Sunday 11 April 2010

A plethora of habitats

A tour of east Kent took in a variety of habitats today.......
Sandstone cliffs provide Sand Martins with their nest sites - just starting to dig this year's burrows.
Of course, they could have used last year's holes, but the local residents have taken them over in the Martins' absence.
Woodland : Wood Sorrell is in flower, as the canopy starts to close over for the summer.
Woodland ponds : 'water weed' of all types is starting to grow now. In this small pond a large raft of Water-violet will soon be in flower.
Heathland and bog : Sundews are spreading amoeba-like. How do they grow before catching their first bugs?
Right, that's got that lot out of the way, so I can spend the rest of the year on my favourite habitat.....
Chalk downland: the emerging plants are late this year and will not be encouraged by persisting north-easterly winds.
The first Cowslips are starting to show, but there are plenty of Dog Violets (a good year, I think).
I found just one Pansy, nestling close to a violet.

And finally, one bird a long way from its normal habitat: a cockatiel, in the Copper Beech at the top of Upper Street. If you've lost it, you've got a long climb.

3 comments:

Greenie said...

Steve ,
Like the Sand Martin shots .
Nice to have Water Violet , getting scarce .
You know , some people would 'tick'
that Cockatiel , not naming ant names !
Hope you enjoy your Chalk Grassland Summer .

Anonymous said...

A fascinating tour. The cowslips are flowering on Culver Down now. Those mossy little habitats that develop around old tree roots are full of atmosphere - nicely captured.

Mary said...

Cool shots of the Sand Martins! Lovely birds. The Sundews are interesting.