Sunday 31 October 2010

Promenade



It very polite around here....... when you meet a stranger on a footpath, you say "Good Morning" and maybe mention the weather. This is expected courtesy to us, but sometimes surprises townees (pleasantly, I hope) who reply abruptly but with a smile.
The path along the clifftop attracts a range of activities when the weather's good:- joggers, cyclists, power-walkers (hah!), strollers and dodgy geezers with binoculars.

Yesterday's weather was lovely, and although this meant no birds it was a pleasant time, especially as I had the good company of Graham who provided much information about the area.

We had to run into the Bockhillers eventually and so we did, along with a flurry of Swallows and House Martins in the shelter of the dip slope - apart from a Bullfinch, some Yellowhammers, Robins and plenty of Blackbirds these were about the only birds we saw, although Goldcrests and a Firecrest were heard in the scrub of Undercliffe Road.
Conversation turned to a mystery plant on the rifle range, and coincidentally we then met the Buckinghams who I welcomed to the village and asked about this plant. Sue inspected it carefully and will report back.
The afternoon included a stroll along the prom, and to the end of the pier which was crowded with anglers and strollers. Nobody said "Hello" here, of course.

Sunday morning was notable for a sociable chat in the Restharrow Scrape hide, where John Hollyer confirmed that the dark-beaked male Blackbirds seen at the moment are most likely migrants from the continent, with their females with a hint of eyestripe and more blotched brown than the UK birds.
Oops - the bird in the photos is not, of course, a continental female Blackbird, but an unusually showy Water Pipit. Also at the scrape were a Water Rail and about 24 Snipe.

In Deal High Street a small bird flew past me straight into a shop window, then circled a bit and scrabbled onto a car bumper.

Oh, that smarts! The poor thing had presumably flown across the sea and instead of finding a nice conifer plantation he's confronted by tarmac, glass and metal. When I checked an hour later, it had gone.... hopefully fully recovered.

5 comments:

Greenie said...

Steve ,
I assume you would place yourself in one of the first three activists , as well as the last .
Nice shots of the Water Pipit .
Be interesting in what the Buckinghams come back with .

Duncan / Folkestone said...

A Sociable Chat in the hide? Remarkable :-P

Kingsdowner said...

Hi Duncan, thanks for the comment...... like I say, it was a polite day.

Fred, I've cycled and jogged along the clifftops in my earlier years, but never, ever, powerwalked. Dawdled maybe.

Kingsdowner said...

Taking Duncan's comment another way, there were Stonechats and Robins, but no......

Duncan from Folkestone said...

I was worried by your first response that my attempt at birding humour had been altogether too allusive!