Bird spotting

On the way to town...

a hawk of some sort, perched on an old weather vane, looking for lunch

we got way closer than I expected, it's a busy footpath along the top of the cliff, lots of undergrowth going down to the beach so plenty of lunch living there I should think.

I'm happy to be corrected, but judging by the vertical streaks on the chest and the chestnut back I'm thinking it's a female kestrel - do let me know if I'm right or wrong!

Birdwatching with a difference!

We went for a birdwatching walk yesterday, saw lots of birds but they didn't stand still for photos!

The deer did though.

and so did the toadstools. Interesting how they're paired up. They look almost like...

well, they do, don't they?

Birdwatching from the sofa!

We often go birdwatching on our walks, but since moving we've seen so many birds in our garden.

Today there was a greenfinch picking up nesting materials from the hanging basket directly outside the kitchen door. Fortunately he wasn't after the herb seedlings!

He came back several times, we're now the greenfinch equivalent of the local DIY store I think.

A few minutes later I spotted (pun intended!) a great spotted woodpecker in the birdbath. By the time I'd grabbed the camera he'd gone down to the grass. I included the first blurred photo because it shows (to me, anyway) that he was busily drilling away in the ground.

According to my bird book they are "rarely seen on the ground"

Look at that beak!

So beautiful. His (or her) mate was around too, but hid in a tree when I tried to get nearer outside. 

These photos are all taken from indoors, through glass.

Cuckmere Haven and Seven Sisters

Yesterday we drove over the border into Sussex to Cuckmere Haven - we had a picnic! SuperZibbetMeerkat refused to come out of the camera cosy, it really was chilly.

You know the old saying about not pulling faces in case you get stuck like it when the wind changes? Well, the wind is always from the sea here. And I guess the trees pull faces...



We've visited here many times but on the walk down to the sea we saw more birds than ever before - at least four little egrets



a heron:



The heron was being mobbed by seagulls who presumably thought he was on their turf, they kept flying at him but all he did was duck his head each time.

We heard a weird swooshing sound and looked up to see a swan flying over our heads - I had no idea their wings made a sound!

The sun on the sea was stunning...



Looking across to Seven Sisters, we wondered why the cliffs were so-called. It turns out they're named after seven sisters who each had a house on the separate cliffs.



Finally, the meerkat decided he'd try his paw at cliff-climbing. The cliffs here are similar to the famous White Cliffs of Dover further along the coast, but have horizontal layers of flint making handy paw holds. They're MUCH too dangerous for people to climb with regular landfalls.




While we were visiting my mother before going home again there was about 5 minutes of snowfall...and our 90 minute drive home took three and a half hours! ouch!

home is where the heart is?

We have several collared doves visit the garden - this one has decided to set up housekeeping in the corner of my neighbour's guttering. As you can see, she only *just* fits! Goodness only knows what will happen when it rains, or if she actually manages to hatch some chicks!

Bird watching

We went to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve a few days ago. It's an easy ramble with bird hides overlooking the lagoons and shingle. We were lucky enough to strike up conversation with a lady who pointed out a ringed plover and her chicks, they were perfectly camouflaged against the shingle and we would never have spotted them without her help. This isn't my photo, they were too far away for my camera to cope, so with Caroline's permission I've borrowed one from her blog which has many more fabulous photos.



We also saw masses of blackheaded gulls with the most adorable little leopard spotted chicks (which you *might* be able to make out - again, they're so well camouflaged).



There were dunlins in another of the lagoons.



We were really lucky to identify a couple of meadow pippits (have you guessed by now that we had a book with us?) They aren't anything special to look at but have a quite remarkable song flight, soaring straight up and then fluttering down again with legs dangling.

If you're after a bird-spotter's guide, we use Collins Wild Guide which is fairly thorough and easy to use.