What's at the end of the Rainbow?

Driving along the Ancient Highway a sudden heavy shower produced a fantastic Rainbow.  I really needed to have had a 20mm lens with me to take in the whole panorama, but here are the two ends of the rainbow.

If you've ever wondered if there's a pot of gold at the end of the Rainbow, or if not5 what is there I will  tell you what I found today. The left hand end came to ground somewhere near to the Restharrow Hide, so that one was possible to research.

The right hand end was dropping into the sea, beyond the seawall, and lacking a wetsuit I decided to leave that end a fishy mystery.

I already knew that the field next to the Restharrow Scrape had a small flock of white-fronted Geese grazing early in the morning, so I was on my way to see id they were still there.

By the time I arrived the Rainbow had departed by the geese were still there, but very distant. Fortunately the light was by now very good and the views through a telescope weren't too bad. There were around 18 birds, but there was no way of getting closer and therefore the photos remain a record of distant dots.

 There were a lot of Teal on the scrape, where the water level was as high as I've seen it. But it was a group of Gadwall and Tufted Ducks that caught my eye.

 There were four Tufted Ducks, a pair and two females together. They were very active and diving frequently.

 There were around eight Gadwall with them, and they stuck pretty close by the Tufted Ducks each time that they dived.

I've often seen Gadwall behaving this way, normally with Coot. They wait around for the diving bird to surface and bring up pieces of food that they can snaffle. I suppose that this is a form of kleptoparasitism, although it is a passive type, unlike Skuas harrying Terns.

Window watching

I thought that an early walk along the cliff top might be worthwhile, the forecast was good and at first it looked OK. 

I hadn't got far when the sun creeping through a gap met the droplets in a band of rain heading towards me and dropped a great rainbow into the freedown. There were a few Chiffchaffs around and a perky Stonechat popped up, but as the rain came down the lure of a warm coffee at home got the better of me!

There are a lot of feeders in the garden but the little group of three, one fat ball, one peanut and one sunflower hearts outside the kitchen and utility room windows has proved particularly attractive to the growing group of House Sparrows now resident.

Fat balls are definitely the favourite and I seem to be filling up the feeder at least every other day. I actually took these pictures from outside, using my car as a hide. Although the sparrows seem to spend all day in the Pyracantha bush they are quite shy when the camera come out and won't feed if I'm right up to the window.

The peanuts are second favourite and this male spent a long time getting his fill. Strange that this food is mainly used by me for the Badgers now, who incidentally also love sunflower seeds if there are any on the ground.

 Of course other birds visit, and on its way in this Blue Tit stops to admire a piece of Pam's wall sculpture.

 The odd Greenfinch seeks refuge from the much more crowed feeders in the back garden to have a quiet snack in the corner.

I've got to say that looked at closely a cock sparrow is a really handsome chap, and it really is good to have this growing group entertaining me while I'm hard a work at the kitchen sink!

A rainbow at the end of the day

I had a look at the harbour at Dover this afternoon. After the weather we've had I hoped to find an interesting stray that had taken refuge. I was disappointed, no Diver or Grebes and the only Auk I saw today was a Sparrow'awk. As I made my way back down the pier the sky darkened and just before I left a rainbow appeared. Let's hope that this is a pleasant pointer for the rest of the year.

A new month, and a new resolve.

After what was a terrible month, both from the point of view of the weather and because I managed to injure myself so I didn't get any surveying done in TR34, today was a new beginning.

I must admit that there didn't seem a huge number of birds about but there were a few surprises. This Sparrowhawk wasn't one of them, but it was an interesting few minutes. First I saw it flying towards the hedge in front of me. I was on the last footpath, beyond Nelson's Park, walking towards Station Road. It sat there for a while and I tried to melt into the hedge so I didn't disturb it.

It was obviously interested in something in the hedge and suddenly dived in with just bits of the tail feathers and wings sticking out. I took the opportunity of advance towards the bird while it was buried in the bush.

