It's a poor comment on my local knowledge that I'd never been to Brockhill Country Park before now, but the arrival of the Osprey led me there at last. It was a dark late afternoon of what we have come to know as an English summer, but the stillness was atmouspheric - a little spooky in fact.
I was admiring this large fungus on a tree, hearing acorns falling to the ground, when one landed square on my head. My concentration wavered and at that moment the Osprey flew out of a nearby tree, circled and flapped easily over the trees. A brief but close sighting of this impressive young bird. It was seen again yesterday (not by me) and as an Osprey stayed near Hythe for six weeks in the autumn of 2005, he may stay around for awhile yet.
Today the sun actually shone, and a walk around the patch beckoned, clipping Bockhill farm.What will the weather be when the cattle are lying down? Most of these bullocks are predicting dry fine weather, but the one on the left appears to be thinking 'I don't know, I think there may be a storm coming'. We'll see if he's right tomorrow.
Off the beach, a Grey Seal looked ashore, watching the trippers arrive.
Butterfly sightings were dominated by Small Whites, with a few Common Blues and a Small Tortoiseshell (4th this year!). Also there were quite a few Silver Y moths (probably from across the Channel), with the one above feeding on Sea Aster flowers.
Toadflax is flourishing, and I couldn't resist opening the 'Dragon's Jaws'.
Autumn is just around the corner, and a party of Long-Tailed Tits was feeding on a laden Hawthorn bush.
5 comments:
Steve ,
Great read as usual .
Your fungi appears to be Laetiporus sulphureus
also known as Sulphur Polypore and Chicken of the Woods .
Steve,
I love the toadflax. I let it grow rampant in my garden.
Love the fungus! Are Osprey unusual there? I figured they must be since you seem to be "chasing" it.
That fungus is very unusual and colorful! And so large! It looks like a nice place for a walk and now that your've discovered it, I'm sure you will go back. Glad you saw the Osprey. I like the cow "weather men"....never predict anything by "committee", I guess if you want agreement :-) I assume that toadflax is like "snapdragons"...it's pretty and so is the butterfly. Hawthorn looks like it is great to attract birds with.
Thanks for the comments - to those across the Atlntic, yes Ospreys are rarely seen here, apart from the odd one migrating between Scandivavia or Scotland and West Africa.
A photo of this one is at http://www.freewebs.com/folkestonebirds/osprey.htm
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