St Margaret's under the Sahara

 Taken at 3.56pm.

 This and the next two taken at one minute past 6 pm.

Rumbles in the channel

For the last couple of nights storms have rolled up the channel, bringing rolling thunder and occasionally lighting the sky with flashes.

As it got dark this evening there were a few rumbles and the sky sparked a couple of times. I thought that I'd take a closer look from the bay, in the hope of getting some lightening shots over the sea.

Although the sky did light up a few times, there was never an identifiable lightening flash, and in the end it all faded out at it rolled up the channel. It was black over the sea, but above it was clear and the moon, about 75% full, and waxing, shone clearly.

Back home

Back in Kent yesterday I had some catching up to do, but unfortunately I had no camera, my bag managed to go missing on my trip home from Lancashire. Yesterday I managed to see the Green Heron at West Hythe but the Siberian Stonechat at Bockhill stayed hidden, while I got very wet.

Siberian Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola subspecies maura or stejnegeri) picture Steve Ray

This morning the Siberian Stonechat was nicely on show near Big Bruce, and Steve Ray kindly sent me some of the pictures he took while standing next to me. The shot of his above shows off this little beauty nicely. It was strange how from some angles the pale supercilium showed up and from others it seemed to disappear.

Siberian Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola subspecies maura or stejnegeri) picture Steve Ray

The rather cold colours made this bird stand out and the fact that it spent a long time hovering in the air, fly-catching meant that even when it had disappeared for a while it was easily relocated. In the Helm Guide to Stonechats by Ewan Urquhart the Common Stonechat is divided into three species, European Stonechat, Siberian Stonechat and African Stonechat, while the handbook of birds of the world follows the conventional view of one species with many (24) sub-species.

After seeing the Siberian Stonechat I visited King George VI Memorial Park at Ramsgate to see the red-flanked Bluetail, another Asian visitor. However, great though it was to see it, without a camera the experience was frustrating so I went to Jessops in Canterbury to correct this.

You can see from this Common Stonechat, of the race hibernans, the native British sub-species how different the plumage tones are (this one was taken late this evening so the sun was low and created a particularly warm "glow").

On the Bluebird Tearooms balcony this male Black Redstart surveyed the area, and gave me the chance to take some more pictures with the new camera. Since it is identical to the one that was stolen it really didn't make too much difference.

A quick look along Pond Lane failed to relocate the Snow Bunting, but here were a lot of Redwings and Fieldfares in the area and a large group of Grey Partridges, the five put their heads up before they all ran off to the hedge.

Back at the monument I watched as the sun sank and this Robin carried on his mellow song. I'm sure there's been an influx of Robins as every bush seems to have one in it.

When I got home I noticed this interesting looking sky and took a few pictures from the attic.

Red Sky in the Morning - Shepherd's Warning

I did a piece on this saying on Jan 19th and showed a sunrise on my first post on Dec 1st 2006, but I can't apologise for another sunrise. When I put the kettle on this morning the colour of the sky was just beginning to develop, so I grabbed my camera and went to the top of the house.

The pictures here are a pretty faithful reproduction of what was on display looking from the attic window and facing east, north-east and south east.

Perhaps the saying was correct today, because after a good start the light deteriorated and we suffered another grey depressing day, mild but depressing.