Was Andy Warhol right?

The local rubbish dumpers provided a interesting background as I met Yvette Austen and a cameraman from BBC South-East.

As we were going to see the beauty of the white cliffs of Dover where we discussed the return of Ravens to the south east of England it was a pity that this was the first view.

When I received a call from Dawn Bulmer of the BTO asking if I'd be willing to talk to one of the reporters from BBC South-East about the Ravens that nested near Dover my first instinct was I'd love to but they really should talk to the National Trust manager, Simon Ovenden, Unfortunately both Simon and Rob from the NT were otherwise engaged, but Simon was happy that I talked to them.

As you would expect the elusive Ravens failed to put in an appearance while we were there, but we did have a little chat on camera about the fact that they nested somewhere along the cliffs last year and were around again this year. Yvette had taken the precaution of visiting the Wildwoods Trust on the way, and getting some footage of some of the Ravens they have there.

The very short film did acknowledge the NT and my "banner" on the screen did get a couple of seconds advert for the Kent Ornithological Society on it. Looking at the film you certainly wouldn't think that I'd made an effort to brush my hair, the wind as usual making it look like a haystack! I did try and get a plug for the BTO atlas project but that fell by the wayside. All in all an interesting experience and it was good to see some publicity for a conservation plus. Clearly the reduced persecution of many species is having a positive affect on the birds of Kent and Ravens are one of the beneficiaries. At the moment the programme can be seen here, (It's about 17 minutes in) but I assume this will change tomorrow evening.

A long way down

The walk from the Lighthouse to the White Cliffs car park is along the top of some of the most spectacular chalk cliffs i the country.

One of the areas that really stands out is Fan Bay. Here the cliffs are at a low point (still quite high enough for me) and the deep hollow down to them ought to repay a bit of effort at migration time. The main problem is the paths are steep and when it's wet, slippery and the scrub at the bottom is dense. Nevertheless I'm sure in the right conditions it has in the past been host to unfound gems and it probably will again as so few birders check this area now.

AT this time of year the beautiful call of the Kittiwake echoes back to the cliff top, and quite a few were just off shore today.

At the northern end of the bay the cliff projects out and I'm sure from the end of the point, where the Herring Gull is sitting, the views into the bay are spectacular, but there is no way I could get my legs to walk up there!

From a much safer vantage point, part of the cliff on the south side can be seen and the Kittiwakes that featured a few days ago are still sitting there.

I have definitely failed to find the closer nests that Steve Coates told me about. I imagine he hadn't realised quite how far from the edge of the cliff is the closest I'm prepared to get.

I did have one surprise, and that was this Cormorant cling to the cliff. The ledge is very narrow and the comfort of the walls at Dover Harbour is not far away. As far as migrants are concerned, there were just a few Swallows at Bockhill this morning and a couple over the Pines Garden later. A Chiffchaff put in a brief burst of song, not far from the garden while I was checking the disappointing contents of my moth trap this morning.

No Bluebells yet, but it IS early.

There seem to be a lot of stories in the papers that due to the cold weather Bluebells will be late this year. It may be so, but I think that the early Easter has brought forward some people's expectations. I took photos of them on Apr 17th last year in Captains Wood and then there were only a few out.

The Wood looked pretty bare today, coppice is never very attractive when it is well grown and bare, with little undercover.

Unlike other things in the country, the green shoots of the Bluebells are well on, but there is no sign of any flower buds pushing through yet.

In some of the well lit areas patches of Wood Anemones were prolific, forming a carpet on the wood floor.

This attractive little flower was just about the only one that I found in bloom inside the wood.

On the bank along side the road there were quite of lot of Lesser Celandine plants in flower, at least that's what I think they are, my botany being pretty bad.

The intriguingly named Lords and Ladies, or Cuckoo Pint already has it's clumps of leaves, some plants with plain and some spotted, as yet there is no sign of the fruits.

The birds were a bit disappointing, with Blue, Great and Coal Tits all noisily calling and a pair of Treecreepers more quietly going about their business. I heard both Song and Mistle Thrush and one Great Spotted Woodpecker calling. But there were no surprises and no summer visitors.

Camera shy?

I've noticed, while I've been doing my BTO survey tetrads how patchy the distribution of House Sparrows is in some villages. There seem to be quite large areas where they aren't present and then all of a sudden the familiar noise of a group of Sparrows fills the air.

