Normal Service

Sorry there's been little of late. Various circumstances have conspired to keep me away for the St Margaret's blog, Hopefully after the bird fair normal service will be resumed.

We'e heard a lot about legacy during the Olympics, but my concern is what legacy will we leave the next generation when it comes to the health of the planet. While we keep raising interested children and imparting proper values about looking after the environment we live in there's hope.

 Josh found the lovely Toad in the rocks of one of the garden fountains. He has  prodigious appetite of looking and finding thigs and learns quickly.

Jack, three years older is already a good junior naturalist and is getting to grips with photography.

The problem we all have is that when CLOWNS, like Boris Johnson, end up with a high profile because of the games and start pedalling his ridiculous idea of another London Airport, this time in the Thames Estuary the general public are likely to get caught up in his wave of enthusiasm. They must learn to think more long term and realise that he is a glory seeking self publicising egotist who should not be taken seriously. Perhaps the toad did remind me of my thoughts to day.

So endeth my rant for the day!

Please show my best side!

A good while ago I had a rant about the rubbish left along Pond Lane. Mr Anonymous (which one I'm not allowed to know) admonished me for jumping to conclusions. He felt that they could accidentally have been dropped from a waste lorry.

So I suppose I'd better be careful about this piano, and alert everyone to the fact that they may have accidentally lost it off the back of their lorry.

I quite liked the fierce look the Rock Pipit had when I took the picture head on. It really showed how the character of the bird changes with the view you get. I think that the same is true with these two blackbirds.

He looks quite gentle when showing his profile.

This young female looks a fierce as it did when confronting the other Blackbird, shown above.

In fact it displaced the male that then went down to the large bath on the ground that is normally used by Wood Pigeons lounging about.

There was a sudden surge in the use of the feeders this afternoon, with a small group of Goldfinches brightening up the gloom.

Greenfinch and Chaffinch numbers were up a bit as well. I'll be needing to order more sunflower seeds next week.

Living in Hope

When the tide is out it is normally possible to find someone rock-pooling with a net or fishing rod, living in hope of catching something of interest in one of the pools.

At the same time I'm living in hope that something will happen in the centre of the village to tidy the place up. I know that the post office had to close and that it takes time to get new developments under way, but in the meantime the high street looks a mess. I've always thought that people value their surroundings by the state they are in, it that is so we will all have a pretty low opinion of St Margaret's unless things in the centre improve.

Don't drown At St Margaret's Bay

I wonder what possesses people to vandalise things like this? Is it just some for of mental illness, pure stupidity or what?

More Autumn Harvest and sights

Looking north from the Saxon Way footpath on Kingsdown Lees brings a welcome sight for anyone walking the path. On the beach at Kingsdown is the Zetland Arms, and if you started the Walk at Dover you will be in need of something to quench your thirst when you get there.

Today there seemed to be fewer migrants on the ground than yesterday, but in the air there was a large passage of both Sand Martins and House Martins (above) with fewer Swallows and just two Swifts.

Many of the wild flowers are still blooming but I was struck again by the beauty of the seed heads on some of the umbels. I have had a go at naming them, but I confirm them tomorrow! In the meantime I'll let them "speak" for themselves.

I think that this is Wild Carrot

This one I'm not sure of - so nothing new there!

This was the largest and I think it is Hogweed.

The only thing that spoiled my walk was an increase in the amount of dog poo not pooper scooped, surely one of the most anti-social misdemeanours going, and it's no good putting it in a plastic bag and then leaving that in the bushes, this is just as bad and very annoying.

Which one is the Main Road?

These two pictures, above, show just over a mile of the A256 at 10a.m. this morning. I just rolled up and took the pciture and there were a total of SEVEN vehicles in view

These two, taken 10 minutes later on the A258 show just over one third of a mile and there are 18 vehicles. I wonder why buiding a white elephant, basically going from nowhere to nowhere, took precedence over improving a very busy road. Much of the traffic on the A258 is going to Deal, yet there is no access to the Deal area from the A256. I guess that It might benefit some traffic for Sandwich or Thanet, and an American Drugs Company, but most will come to those areas by alternative roads any way. Meanwhile the A258 remains busy, much busier than this an hour earlier, and unimproved. It seems our highways authorities must have had money to waste (our money).

Five Blots on the Landscape

This is not a representation of the site but does show the dominating size!

Did you know that there is a plan to ruin the view from St Margaret's? There is a proposal to site five wind turbines on the block of countryside between East and West Langdon and Pineham. These are enormous towers, 119 metres high, which is far higher than Big Ben and nearly as high as the London Eye. First, let me say that I am not a NIMBY person. Second, I am extremely concerned with what is happening to the global climate and mans' part in it. The problem is we are all being conned by the Government and big business, out to make a profit from the disaster that awaits us. This will not be a solution, it is the wrong answer to the real question. Wind farms are portrayed as the green salvation, they're not. When a balance is done on the energy used to make them, maintain them and then to decommission them (they last only 20-25 years) and taking into account that, so far, few have run for much more than 32% of the optimum time, they are a failure. You don't have to take what I say as definitive, these are quotes from people far more knowledgeable than me about wind farm projects:

Prof. David Bellamy (President Wildlife Trusts, broadcaster and environmental campaigner).

"Like many other people I now regard wind turbines as silver satanic mills. They ruin the beauty and tranquility of unspoilt landscapes and biodiverse habitats. Wind farms don't work - they ruin peoples' lives, destroy the countryside and harm wildlife. Wind farms are weapons of mass destruction".

Prof.Philip Stott (Emeritus Professor of Biogeography, University of London).
"Why are we considering for a moment the desecration of our historic landscape and countryside by these wind turbines? ...for a project that will have no predictable effect on climate".

Philip Merricks MBE

"When will taxpayers wake up to the realisation that they are funding developers to destroy UK landscape and wildlife".

John Kelly FIEE
"It is time this whole charade was recognised for what it is - the greatest scam since the South Sea Bubble".

Just to make things worse the local Parish Councils were left out of the consultative round by a forgetful Dover District Council. It's not too late though. There is still time to write to them and let them know that you object to the fact that the local parish councils weren't consulted (if you do) and ask for more time to be allotted. A personal delivery of the letter to the council would ensure it didn't get lost.