Tuesday 30 September 2008

Are Two an Unkindness?

Not a great day for birding, wet, cold and very little movement first thing, apart from a flock of about 100 House Martins. A quick look at the sea only yielded a few distant Gannets so I cut my losses and returned to check my moth traps. The results from these was equally uninspiring. Looking at the Sandwich Bay site I might have given up too early as they recorded a large amount of visible migration.

After lunch, on the way down to Dover I called in at the White Cliffs NT car park. Before I'd got out of the car I saw two large crows coming towards me. I grabbed the camera, but because it was against the sky I should of added about one stop to the exposure, but in my hurry I just clicked away.
The two Ravens passed just in front of me, above the ferry terminal and the disappeared, heading towards Samphire Hoe, where they've appeared fairly regularly this year.

From this angle the huge bill and diamond shaped tail were obvious. It is around 180 years since they bred in Kent. With the march towards the east currently taking place I wonder how long before it happens again and where the first nest will be?

The local Jackdaws took to the air, and were dwarfed by their larger relatives.

One the way back I stopped to look at these two Carrion Crows just outside the village, and was struck by the very brown feather around the shoulders of the nearest bird.

I often look at the lawn, just inside the "Country Club" gates, it is an ideal feeding area for thrushes and I'm hoping something interesting will be on there one time. Although it is now a common bird, I always find the antics of the Green Woodpeckers amusing as they poke around for the ants in the ground.

P.S. One of the old names for a group of Ravens is an Unkindness, another is a Conspiracy, so it seems they have a bad reputation.

1 comment:

tut-tut said...

I used to have a book that named all the groups of things (murder of crows, unkindness of ravens, etc.), but alas, it is among the missing now.