Keeping the cold out

A cold walk along the Princes Pier this afternoon was rewarded with some distant views of four Common Seals.

I normally just get to see the head of a seal bobbing up and down in the water, but today four of them had hauled up onto the old Hover Port apron.

These three were fairly lose to each other and quite near the water, and I'd completely missed the fourth, small, one snoozing quietly further up the ramp. As can be seen the marine mammals are well adapted for out cold water, with a layer of blubber that would be handy for a cross channel swimmer.

The one closest to the water was slowly edging close and soon joined the one bobbing head that was still swimming out there. 

The palest and largest seal was possibly a bull, but the two sexes are similar They occur in two phases, both light and dark represented here. From this front view the characteristic V shaped nostrils are very obvious, almost converging at the bottom. They are normally given the name Harbour Seal (Phoca vitulina), as they are not the commonest seal over their range, but frequently are inshore and as these demonstrate have a liking for harbours. There are five sub-species, there are from the nominate East Atlantic race of P.v. vitulina.

There were quite a few auks around in the inner harbour. Most were Razorbills, and they were mainly gathered at the far end and fairly distant from the pier. I found just two Guillemots with them, although in the choppy water I may have missed some.

On the outer wall of the harbour there were groups of Cormorants standing around, but it was four or five of Shags that were feeding in the harbour with the auks. This smaller relation of the Cormorant breeds on the rocky coasts of  the west and north of the British Isles but a few winter round the coast of Kent. The thinner yellow bill and lack of a white thigh patch distinguish the adults from Cormorants when a direct size comparison can't be made.

Harbour Seals

After watching all the sea-birds out from the Bay yesterday I popped down to Dover Harbour in the hope there might be something worth seeing within range of a camera. I was disappointed to find that there were very few birds in the harbour, and no ducks, auks or divers on view.

There were a least three Common Seals in the inner harbour, but none came close to the pier. Two seemed to be cruising backwards and forwards along the old Hover-port apron, but neither pull up out of the water to give a good view. Common Seals have the alternative and appropriate name of Harbour Seal.

One was out in the middle and spent most of the time in what I would call a spy-hopping mode. At least I would if it was a dolphin or whale. It hardly ever put it head up in the normal position.

It's a while since I visited Paul, down at Samphire Hoo and since the kettle is seldom cold and a cup of tea seemed like a good idea I paid him a visit. The first thing that struck me was how little snow there was there compared to St Margaret's, in fact as soon as you get a mile or so from here in any direction there seems to be less snow. After a refreshing cuppa and a bit of catching up with Paul and Phil I had a quick walk round. A Fieldfare was hopping away from me in the car park, showing the black tail that was one of the easy questions in My KOS quiz a week or so ago. I saw several others as I walked round as well as a group of Redwings feeding on the grass.

It's always good to see a Stonechat, they're really smart. What struck me about this one was how much it resembled a Lars Jonsson painting of one. Being Swedish he's used seeing birds fluffed up in cold weather and some of the illustrations in his field guide to the Birds of Europe attracted a certain amount of criticism because the birds were rather plump. This Stonechat shows why!

Under the Cliff

As promised by the Met Office the sun made an appearance this afternoon, but not until nearly three p.m. I popped down for a quick look in the bay and then had a walk along the under-cliff at Kingsdown.

It was high tide and there were several Rock Pipits in the Bay car park, but the visibility was poor and my plans for a sea watch were shelved and I drove round to Kingsdown.

At first I thought that I was going to be unlucky as I couldn't see a Black Redstart in it's normal favoured area around the rocks at the start of the walk. However at the for end this stunning male was flitting around on the sea wall. It didn't stay in view long and disappeared over the wall and presumably carried on feeding along the base of the cliff.

Although the views of Rock Pipits can be much closer in the car park, using the car as a hide there's something more satisfying watching one feeding and calling along the cliff. This one is sitting out on one of the large protruding flints. Later I hope that it will be singing from this spot proclaiming it's territory.

It was a noisy walk, there were a good number of Fulmars establishing their nest sites. The are very vocal and once a pair has settled down they are often visited by an intruder and this starts the noisy cackling off again.

There are a couple of other species in the cliff community. Lots of pigeons, normally described rather disparagingly as Feral Pigeons these cliff dwellers are being true to their genetic heritage and behave very much like Rock Dove would have done before the species became domesticated. Their loud cooing echoes from the sheltered crevices and caves that they inhabit.

Also noisily occupying any vacant sites are Jackdaws, their calls of "Chack" ring out and occasionally the longer drawn out "Chaaiirr" is slightly reminiscent of a Chough. Now that would be a dream come true, Choughs on the Kent cliffs. Perhaps not so fanciful, the last breeding was in 1845, and given that Ravens have returned to breed in Kent after 130 years and Choughs are back in Cornwall it may yet happen.

On the way back to the car I noticed this Black-headed Gull, it must have an early dose of hormones as it is far more advanced in it's summer look that all the others around.

Just off shore this head kept pooping up. There been a Seal in the news lately, after a young Common Seal turned up in a garden in Benenden on Monday morning. It had swum 18 miles up the River Rother to get there. This Common Seal it where it should be and presumably it is an indication that there are some fish out there now.