While I was in West Langdon, getting my fresh eggs from Forstal Farm I noticed a group of House Sparrows in the field next to Church Lane. They seemed to be feeding on the grass in quite large groups, commuting from the nearby hedge. I couldn't really see what they were eating and thought that they might be collecting nesting material, but again I saw no evidence of this. I was pleased to see them there in good numbers. What would be even better would be to see a resurgence in Tree Sparrow numbers. They were reasonably common when I started birding, but there are few places in Kent where they can be seen breeding nowadays. We still get then at St Margaret's coming through on migration, but the habitat is obviously not to their liking as they don't hang around for long.

I watched this helicopter low over the cliffs this afternoon, as it is an Essex Police helicopter I don't know if it was on official business or not, I haven't heard of any cliff rescues today.

I've move the camera that records the Badgers coming to feed. I carefully lined t up so that when they were feeding I would get good front on views. Only trouble was the Badger hadn't been thinking on the same lines and came from the other direction, so I only got half a Badger and then the back end. It did move round a bit, but I think I will need to rearrange the positions a bit.

The founder of Democracy

The church at Northborne has a long history and there has probably been a church on this site since the seventh century. In AD 618 the newly crowned King Edbald of Kent, gave land at Northbourne St. Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury.

An Anglo-Saxon church was built on the site and in about 1120 this was modernised in the late Norman style, although fragments of the the original church have been identified in the walls of the present church.

The porch conceals a fine Norman door and the tower was built as a village refuge, a tradition that started in the reign of Alfred the Great, when the towers were built as village fortresses against the attacks of the Danes.

The Lady Chapel contains the Sandy. Memorial and family vault. The memorial was built in the lifetime of Sir Edwin Sandys and his wife and was sculpted from life. The couple are shown lying in their four' poster' bed.

Sir Edwin was MP for Sandwich during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I and lived at Northbourne Court. He believed in free Parliament elected by universal suffrage, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London for his views,. He became treasurer of the Virginia Company and obtained the Royal Assent from James I for a Constitution for the Company that be drew up. This resulted in the first freely elected government in the world, in Virginia. Sir Edwin's constitution later became the pattern for the Constitution of the United States of America, when the Thirteen Colonies obtained their independence.


A tablet on the west wall of the chapel was set there by the American and British Commonwealth Association

The large organ, just over 100 years old, is now in front of the two most attractive windows in the Church. I was fortunate enough to me the church warden who showed me the windows from the back of the organ, where a spiral staircase has been built to access the belfry.

More facts and history of the Church can be found at a site based on the work 0f Arthur Peel.

I haven't yet found any thing about the origin of these two windows. Unfortunately the pamphlet that they sell about the church had been sold out and is currently waiting for a new edition to be written. As I Left the church I was greeted by a very tuneful Blackcap singing just out side.

It was good to see several bumble bees in the garden. As usual I find it difficult to be certain of the species, either White-tailed, lucorum, or Buff-tailed, terresris.

A couple of new birds for the year in the garden in the last couple of days. Yesterday I was surprised to see a pair of Yellowhammers by the pond, and today a Chiffchaff came down to drink in the same place.

A cautionary tale for birders, take care when you carry telescopes and binoculars!

Back on line

After a day and a half with no access to the WEB or e-mail, I'm back on line. The problem seems to have been with a server somewhere but I don't know how many people were affected. It's when you haven't got it that you realise how often you use it! Bird Guides, the Weather, BBC Sports etc etc. So not post yesterday.

The night of Tuesday/Wednesday was wild and windy and "Scar-face" turned up at about 10.30 and quickly demolished his peanuts. Looking well healed I think you can see two puncture marks on the side of his nose. Whether they were caused by teeth or claws I'm not sure.

Over night the wind gathered pace and by mid-day was getting up to a force eight and perhaps even higher out a sea. Down in the Bay the waves were breaking over the railings and throwing up large amounts of shingle.

The spray was sufficient of me not to get too close with the camera. sea water not being very sympathetic to photographic gear, but even from a distance the power of the sea looked pretty awesome.

The Spring tide was pretty high and I think it is the first time that I've seen waves come over the walls at Dover Harbour. The swell in the harbour was sufficient to have the waves breaking over the beach and onto Marine Parade. From Dover I went on to Samphire Hoe where I shared a pleasant half hour chatting over a cup of tea. Finally we made it out into the wild weather and were treated to a pair of Black Redstarts and a cracking male Ring Ouzel that flew up and disappeared into a large bramble bush half way up the Cliff.

"Pretty" face came first last night. It's not difficult to work out that after all the rain "snouting" out worms had been on the agenda before arriving at the peanuts.

While I was looking round the lawn this afternoon, find evidence of Badger feeding, and cursing how fast it was growing since I cut it last week, I was joined by " Donald and Daphne" from the village pond. They seemed to fing the freshly grown grass to their taste but I don't think the two of them cam manage to graze the whole lawn for me.