Trip to the Gower - The Worm

As I was nearby, it would have been remiss not to have visited the beloved Gower peninsula and the good weather was further encouragement (if the sun's shining in Wales, make the most of it).

Worms Head looks like a sea-monster rising out of the water, and takes the name from the Viking word for a dragon - Wurm. It is only accessible at low tide, and is a great sea-watching site as it sticks out into the sea.

Braving the difficult rocky terrain and making light of the back-pain, I set off across the boulders and rock pools feeling intrepid, only occasionally being overtaken by pensioners in Clarks shoes.
The rockpools held abundant life that must cling on tight when the tide's in and the waves thunder over the rocks.
From the point there was a good view of seabirds passing by and also resting up or feeding. Groups of Guillemots and lone Razorbills and Shags dived in the calmer waters, terns and Gannets fished further out and a Red-throated Diver flew by.
To my regret, no shearwaters or petrels were seen.
A great compensation, however, was the arrival of a Chough, scolding my presence with its metallic bark.

In a very different world, at a reservoir between the M4 and BOC's gasworks in the industrial part of Wales, underneath electricity pylons, I was able to find a Grey Phalarope that had been there for a week. Totally confiding, it paddled up and down the causeway giving lessons in behaviour to Kent's distant Wilson's Phalarope.

I am now unable to read the word without pronouncing it with a Welsh accent - they will forever be Pharl-rops.

Like many other twitchers I missed the Bobolink that was found at the reservoir a couple of days later - the story is here.

A random miscellany

Incapacitated as I am by a ricked back, I'll take the opportunity to post a few pics which have been overlooked recently (and which would have been lost in blessed obscurity otherwise).

Above is the only picture taken at the Wilson's Phalarope twitch. Yes, I know it's not, but the bird was so far away its features were only just discernible, whereas the swan against the storm-cloud background is at least visible.

As is often the way at twitches, the best thing was the craic, and putting faces to blogging names.

Won't be long before Autumn now, as the gentians have all but faded. This one at Park Gate Down was one of a cluster with white flowers.

Old Man's Beard seems profuse this year which according to the lore means we'll have a hard winter. We saw early this spring that flowers were blooming well after the long cold winter so maybe this trend is continuing with the Traveller's Joy. The berry crop is full too.

A caterpillar crawled into the house and promptly curled up.
Although this shot was taken last week (i.e. in summer) it could be a cold winter's morning, as the bare branches of the dead tree are deceiving.

The painkillers are quite strong and are starting to work, so I can sit in the car for a bit of seawatching. A few bits moving - an occasional Capercaillie flew south, a lone Black Grouse (n), and some Storm Petrels caught insects in the bushes.

Perhaps the pills are a bit too strong.

The other Walmer Castle

It's not widely known that there is another, older, castle at Walmer. Built on higher ground next to the Norman church, and contemporaneous with it, Walmer Court is now little more than a ruin. In its prime, however, it must have been the most impressive building in the area - a symbol of the power of the Norman lord Hugh de Auberville.
Walmer Court, as it is known, was built as a fortified manor house rather than a castle like Dover, which was rebuilt in stone some decades later. It had two floors, a shingled wooden roof, a turret at each corner and an external stairway to the main entrance on the top floor. A dry moat surrounded the castle and the church.
The land was was presumably given to the de Auberville family after the Conquest, along with more at Westenhanger, Oxney and Langdon (where they later founded the abbey) and elsewhere in England - little is known about them apart from a few entries in local rolls and the name died with Joan d'Auberville of Sandwich in the late thirteenth century, whose possessions passed to her son Nicholas Kyriel.
My musings about Charles Dickens (with his Kent connections) knowing about the local name were brought to a disappointed end when I realised that "Tess of the.." was of course written by Thomas Hardy.
The walls are quite thin for a castle - only about a metre at their widest, and were made by pouring mortar and rubble between two frames of shuttering and placing lines of flints along the outside for decoration. When occupation of the castle ceased, this material wasn't particularly valuable so was not robbed for newer buildings nearby (the shingle on the beach was, of course, free) meaning that the walls still stand.
The facings of Caen stone, by contrast, have almost all been taken away leaving jagged edges to windows and doorways, with just a few traces of the remaining.
Walmer Court is visible from the church but is on private land, and is maintained by the landowner who kindly allowed us access.

Joy of life

Gorgeous weather today, fresh and clear, and warm in the sunshine. At Lydden (what a place, scatter my ashes there please) all kinds of wildlife shone with the joys of life.
Six (yes) Common Buzzards circled overhead, then swooped on something on the hillside before returning to the woods to the west. Fortunately the slightly larger camera had been left behind, so time wasn't wasted trying to get closer views.
I assume that the birds weren't interested in the large number of fungi of numerous varieties scattered across parts of the downs. They made me think of Tolkein's Shire, and it's easy to believe the old tales of elves and witchcraft that are linked to them.

