatic focus. With care I can sometimes get quite close to a badger, if it is preoccupied with feeding. I went to the door and took a couple of steps outside towards him, and apart from a short look up and a sniff at the air it had no affect. I took a torch with me, as it makes it easier to focus if the black and white stripes are well lit. Believe it or not the badger took no notice of this at all. The trouble is that holding the torch in the right direction and getting the camera also pointing there is not as easy as it sounds!

In the end I had the old chap, I think if was a boar, almost feeding round my feet. When I take photos from inside, with the the patio doors open, I lie on the floor so that I get a nice low angle. This is not so easy out side so the pictures were rather looking down at him. In the end he came too close and after a short stare he decided that I was not to be trusted and he scampered off down the garden. I always like being right outside with them, hearing them munching, it seems such a privilege to be so close. This one has got a very tatty back end. it looks as if he been in a recent fight and been bitten on the bum while he's been running away.

Something to lift the Gloom

Another unremittingly gloomy day, although I did quite like this view of Deal Pier with a flock of Black-headed Gulls, many now with black heads.

Now Something to Lift The Gloom.

If you live locally our talented St Margaret's Players are performing Cheshire Cats by Gail Young at the end of the month. Full details are on the Poster below. As you see it includes a donation to charity. I'm sorry to say I'll miss it because I should be on a plane heading towards New Zealand on the first night, so I hope it all goes extremely well.

A really rough day!

Although today was about as unfriendly as it can be, with continuous high winds and driving rain the number of Chaffinches in the garden continued to increase.

This is a small part of the flock of around 100 Chaffinches feeding on the lawn. Several of my hanging feeders had come down in the high wind and I'm sure the buffeting others had from the wind meant that much of the seed was spilled onto the ground.

I have been hoping to find some Bramblings with the Chaffinches, I shouldn't be long before they start moving through.

What I did find was a single Siskin in the middle of the flock in front of the window. Normally when one arrives others quickly follow.

Not so today, once this one had flown in one of the frequent scares that spreads though the feeding birds I didn't see it again. Perhaps when the weather improves the more of the spring movers will pay a visit.