Deal Pier in August

The pier master said he'd never seen such a North-easterly gale in August, and he should know - he's worked on the pier for 12 years and with his father on the fishing boats before that.


The grey sea and howling wind looked like winter, but in fact it was about 18 degrees C so trying to watch birds from the end of the pier was not uncomfortable. The shelter below is where birders congregate on days like this (usually in the colder months) protected from all but easterly winds and rain. It is in fact the entrance to the disabled toilet but it makes a great shelter. The pier's buildings are to be demolished in November and a separate cafe and toilet block will be built, so we hope that a similar shelter is provided.

There was a movement of birds northwards into the teeth of the wind this evening, including Common and Sandwich terns (the former singly, the latter in noisy parties), three Curlews, four small indeterminate dark waders, two kittiwakes and a couple of cormorants. A Common Scoter was sitting on the water, the first of the season for me.

This tally is nothing compared with the impressive sightings of gannets, terns, skuas and shearwaters elsewhere in Kent today, but there will hopefully be more tomorrow morning.
The evening was brightened up by the sight of three Turnstones on the pier, including Stumpy, the resident over the last three years, who is well known to the fishermen and trippers.

Stumpy

Trip to Ireland

Our family holiday this year was to the west coast of Ireland, with a few days in Dublin. The area of Clare was chosen to match the various interests of the family (sea, surf and wildlife).

Much of the county consists of the Burren, a landscape of limestone pavements that reach from the hilltops to the sea, and with a mild climate this provides a variety of habitats for a huge range of plants (and not a few insects).

The first interesting bird to be seen was a Hooded Crow, in a housing estate in the city of Limerick, but they proved elusive for photographing until a couple were found on the dock of a bay.
The hollows made in the limestone by water over the ages (grykes, I believe) hold small specimens of a huge variety of plants, and even in the rain a clamber over the rock provides endless fascination.

Wood Sage

Harbells by a mossy clint

Maidenhair Spleenwort

Fragant orchid, flowering late near acid-loving heathers

Eyebright

The number one target species was the Grayling butterfly, and one flew in front of me near the coast at Doolin, settling on part of the pavement and blending into the mottled rock.

The weather was not condicive to butterfly-finding (nor indeed to surfing, swimming or sunbathing) but I noticed that Green-veined and Wood Whites were far more frequent than the common British whites, and although Meadow Browns were frequent, not a single Gatekeeper was seen.

Dark Green Fritillary

Carline Thistle

A cute type of Scabious was common, with flower-heads of about an inch diameter, and with three heards to a stalk.

Visits were made to the top and (by boat) the bottom of the Cliffs of Moher but most of the nesting seabirds had flown, leaving only a few rafts of Kittiwakes and some family parties of Shags [note - what is the collective noun for shags?]


A handful of Choughs patrolled the visitor centre at the cliff-top, looking out-of-place away from the rugged landscape that they normally frequent.

Also out of its normal habitat, a Rock Pipit used this boat as a perch.

Does anyone want to buy some suncream? Unused, honest!

New species at Lydden

A walk around the first field of the Lydden reserve this morning produced a good variety of butterflies, despite threatening rain, cloud and a cooling breeze. If anywhere near home was going to have butterflies in this weather, Lydden is the place.

I managed to add two new species to my life list (my life has been long, my list is not). The beautiful Adonis Blue was one, the males showing themselves to be spectacularly different to Chalkhill Blues when they fly.



The other new species was the Silver-Spotted Skipper, fluttering like a moth over the short chalkland plants.

I was expecting (well, hoping) to see these two new species, but the sight of a Great Green Bush Cricket was a surprise.

New colours, and a twitch

I hesitate to say that Autumn is nearly here, but the turning of the seasons brings new sights. The flowering of the Autumn Gentian is one such, and I was delighted to find it in the Goats Field (qv) having seen the description of it flowering there in the Kingsdown Guide.

A similar delicate shade of purple is shown by the Sea Lavender, now appearing on the rifle range and on the cliffs - a beautiful plant.
Butterflies still remain in places sheltered from the worst of the summer weather, with Common Blues among most common, naturally.


The Large and Small Whites are also still around, and I enjoyed watching this green beetle bugging a Small White on its leaf.

Painted Lady on Hemp Agrimony

Birdwatchers (or birders, or robin-strokers) get a bad name for dashing around the country to see new birds, and ticking them off their lists. If, however, an unusual bird happens to be on my route, it seems impolite not to call in to see it. Consequently, I visited Alexandra Park in Hastings today to see a juvenile Night Heron, and found it sitting in a tree.

The reason that it looks so grumpy is that it had (briefly) awoken, as it was preparing for its dusk exertions, by sleeping through the day. It soon resumed its normal pose.

Restharrow Scrape

An early morning visit to Restharrow Scrape on the Sandwich Bay estate brought good views of the resident wildfowl, and a pleasant chat with Ian the warden. There are currently seven Little Grebes, with the two males resplendent in their summer plumage.

Only one of the two young Little Ringed Plovers has survived, the other apparently disappearing at the same time as the mother. The father (above) continues to circle the island and the shores, and the youngster's flight looks strong, encouraging hope that it will survive.

Other birds on the scrape included Mallards, two Little Egrets, a Grey Heron, about a dozen Lapwings, a family of Moorhens and a Greenshank. A couple of Sparrowhawks were seen (and heard) in the Elms.

Goat Field

Between the Scout Camp and the Upper Street, the hill top known as the Goat Field is variously tall scrub and low grassland depending on whether the owner has decided to decimate the growth or not.

In the last twenty years, the scrub has been cut about three times, most recently this spring, so at the moment it is a meadow.

The scrub cutting tends to annoy residents who see it as vandalism against nature, but the variety of plant species that have grown up since the cut is impressively large so I'm in favour of this. Unfortunately, the infrequency of the cut means that there is no consistency, and species that cannot survive the periods of growth do not stay, and so do not return when favourable conditions return.

An area of chalk grassland like this should support blue butterflies and skippers, but in fact only has only the grassland Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers, with margin-feeders like Ringlets and Speckled Woods.

Speckled Wood

Many varieties of plant have emerged, blinking into the sunlight - vetches, marjoram, thistles, scabious and a host of others (i.e. ones I can't identify), as well as a range of garden escapees like buddliea that have spread from rubbish dumped at the margins of the field over the years. There is also an impressive swath of nettles that should provide good food for caterpillars over the autumn.

Bacon and Eggs (or Horseshoe Vetch)

Goatsbeard - appropriately in the so-called Goat Field

Fumitory

Autumn gentian

Milkwort

At last the warm weather has arrived, and ants have taken advantage, swarming into the air to the delight of the circling swifts.