Autumn passage

After a few months of keeping themselves busy breeding and feeding, birds are now moving past Kingsdown again. A Whinchat has been hanging around on the fences of the rifle range for the last couple of days.
And who is this fellow, hardly old enough to be out of the nest? Danger indeed!
It's a cute little Wheatear, whose confiding nature can make one understand how they were caught in large numbers by downland shepherds and sold up to the restaurants of London.
Also making use of the sea wall was a young Kittiwake.
And up on the cliffs, two Kestrels look down for their next meal.
A Rock Pipit (one of the year's breeders perhaps) and a family of Whitethroats were seen, while on the beach the flock contained 36 Mediterranean Gulls and a first-winter Common Gull, showing its white rump and dark primaries. In this picture are Meds, an Oystercatcher and a Sandwich Tern.
Nearby on the beach, the Kingsdown Oak's acorns are developing.

Squall

A squall hit me as I was doing the perambulation of west Kingsdown. It could be seen approaching but there's little cover apart from a few hawthorn bushes, so I got wet.

But not as wet as this bloke, a kite-surfer who was presumably also hit by the squall, and spent time sitting in the water until the lifeboat arrived from Deal.
It's an ill wind that blows no luck, however, and as I watched the kite-surfer before the lifeboat came I saw a shearwater fly over him, checking him out perhaps. The bird was dark above and below, which in my book is a Sooty Shearwater (SteveR saw another or the same one at Dungeness today too). It was nice when the sun came out (I was wet through and my walking boots are not, I discovered, waterproof), and by the time I got down to the rifle range the butterflies were sunning themselves.This female Common Blue seemed to have just emerged, having a cockled wing. A couple of weeks ago I watched a programme about butterfly and moth experts, one of whom said that if you place your finger by a butterfly on a cool day, the warmth is attractive to it and it may climb on. Hey, it worked!She stayed for a while and slowly opened her wings......

and when she was ready, she flew.

This young Kittiwake took a long rest on the water by the range, and just beyond were two Mediterranean Gulls.

A thorn between two bells?

Pass the weedkiller

A friend emailed to tell me that Autumn Lady's Tresses had appeared in their lawn, so I went along to have a look. There is only one other place that I know of in Kingsdown where these appear (also a lawn but I don't make a habit of looking for them in private places).
This sward is characterised by a large density of Mouse-Ear Hawkweed and precious little grass, so chalk downland plants are able to thrive. We counted 29 spikes (plus one in the back garden).
A couple of doses of Weed'n'Feed should do the trick - we'll soon have it looking like a putting green.
Elsewhere.......
....without looking too hard I found six Wasp Spiders and webs, in three discreet locations, so there must be a reasonable community (as long as the females don't eat the males before mating).....
....the Common Blues have reappeared after the wind and rain in similarly large numbers, and a Small Tortoiseshell (!) was also seen....
...there's a good crop of Dewberries now (rather too bitter to my taste though)....

...there was a passage of Gannets and Terns during the bad weather, these being Commics....and in an attempt to twitch the Wood Sandpipers at nearby Restharrow Scrape I managed to see only Greenshank, Common Sandpipers and a Snipe.

Amazing Lyrebird

You have just got to see this:

http://firlebirds.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/the-even-more-amazing-lyrebird-of-australia/

Thank for posting it Charlie!

A Weekend of Surprises

It was no surprise that most of the Med Gulls and Sandwich Terns have moved on, although the flock has been swollen by many more Black-Headed Gulls - about 300 yesterday.
And no surprise that disturbance over the weekend has moved them all on.

But the various strolls over the two days did produce some surprises - on the rifle range there were large numbers of newly-emerged Common Blues, looking fresh and bright. I'd estimate that there are at least 100 in the area by the gate, more than I've seen together before.

The next surprise may shock some - it' a scary sight. While photographing a blue, I noticed this large Wasp Spider, on her web in the grass. It's another newcomer that's expanding its range at temperatures rise. If you don't know this spider it's worth reading about it here. As usual the male pays for his pleasure.
The zigzag part of the web is called a stabilimentum apparently.
A couple of feet away I then found another web with a similar but smaller Wasp Spider. I had presumed it was a male, but they are even smaller and without the vivid markings [thanks Greenie!]. This web had no stabilimentum.
Time for another surprise - three Wall butterflies were seen on the shingle of the rifle range, the first for me in Kingsdown.Next surprises:
Autumn Gentian flowering (it's August, for goodness' sake) in the Goat Field, and

Autumn Ladies' Tresses at Lydden.

There were still plenty of Chalkhill Blues there, being buffetted by the wind, and I found the butterfly that I was looking for tucked away in the shelter of a ditch -

here's a Silver-Spotted Skipper for you Mary!

Tree of Heaven - or hell?

At the entrance to Kingsdown churchyard is a tree with leaves like Ash, but larger. It's called the Tree of Heaven from its reach for the sky, reflected in its Latin name Alianthus altissima.
Very appropriate then, that it should be near the church.
The bad news is that it is invasive with suckers spreading far from the parent tree, and with a toxic release that inhibits the growth of other species. An import in the 1700s from China, the tree has been planted widely in the UK, and warmer weather is encouraging its spread. It could become a serious environmental pest.

A very different 'tree' is the Tree Mallow, seen here growing between Undercliff Road and the beach. It appears brown and dead, but it is covered in seeds or mericarps.
Just along the road are a number of Common Mallows, eking out a life on the shingle in the harsh sea air.

On Kingsdown beach

On Kingsdown beach in the morning yesterday and today was a flock of about 200 birds, including 43 Mediterranean Gulls and 58 Sandwich Terns.

That number of Med Gulls is unprecedented (to my uncertain knowledge) and confirms their northward spread. The coast around Folkestone Warren traditionally holds up to around 100 birds each year, while individuals regularly spend the winter at a favoured spot, like the ringed one that likes the Margate lawns. The latter has returned again this year, and been photographed by Dylan for Planet Thanet.

Although the distance and light hampered photography, it was apparent that there was an unusually large number of ringed birds in the flock- perhaps a more acute observer could be more precise? One Med Gull had a green ring on the left leg and a metal one on the right.

It was good to spend time watching the flock preening, without disturbance from dog-walkers. When part of the flock flew, it merely circled and returned, spooked by a Herring Gull presumably. Also on the beach....

a stoic Ragwort

Harebells

and a lighter-than-usual Greater Knapweed