Proper spring

A great couple of hours birding this morning, with our first wheatears of the year (I thought I'd missed them all) . One peregrine was seen, and Hope Point held a good fall of migrants which included willow warbler, blackcap and a good number of singing common whitethroats.
A couple of swallows were seen winging in over the cliffs, and later in the day the lovely chattering sound of house martins filled the air.
Three wheatears were seen on the undercliff, the first found by the Kingsdown pointer and two more on the stony area at the far end.
One decided to take a bath in a puddle, giving us the chance to crawl near (grown men!) so when it emerged onto the nearby rock we had it in our sights.

Ah, that's better. I do like to freshen up after a long flight.

There were no other photo-opportunities, and we decided against pishing into the wind.

Arundel WWT - British birds

Alongside the many foreign residents at the Arundel Wetland and Wildfowl Trust reserve are plenty of British specimens (including some that are usually only seen as dots in a telescope).

Common Scoter

Widgeon

Male Goldeneye

Long-tailed Ducks

There were quite a number of young families paddling around the ponds - mostly Mallard (cute) and Coot (not cute). Coot parents get very aggressive with the chicks if they stray too far, pecking them on the head until they get back in line.
One of the stars of the WWT - a Bewick's Swan. Peter Scott encouraged the odd Bewick's to his reserve at Slimbridge, and gradually flocks in their hundreds built up year by year. Scott used the close proximity to record the individual beak markings ('just like a fingerprint') and then identified the birds on their return next winter.
Flocks of thousands can be seen at the WWT's Welney reserve, and there's an interesting blog on Slimbridge individual swans here.

Finally, a quiz - what is the angel-like duck at the top of this blog?

Arundel Wetland & Wildfowl Trust

Arundel's Wetland and Wildfowl Trust reserve has not only an impressive area of ponds and reedbeds to attract wild species, but also a good selection of pinioned birds in protected areas.
Some of the 'tame' ones are native varieties which give a good opportunity to check out characteristics that would be difficult to see in the field, and some are 'exotics' from afar.
These Chinese or Scaly-Sided Mergansers are endangered, but the familiar Mandarin seems content with life in captivity.

It was good to see Buffleheads and Hooded Mergansers side-by-side for comparison, but it's not only in the wild that diving ducks frustrate photographers.

The male Ferruginous Duck showed well in the sunshine, relaxing after a heavy meal perhaps?

Oh pardon me - they feed us curried mealworms, you know.

These two ducks are New Zealand Blues (beautiful plumage) which live on mountain streams and are also endangered. These particular individuals, Ben & Jerry, became famous when (after the last female died) they turned towards each other and became known as the gay ducks.

And this ridiculously proud bird is a Spectacled Eider from Siberian and Alaskan waters - his back view was seen on the previous blog.

Arundel - a spring weekend

A lovely spring weekend away in Arundel was a pleasure. A nesting pair of Buzzards made many a glance upwards worthwhile, and the castle's stonework caught the light in different ways during the days.
The castle and associated cathedral dominate the small town, and this weekend brought plenty of tourists. Strangely, many of them seemed to be driving MGs, and it was great to drive with the top down again.
The most striking parts of the castle are of relatively recent construction - mostly Victorian like Warwick, Eastnor and a few others - the scale is stunning, though. Since the sixteenth century it has been the seat of the Howard family, the Dukes of Norfolk. The oldest part is a motte and bailey, which is early medieval.
The castle is placed strategically on the river Arun, the influence of which is all around, creating good habitats for birds and other animals, especially Water Voles.
The surrounding wetlands provide a home for a huge variety of wildlife, of which more anon. Here's a taster....

But seriously though folks....

In view of the displeasure of some readers at the traditional Snake-whacking Day (or as PG Wodehouse calls it, Snake-chivvying) I shall desist from next year.

The slowworms and adders were seen at a reserve along the Darenth Valley, and I am again indebted to Greenie and John for their local knowledge up-county.

In the reserve, three types of refugia are used - felt mat, corrugated iron and clear corrugated plastic, and the adders were both under the plastic. This is reassuring, as I've put down a similar sheet in the garden to see what might be around.

Coincidentally, today sees the launch of a survey by the BTO and the Herpetological Conservation Trust, asking volunteers to report reptiles and amphibians in their gardens.
http://www.bto.org/gbw/herps/2009_survey/index.htm

While on the subject of adders, the map below from http://www.adder.org.uk/ shows past and recent sightings.

I understand that a Red-legged Herring Gull was reported from Maidstone yesterday - the first UK record unsurprisingly, since the main colony of this rare bird is on the Pacific island of s'Poofe (source: Birdwatching magazine). Good grief.

Snake-whacking Day

Today, the last day of March, is the traditional Snake-whacking Day in East Kent, and it is still commemorated by the villagers of Kingsdown who, fortified by pints of beer from the King's Head, go out to find and whack as many snakes as possible before dusk. Presumably the tradition arose to use the cool early spring to be able to catch snakes before they get warm enough to move quickly, and - more importantly - before the beastly things can breed the next generation. Our own team could only find slow worms at first, but at least we were able to practice, although those of us who had drunk too much too quickly were not much good at aiming. At least two of the party were hit by their mates, and had to go off for treatment. I won't show pictures after the whacking, as it may offend animal rights people. After a while, the real snakes were found (we had set traps called refugia for them) and the appropriate treatment was meted on them. They look really evil, with the red eye and vicious zigzags - and this one was nearly a foot long! I understand that the tradition has been followed in parts of the US since the seventeenth century, although here the chosen day is May 10th.

Bearded Reedlings

A nearly bird-free weekend, as the earlier spring-like weather has sent our over-wintering species north, but the later cold winds have kept the new arrivals from taking their place. This is a simplistic interpretation, but it'll do.
So...much time looking into empty trees and across empty reedbeds. But were we down-hearted? Well, frankly, yes we were a bit, which is unjust as we saw plenty of Little Egrets and Avocets, which should be enough to gladden anyone's heart.
One swallow was also seen, however, and a party of bearded reedlings was active in the reeds at Oare - appropriately since I was given Rory McGrath's similarly named book today. The real name of the reedlings and the book will be withheld to respect the sensibilities of any American readers.
Wood Ants were active at Blean, in this case moving a branch into their nest for food.
We repaired to Canterbury for lunch, at the splendid fourteenth century pub 'The Parrot', which takes its name from a verse in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
I was particularly pleased to see mention of a Throstle-Cock too, and Wood-Dove was a Sussex name for Turtle Dove.
Finally, a bird photo. Probably another Reed Bunting, this time with a highwayman's mask.