A Friday late evening visit to Cliffe Pools has been part of the group’s programme for many years. In fact we were visiting long before the pools were purchased by the RSPB. Sometimes we have been plagued by midges and mosquitoes but I can’t remember a bad weather trip. For this trip, the weather was […]
For our last Tuesday morning trip of this summer we went to the RSPB reserve at Northward Hill. We were joined by new members Sue and Ron. Julie and Chris also brought along their grandchildren, equipped with binoculars, nets, pots and hand lenses – in fact everything a good naturalist needs in the field. By […]
Looking at the reserve noticeboard on arrival, we could see it had been a very quiet few days on the bird front. Undeterred, our group of 13 set off via the West lake where we saw great crested grebe with young, cormorant, black-headed gull and tufted duck. As we passed over the Darent there was […]
I recently visited the KWT reserve at Sevenoaks. I always have a look at the donated second-hand books for sale and on this occasion found that they were selling 50+ bound volumes of the journal “British Birds”. I like reading old natural history journals so I bought the lot! And, now that I have also […]
Kent Nature Partnership Biodiversity Strategy 2019 to 2044? Yes, there is such a thing and it is just about readable too! It describes the strategy for the “restoration and revival of Kent’s wildlife“. This can be downloaded as a pdf file (or word file) and your comments are wanted. Just complete the questionnaire. We sent […]
If you have been to Samphire Hoe recently, or have read our recent trip report, you will know that Samphire Hoe is a great place to find rose chafer beetles. Rose chafers are quite big beetles, very friendly, and easy to watch as they feed on the flower heads of wild carrot, large knapweed and […]
On Tuesday the group visited Grain Coastal Park. Back home the temperature reached 31.5 C but a beautiful cooling sea breeze made the conditions for us very pleasant. The tide was out (a long way out!) and with the sea and mudflats shimmering in the sunlight, viewing distant birds with telescope and binoculars was difficult. […]
Saturday’s group outing should have been at Stodmarsh, but due to a weekend closure of the M2, it was decided to change venue and go to Rainham Marshes instead. Ten of us met in the car park on what seemed a very pleasant sunny morning after some heavy rain had fallen back in Kent earlier. […]