I stopped as soon as it appeared, it was still looking into the thick hedge, and still without it's breakfast.

When it completely surfaced it stood there for a while, peering downwards, looking somewhat confused. I have to say I didn't see anything making a run for it. I always get the impression that Sparrowhawks rely on their prey panicking and breaking cover. They do however have very long legs to reach into the thickest bush, so it takes a strong nerve for a bird not to take a chance and flee.

There are few more stunning sights in the British birding world than a male Sparrowhawk sitting about eight yards in front of you, seemingly unaware of your presence.

It did seem aware of the noise of the camera shutter and looked up, as if checking out what the noise was.

Then it was off.it's little barrel chested silhouette dashing across the field. I'm sure that hte current generation of young birders must find it strange that us older chaps get so excited at seeing Sparrowhawks so frequently. It is easily forgotten that during the worst effects of the organo-phosphorus pesticide poisoning epidemic it was easy to go a year in Kent with out seeing a single Sparrowhawk.

It was a small male, and as it disappeared across the field I remembered how many descriptions of "Merlins" I'd look at when I was on the London rarities committee, mostly in the most unlikely sites. Male Sparrowhawks can look compact, and very falcon like.

I was surprised to see this rainbow as I looked towads Deal from Pond Lane. There were a few bonuses on the walk. A small flock of Golden Plovers on one field, near Westcliffe, and another of 19, flushed by a Peregrine going towards Beer Farm, was pleasing. I also had a couple of interesting fly-over calls, a single Redpoll went over calling loudly, but more exciting and frustrating was the loud "teu" repeated several times and then followed by a rattle. I didn't see the bird, but it sounds to me as if there's a Lapland Bunting to find out there.

So Many Pebbles

Simon and Sam came down to the beach with us this evening. There seemed to be some shrimping going on, but I don't know how successful it was.

Sam was overwhelmed by the choice of stones he had to throw, I expect he'll learn about how many pebbles there are on the beach in later life.

As we ate our fish and chips at the Coastguards we could see rain showers out in the Channel, and one of them produced the rather understated rainbow.

The sun peaking through brought some interesting reflections in the clouds.

Sam tried to impress by reading about the cultural events in Deal, but when the meals arrived he quickly forgot this and got down the job of pinching bits off Daddies plate!

A pot of Gold?

Birding at St Margaret's this morning was cold. The highlight was a sea watch, when having missed two Bonxies (Great Skuas) I did see on fairly close Manx Shearwater. This afternoon, hoping to see some migrants I took another trip to the Restharrow Scrape at Sandwich. This has the advantage of being a short walk and providing shelter in the hide from the inclement weather.

As I was sitting watching much the same as earlier in the week it occurred to me that it was both raining and the sun was shining and that if there was a rainbow I needed to get out of the hide to see it. I was really glad that I did. It was the brightest rainbow I think I've seen. Judging by the size of the houses it ended in, the owners had found there pots of gold some time ago!

At the right hand end the fainter, second rainbow was just visible.

Just for fun I tried taking two pictures that I hoped I could join together. I'm sure I can be done much better than this but it does give some idea of the complete bow.

On the scrape I was please to see one of my favourite ducks quite close to the hide. I really like the subtle markings of the Gadwall. This picture is a bit strange as it makes the Gadwall look much larger than the Shoveler, when there really is little in it. I reminded my of the paper Peter Grant wrote on size perspective.

I of course couldn't resist more attempts at getting the perfect picture of a Lapwing flying. They spend so much time doing their aerobatic displays it really is hard not to keep pressing the shutter. Still no Little Ringed Plovers, Garganey or Yellow Wagtails, hopefully they will turn up soon.

On my way back passed the golf course, I noticed this part of a very broad rainbow way out to sea. It was really just a small rainbow column, perhaps due to a squall in the middle of the Channel.