Crows for Rick

The last two days haven't really been the weather for long walks with a camera. On the KOS forum there's been a debate about the lack of photographs of Crows on the KOS gallery. I think Rick Lawes who first mentioned it really meant the black ones, Crows, Rooks and Jackdaws, but I started thinking that crows as a family have quite a place in literature and art. I haven't time to go into it very deeply at the moment. This wet and bedraggled Magpie was out side the NT centre at the White Cliffs car park today.

Here's a little poem by Stella M. Turk MBE

The Thieving Magpie

I am under the eye

Of a master spy

-a thieving magpie

He watches me

From a nearby tree

And if i’m not in view

He is quick to attack

A flight there and back

And he has the cheese

Put out to please

The smaller birds

Which quickly take flight

When he comes into sight

The best known poem concerning Rooks is "Black Rook in Rainy Weather" by Silvia Plath. It's a bit deep for me, I get lost after the first verse!

This Rook was sitting on a TV aerial in Whitfield when I was on was way to get petrol. It doesn't quite fit the little verse, also by Stella Turk, but in the rain it was the best I could do:

The Restless Rooks

This winter the local rooks are very vocal

I don’t know whether they are glad or sad

But they seem in the main to complain.

They don’t want to be bound to the ground

Nor do they want to be in a tree

Or for long to fly in the sky.

Are they just jesting, or thinking of nesting?

Is it due to the mildness, or wildness?

If anyone knows, they are not telling me.

The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty

The St Margaret's Players next Production is the Pirates of Penzance. Performances, at the Village Hall, will take pace on October 8th, 9th and 10th, starting at 7 p.m.

I went to the dress rehearsal of the St Margaret's Players production of the Pirates of Penzance. I'm not a great G&S fan, but I enjoy an occasional dose. I must say that this was an impressive production by the players. The direction was slick and tight and it the set was very good, it didn't fall into the trap of over elaboration that can happen. I have put a few pictures below to give a flavour. There will be a much fuller set on my flickr site when I've had time to get them into shape. In the meantime apologies to any one n the cast I've failed to show in a good light, hopefully you will be on one of those yet to appear.

Seasonal mixture

It's the time of year when you don't know whether to put your coat on or take it off. I started with a fleece this morning, took it off after 10 minutes and put it back on about an hour later.

In the sunshine there were plenty of butterflies, like this Red Admiral, in addition there were Speckled Woods, Commas, Small Whites, a Peacock and a Clouded Yellow, that as usual didn't wait around for a picture.

More in tune with the wintry component were these two Snow Buntings. They've been around for a while and rather annoyingly tend to stay right up against the side of one of the footpaths. This does keep them sheltered but also keeps them in the shade most of the time.

Although the two birds are different in plumage I'm not sure about their ages. I think that they are both probably first winter birds.

I would be pleased to hear from anyone who can age and sex them as I find them quite difficult.

Hoopoe

I mentioned yesterday that a Hoopoe had been seen in St Margaret's and today I received an e-mail from Jan Dixon with some pictures of the bird attached. Here's what she said:

"We luckily saw the Hoopoe in the field belonging to the Owl House Riding School (we live next door), in Station Road, St Margaret's at Cliffe.

It stayed there for about 10 minutes very close to our house and we could see it clearly. This was on Saturday 03 October at about 4pm."

They are fantastic birds and Jan did well to get some pictures as they can be shy and elusive. When they put their crests up they are one of the most distinctive birds in Europe. There are a few autumn records each year in the south of England of birds that have wandered off course during migration, and Jan was fortunate enough to have one pay a visit.

Thematic nature

In all sections of natural history one of the fascinating areas as how similar groups have evolved different species. In birds one of these is the wheatears, in butterflies the fritillaries and at the moment the group of moths I'm seeing is the sallows. The first I caught this year was the Centre Barred Sallow, then The Sallow and now the Barred Sallow. There are a four others, in the past I've caught a few Dusky-lemon Sallows and one each of Orange and Pink-barred, but never the much rarer Pale-lemon Sallow, so fingers crossed for the next couple of weeks.

