Snow, no show

Costa Kingsdown avoided the snowfalls as usual. Maybe we'll see some tonight.

Chill north-east wind brings oil

My complaint yesterday about not seeing any auks was answered in the worst way today, with the reappearance of oiled guillemots along the coast. This one floated under Deal pier, just keeping its head above water.

It duly beached on the shingle, so I rang the local rescue centre and within minutes Mark was on the scene with a long-handled net. Another - dead - guillemot floated offshore, giving impetus to our efforts to save this one.
Mark deftly netted the bird with considerably more grace than I achieved last year, when captures were made in a flurry of wings, beak and legs.
It was taken for first aid to Dover, and if it is not too far gone will then be passed on to the RSPCA's Mallydams Wood near Hastings for recuperation and release. Mark tells me that it's been a poor breeding year, so they are under attack from all sides - the north-east wind presumably bringing oil and birds closer to the coast than usual.
The local number to ring for the resucue of oiled birds is 07801-248850 .

Chill north-easterly wind brings visitors

The usual Saturday morning seawatch produced grey and brent geese flying into the north-east wind, and acrobatics by about 40 fulmars offshore, but I saw no auks or any of the myriad of other species that others saw at the same place today.
Was it the wrong time, would a telescope have helped, am I incompetent, am I a loser? Answers on a postcard please......

The rumoured female black redstart was checked off, albeit distantly, but the male was not seen.
Later, a stroll through Kingsdown Wood encountered a mistle thrush (infrequent this year) and a party of long-tailed tits with a few attendants - blue and great tits, my first goldcrests of the autumn, and a strangely brown chiffchaff - little sign of eyestripe, black legs and very light underside, which was the only bit caught on camera!Was it a Siberian tristis sub-species? It seemed happy enough. I'll tramp around the wood tomorrow in the hope of a better sighting, and perhaps a call.
The fallen ash tree continued to have the best selection of fungi and lichen, including both fresh and blown stump puff-balls.

Copenhagen

If you have problems with the argument, please tell your children that you prefer to do nothing and that they can face the consequences.
The recent smear campaign against the evidence of climate change reminds me of the evolution/creation debate....
even when the case is proven beyond all reasonable doubt, there is suddenly a publicity campaign repeating all the claims to the contrary.
There is a good presentation of the claims of the nay-sayers on the BBC website

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8376286.stm, with clear refutations.

I'm no good at arguments, but I'll just present my view as it stands......
our pollution of the planet has destabilised the natural cycles, and we should do all we can to reduce its effects; but (I'm sorry) it's probably too late.

Some (the Maldives, Bangladesh) will suffer more than others, and, in this instance, the polluter will pay least.

Do the Strand

Fulmars are back after their brief wander around the ocean, and are now checking out the cliffs for next year. Lest we be deceived into thinking of spring, however, the presence of a regular winter visitor, the black redstart, warns of the cold weather to come.
I am loathe to post the photos, since those of others are so much better. But it's on my patch.

As a mark of respect for Jessica's seaside blog, here's a sighting of Charlie Chaplin's footprints.

The best laid plans of mice and men.....

I'd booked a day's holiday, carefully planning the schedule by consulting maps, tide tables, seaweed and tarot cards, to catch the rising tide at Foreness, high tide at Fayreness and the falling tide at Pegwell.
But somehow I missed them all.
Surprisingly there were few birds at either of the usual roosts, with just a handful of purple sandpipers and ringed plovers at Foreness.

But not all was lost, as a large flock of sanderlings, turnstones and purple sandpipers at Cliftonville provided entertainment by flying to the sea's edge, checking that all was clear,

then running back to the strand-line which is clearly where the best food was.

A redshank took things much easier.

A rainbow gave a clue to what was going to happen next, and the resulting squall was cold and wet.
Two snow buntings flew overhead and landed at the edge of the cliff. Sanderlings and snowies - lovely!
By the time I got to Pegwell, the tide was far out, but it was rewarding to watch hundreds of golden plovers fall out of the sky onto the mud.
Vegetation seems advanced for the time of year, with early violets flowering the the garden, and alexanders sprouting up on the roadsides. The latter made a good starter for dinner.

Humbug ahead

The giants are drawing up their battle lines - will Tesco or Amazon be the winner this Christmas?
Our Victorian image of Christmas (for which much credit must go to Coca-Cola) is of small independent shops with small gifts, roasting chestnuts and hanging turkeys.
The retail reality is superstores surrounded by acres of concrete, and recently the cardboard wrappings of the winter mailorderland.

The small town of Deal (and to an extent the larger city of Canterbury) is at its best around Christmas, with a good selection of specialist shops among the national chains.

In no particular order I'd like to promote some of my favourites, in the hope that their Christmas will be a bountiful one and that they'll still be here next year.

Between showers I took a short stroll along Deal pier (it is, after all, only a short pier, and to have a long stroll could be hazardous).
Stumpy the turnstone, who has returned to the pier for the last five years or so, seems to be losing the toes on his other foot now, but still manages to get around, scavenging scraps from the fishermen.