A tour of the Area.

This morning I was taking a few shots of my favourite Sparrows, at the Kitchen feeding station, I was about 4 metres from them,when chaos ensued.

A Cock Sparrow, on top of Pam's "Studio" sunning itself before a fat ball feast.

 a good front view, showing the rather neat bib and strong seed-eating bill.

This one was a very good model, showing his best side, as well. Note the small white spot behind the eye.

The hen House Sparrow is much plainer but still a neat looking bird.

Anyway, about the furore that took place. Suddenly all the Sparrows that were sitting around dived into the pyracanthus bush and a Sparrowhawk swept by my and chased its prey.Although the bush is close the the Kitchen wall the hawk managed to circle it three times, reaching into it as it went, and taking no notice of me standing there. It finally flew off, without a catch, and the Sparrows settled back in their stronghold.

Later I walked up the road to Barrow Mount, an area of scrub that affords great views of the surrounding  country.

It wasn't very birdy, although I did flush a small covey of Grey Partridges as I walked across it. In the horse field next to it there were a few Gulls, of three species, feeding.

 A Black-headed Gull, no black head in winter, and a Common Gull, with the slightly darker back and a somewhat pigeon like head.

 I think the gulls, rather like Badgers, Little Owls and even Buzzards, make the most of the wet meadows finding worms as they come to the surface.

 A few of the larger Herring Gulls were also using the field.

 These two pictures show the difference in the wing patterns of the Black-headed, above, and  Common Gull, below.

From Barrow Mount there are some great views, showing many of the Bockhill birding features.

 Looking SE across the farm the Monument and the old coast guard station, now call the Bluebird Tea Rooms.

 Further to the south, with the dip down to the Bay hidden, the lighthouse comes into view. It is a National Trust Property and judging by the people at the top, it was open today.

 Ringwold Church, with its unusual tower, is to the NW.

 Slightly further to the N the handsome Ripple Windmill stands out.

 Always dominating the Bockhill patch the Monument overlooks the area.

 The Duke of York's Royal Military School clock-tower, looking SW.

 Looking down to Bockhill Farm, with the small Farm Wood, a site with many scarce birds to its credit, and the Paddock above it on the right.

 The Freedown, on the left and the "Big Field" on the right.

As  we haven't had any winter weather the grassed "Big Field" is very green and productive, and the wintering sheep must be doing very well.

Looking towards the sea over Orchid Bottom and the big top field. 

 When available, The Empty Wood, has seldom yielded any good records, hence the nickname.

Looking down the "valley" to the New Townsend Farm.

St Margaret's on the WEB

There's a new site on the WEB about the village of St Margaret's. I've copied a brief description from the site that encompasses the essence of this new resource:
" The Archive
The archive contains about 12,000 items and has mainly been collected over the last 30 years by the Honorary Archivist of the Society, Mrs Ruth Nicol with assistance from her son Keith.

In 2011 the Society set up a project to catalogue the collection and to make it more widely available to the public. A group of volunteers are listing the collection and scanning in images on a regular basis and we hope to add new material to this site every month."
I've added a link on the "Local Information" list on the right hand side of this blog

Distant Migrants

The wide open space of Worth Marsh, beside the Ancient Highway is frequently in the vanguard of migrant arrivals and today I finally broke this years duck with two summer visitors.

After a few minutes scanning from just south of the Chequers Pub a distant but still extremely handsome Northern Wheatear popped up on to the top of an anthill before running to the right in search of a juicy worm.

Not too far away a White Wagtail, the nominate sub-species of the alba wagtails, represented here by the resident Pied Wagtail, was also feeding in the same field.

Back at St Margaret's A visit to the cliffs near the monument in search of another Wheatear was unsuccessful, but scamming along the cliff I was pleased to see Peregrine perched about 40 meters away. The cliffs here form a small jutting point and it looked as if the bird might be viewable from the other side of this little headland.

Walking down the path and then returning to near, but not too near the edge, I was pleased to see the Peregrine still sitting there. I took a few photos possible the bird became aware of my presence. 

I any case it decided to move, but unusually not very far, and I watched it land just a little farther along the cliff.

Again it was in view, and without getting too near to the drop. I watched it for a while before I became aware of a second bird sitting a few yards above.

I always thing that the flints that just out from the cliff face look as if they are actually put there for the purpose of providing a suitable perch.

They might not have been the migrants I was hoping for but they provided a fantastic spectacle before the move on. I tuned round to scan the new fence in case any thing had popped up on it and when I looked back they'd gone. 

Battle over the Cliffs

Although the snow continued to settle slowly this morning it only amounted to a couple of inches. A look at the road through the village convinced me that a drive down to the bay would be OK and despite the chill wind it was worth a sea watch. There was plenty going on, but as usual the distance was a bit more that I would have liked. Hundreds of Auks were moving south and of those I could be sure of the vast majority were Guillemots, with fewer Razorbills along with them. Gannets were quite numerous and there were a few divers flying by. Two of these were Black-throated Divers, appearing to already have darkish necks and the other two were Red-throats, doing the typical "bucking" flight. The cliffs were already being prospected by Fulmars, and their cackling calls echoed down to the bay. I failed to find any Rock Pipits, and that was with a highish tide, I hope this isn't a sign of decline.

 
Once I'd decided that everything was going to remain at that infuriating range that leaves you frustrated I decided to go up to the monument. Mainly to feast on what I hoped would be glorious views. 

When I got to the Monument I wasn't disappointed and the views looking north in the afternoon sun were glorious. As I was breathing in the vista over Bockhill the familiar and yet unique honking of a calling Raven alerted me. Looking towards the lighthouse, into the sun I could see the silhouettes of two Ravens.

Of course I had the wrong camera in my hand and I rushed back to the car and with little thought about all those things you should do when trying to shoot into the sun I took a few photos. It's lucky they are black birds, because that's all I could manage to get through the suns rays.

As I watched one of the Ravens rolled over as a Peregrine dive bombed it. It is now over seventy-two years since the Battle of Britain was fought over these cliffs but this dog fight was  evocative of that time.

 The much smaller Peregrine repeatedly swooped at it's larger opponents. In many places the two species exist side by side, in fact some breeding sites are used by Ravens one year and Peregrines the next. It may be that in time these two will become tolerant here, both are historically successful breeders in the area.

Peregrines were killed off during WW2 to stop them using the messages Carrier Pigeons were conveying as Luncheon Vouchers, and Ravens have returned (this is the forth year they've been around) after an absence since 1892.

The Ravens drifted south and the Peregrine disengaged and flew back over my head. At the moment there are some fantastic wildlife programmes on the TV. Attenborough's Africa, Winter-watch, Polar Bears and a couple of others, but nothing compares to being out in the open watching it take place over your head.

Snow may be a nuisance but it certainly is photogenic!