Barred-sallow (Xanthia aurago)

The Satellite (Eupsilia transversa)

As I have said before the naturalists in the past have had great imaginations when it came to naming moths. This one is called the Satellite and the two small white dots at the corners of the larger half moon shapes obviously caught the eye of the namer of this species. It emerges around the end of September and in the right weather conditions can be seen throughout the winter. The caterpillars feed on various trees and also also have a carnivorous tendency towards larvae of other species.

Birds The wind today was very off putting but did bring a few seabirds. I saw quite a few Mediterranean Gulls, but the guys who stuck it out down in the bay counted an incredible 169 as well as a good selection of other seabirds. (click on seabirds to see the list). An intriguing development this evening is the appearance of a picture of a Hoopoe on Surfbirds, taken at St Margaret's at Cliffe today, see here. If any one knows where abouts it was taken I'd love to know.

A wander round

I had a walk from the house, along Kingsdown Road and then took the footpath just before Old Stairs Hill, over to Bockhill Farm, passing the edge of the Golf Course. The highest point here give a fine a round view. I took a few photos of some of the things that most appealed to me.

At the moment there are an enormous number of Crane Flies (Daddy Long-legs) around. This always gives rise to the most amazingly stupid and hysterical comments in the papers and on the TV and radio about the terrible menace they are. They do of course represent a good source of food for some of the birds that are now forming small feeding flocks. I noticed a good mixed group of Long-tailed, Blue and Great Tits, with a few Chiffchaffs moving along the hedge next to the Golf Course.

There's a lot of food available at the moment. Anyone who has rung (banded) Blackbirds at this time of year will quickly find out that Blackberries form a major part of their diet.

There are good numbers of Sloes around as well, these have other uses, although I'm not really a Gin drinker, a drop of sloe Gin a Christmas makes an interesting tipple.

Looking east the cliffs at Cape Gris Nez were clear today and the French Monument can just be seen.

Turning left the view across to Ramsgate Harbour was a bit hazy, but the white cliffs at Pegwell stand out.

I always enjoy the panorama from here, the Ripple Windmill prominent in the comparative foreground, with Manston Airport behind.

From up here it is easy to see how the hedges from the cliff top lead down to the small farm wood. The hedgerows are important as the road ways for both bird and small mammals, and far too many have been removed from the farm here.

While I was scanning the area one of the avian success stories of the last two decades, a Green Woodpecker, yaffled loudly and landed on a tree not far away.

Isolated in one of the fields here is another of the remnants of the war years. I'm not totally sure what it was, I presume it held a gun, it certainly has a good view across the Channel. Big Bruce, an earlier feature, is about 200 metres down the hill.

A little bit of bread and no cheese?

The last two mornings haven't been particularly exciting as I have gone through my moth traps.

The most interesting moths have been two Clancy's Rustics. The first UK record was at Dungeness i 2002 and the first here in 2005 and after 19 in 2006 I had just one record last year, so it will be interesting how many appear this year.

This afternoon I walked round Bockhill and down to Hope point and back. The most evident thing was the lack of any substantial numbers of birds. There were far fewer Chiffchaffs calling but I did come across a party of three Yellowhammers near the farmyard. Once such a familiar bird of the English countryside. Yellowhammer abundance has declined on farmland continuously since the mid 1980s The species is now red listed. Reductions in winter seed food availability as a result of agricultural intensification (for example, the loss of winter stubbles and a reduction in weed densities) are widely believed to have contributed to the population decline. Better population performance is noted in areas with extensive winter stubble, presumably because overwinter survival is relatively high. Winter setaside provided suitable winter habitat which helped breeding the following summer. The end of setaside will surely have a further detrimental affect on this iconic species.

At Hope Point I played a game of hide-and-seek with a flock of Long-tailed Tits, and as can be seen by this poor photo, I lost.

As I walked past the Freedown I watch a pair of Stonechats actively feeding from the fence and small bushes. They were seldom still for more than a minute or so, before dropping in to the grass i pursuit of some unseen insect.

The male did perch up a bit closer for a few seconds, and when the sun came out it made a striking sight after a rather dull walk.