Dover's "Key to England"

Dover Castle in the Gloom 

A few birds from the garden in the sunshine a couple of days ago

Wood Pigeon 

Starling in winter garb. 

 

 Chaffinch getting into summer plumage

Female Blackbird

Lazy Photography

Some lazy, armchair photography, sliding doors open and listening to 15 to 1. Watching the garden birds coming to drink and bathe.

A very wet Robin.

A tatty Blue Tit, but I'm not sure what is the problem.

Coming down to the feeders, about four feet away.

Cock House Sparrow

Dunnock

Blackbird, down for  drink.

Blackbird collecting food.

This was from the other side of the house, though a closed window. I had a quick dip in our exercise pool, trying to improve my leg muscles, came out, showered and sat at my desk. As I looked out of the window all the finches left the feeders in a panic, and the reason was staring me in the face. A handsome male Sparrowhawk.

Back to the armchair to watch a Wren collecting nesting material from round the pond.

Cock Chaffinch

Hen Chaffinch

Thsi Collared Dove is a short tailed version, perhaps having lost it to a local cat, or even the Sparrowhawk.

This is the full tailed version.

A smart Blue Tit.

Blue Tit and Goldfinch go head to head.

Last photos of 2016 - a few birds in the garden

 Male Chaffinches gain their colour as the soft tips of their feathers abrade to reveal a more colourful plumage underneath.

 Goldfinches stay nice and bright through the winter. Their melodic twittering is the main noise in the garden at the moment.

 Chaffinch

 Lots of Blackbirds around, form duller 1st winter females to handsome adult males with bright yellow bills.

 Blue Tits make use of the food and are happy feeding on seeds, fatballs or peanuts.

A much duller cock Blackbird with a dull bill. Not sure is this is a young local bird or one of the many continental visitors we host in winter.

More Garden Blackcaps

 Lots of Blackbirds still around in the garden, most seem to be males. Some, like the one above have duller bills and slightly brownish plumage, these may be continental birds or possibly first winter birds.

 There are still three Blackcaps feeding under on the ground, gleaning the bits dropped by the finches on the feeders above.

 Collared Doves join the throng to clean up the left overs. 

 Joining in today were two Robins, not a good situation, as they spend to much time squabbling to make much of an impression. 

 Chaffinches spend more time on the ground than on the feeders, and areby now the males are quite smart.

 I sat with the a sliding door open and managed quite a few shots of the female Blackcap. Although there were two males around they were much more easily spooked and the slightest movement of the lens had them scurrying off. 

 One of the Blackbirds with a bright yellow bill. I'm still amazed that they are feeding as close to each other as they are in such a tolerant group.

 It was good to see groups of Curlews out on Worth Marshes. These are probably wintering migrants from further north.The British breeding population is in trouble.

 The UK breeding population of Eurasian Curlew are declining rapidly. Between 1995 and 2011 the UK Breeding numbers have shown a decline of 45%. The decline is variable between regions Local studies have implicated nest predation and low breeding productivity as causes of decline. However, changes in vegetation structure through changing grazing pressure in the uplands may also have an effect of habitat suitability. 

 At the Restharrow Scrape most birds were huddled round the edge to avoid the cold wind. One Little Grebed ddi come quite close on a fishing expedition.

It caught quite a decent sized |Three Spined Stickleback. I didn't see the end of the story as the heavens opened and the wind meant that the windows needed to be rapidly closed.

Changes in the garden

I noticed some change in the guard in the garden today. Fine and a lot colder than of late there was a lot of activity in the feeding stations.

There are always a fair number of Blackbirds around the garden, but they tend to be protective of their individual feeding areas and repeated drive interlopers away.  Today there were five on the patio feeding area busily picking up the spillage from above with little interaction between them In total there were at least ten around. 

Like many people I've noticed the number of Greenfinches in the garden has been very low. This has been the situation for a couple of years, probably due to Trichomonosis a disease caused by the protozoan parasite Trichomonas gallinae. It has been recorded in a number of garden bird species and is widely acknowledged to be the causal factor in the rapid decline of the British Greenfinch population that was first noted in late summer 2006 

Today there was small influx of around six birds, all looking very fit and healthy. Sick birds are normally very fluffed up and slow moving unlike the sleek bird above, that does looked startled at having to share his feeder with a chaffinch.  

Down in the Bay the sea was quite calm, but the tides high. These are good conditions to watch Rock Pipits that move into the Bay when the areas below the beach are covered.

Above I noticed two Kestrels cruising along the top of the cliffs. Their numbers do seem a bit down as other predators have increased in the county.

I'm not quite sure what this one is doing, but it seems to be scanning the area, either for prey or for any danger around.

Our magnificent car park is now perfect habitat for pipits and wagtails, that all seem to enjoy rough ground with puddles in it.

Altogether there were three Rock Pipits and one Pied wagtail making use the shambles that out council taxes financed

Coming back for a trip to Folkestone I stopped to scan a field with around 40 Common Gulls. There were a few Black-headed Gulls with them, (One above).

Towards the back of the field I noticed an adult Mediterranean Gull, still in complete winter plumage.

When it flew it had a ring on its right leg, but it was to far to be able to read any information.