The show of Devil's Bit Scabious flowers still has a way to go before they are at their best, but at least the sunshine brought out the insects to enjoy them. Go on, click on the photo - you know I want you to!
There are still some Adonis Blues flying, although the males are looking tatty and faded now.
Mile-high club............?

Variety was provided by Small Coppers and a few Silver-Spotted Skippers.
A self-found pleasure was the discovery of some tiny Basil-Thyme plants in one of the less-visited areas, and more visceral enjoyment was derived from the now-juicy and sweet blackberries.

Another invader

After last weekend's influx of migrants, we've missed the wave that was blown onto the north-east shores - any hope of sharing some rare birds was dashed when the wind veered north of us.
Wheatears and Whinchats are still frequently seen, and stragglers from the weekend are occasionally found - Pied Flycatchers are still on the clifftops while Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs have replaced the numerous Willow Warblers of August.

September brings young Wood-Pigeons from their nests, as they are late breeders, presumably to take advantage of the glut of seeds and grain that is now available. The parent birds are still tugging twigs for their nests from the Silver Birch in the garden.
Also around the garden, the Tawny Owl family is calling loudly at night. The wheezing calls of the youngster have changed into strangulated barks, joining the pure calls of the parents. The family was first noticed on 24th June, so they have been around for 2½ months now.

A market gardener was asked about a strange plant growing around his greenhouses and sheds, and as he weighed out the runner beans he said that it is a pest.... he first saw it about five years ago, and it has run rampant over his vegetable patch since then.
The next day I saw it growing from cracks in a car park in Deal. It's called Gallant Soldier (from its Latin name galansoga parviflora) and no doubt the new Atlas will show the extent of the spread of the invasion. It produces thousands of seeds, and is also known as Kew Plant - guess why? Yes, that's where it escaped.

In its favour, the leaves can be eaten either raw or cooked, as in the soup Ajiaco.

In search of the money shot

A year ago today I posted about the glorious show of Devil's Bit Scabious turning the hillsides at Lydden a lovely shade of blue/mauve. This season continues to be a week or two behind (strange how the cold spring affects later seasons) and the flowers are starting but not yet fully out - next week could be wonderful.

Plenty of Adonis Blue butterflies were flying despite overcast conditions, and the thought occured that an Adoinis on a Devil's Bit would be quite a sight..... and make quite a picture. Much leaping around provided photos of the butterfly on the flower, but never on an open bloom, nor would they open their wings. So much for the money shot.

Thirty-five Adonis Blues were counted, and four Silver-Spotted Skippers which seem to shiver in the cool breeze.


The hillsides are speckled with clumps of Eyebright, and on one damp slope a crop of large fingi have appeared, looking monolithic in their structure. Most are already the size of dinner plates, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the autumn brings.

Earlier, I had missed a Wryneck at St Margaret's (Paul went left and found it; I went right and remained blissfully unaware), so it was good finally to see one at Sandwich Bay, where the usual long-lens crew were staked out. Does nobody carry a telescope anymore? The big cameras seem to have taken over.
The quality of my images probably answers that question. Good views, though, and a long-overdue life tick after hearing them in Italy. While we waited for it to reappear from the long grass, a multitude of Whinchats and Wheatears kept us entertained.

Condition: Unfavourable

The North Downs end here, gently dipping into the sea to be replaced by the shingle beach where Julius Caesar landed in 55BC. A large field was bequeathed to the Scout movement in the 1920s, and the summers were filled with camp-fire songs and the sound of mallets.
Recently, however, the Scout Association somehow wriggled out of its covenant and sold the land - the tents remain, but now the music is electric. It's still good to have camping here, as long as the site remains undeveloped.

The broad swathe of cliff-top grassland between Kingsdown and St Margarets could offer so much more, but is classified by Natural England as "unfavourable" because Tor-grass has spread unchecked, crowding out the large number of smaller plants that could thrive here. Most interest is confined to the very edge of the cliff, where plants like Centaury share ledges with the Peregrines. Last weekend, the clifftop was most notable for migrating birds, Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Redstarts, Goldcrests and warblers all moving along the line of trees feeding, always keeping a southerly direction.

Overhead, large numbers of Martins and Swallows were joined by at least one Swift, marking the end of another breeding season.

In the Tor-grass, Wasp Spiders have made a late appearance, while at the foot of the cliffs,

... a large specimen of Goldenrod is in flower, attracting a flurry of attention from local flora experts.

Closer to home (on my doorstep, literally!) a Devil's Coachhorse showed itself.

And finally, I've invested the princely sum of a fiver on a digital microscope (off eBay) and (while acknowledging the obvious quality constraints and my technical incompetence) will no doubt offer up some results from time to time. These pictures are of a broken Autumn Ladies Tresses spike, from private land. For proper micro-images, see Beyond the Human Eye, here.