On a sunny, but blustery day, eleven of us met in the car park and saw three common buzzards quartering over the West flood. A second look found a male marsh harrier in the same area – not a bad start to the day. We decided to head towards Dan’s dock and walking along the […]
When the beluga whale first showed up in the Thames it was hoped it would soon return to the Arctic for its own safety. Two months later, it still appears to be surviving happily on the marine life in the murky water off Gravesend. And now many in the town are desperate for it to […]
A beluga whale has been seen swimming in the River Thames. It was first spotted by ecologist and ornithologist Dave Andrews, who said it had been feeding around barges near Gravesend in Kent. The Whale and Dolphin Conservation said it was “obviously very lost and quite possibly in trouble”. Vessels are being kept clear, with […]
This evening I was speaking to a lady who has been nursing a young house martin and was looking for a site that has nesting house martins in order to release it ‘back into the wild’. Which got me thinking – I can’t recall seeing or hearing house martins over Gravesend this year. Swifts yes […]
I had offered to take part in the 2012 Nightingale survey and as I have no idea of the layout of the tetrads I have taken on, it seemed like a good idea to do a recce this week. We started along the canal towpath, unfortunately as we started our walk the skies darkened and […]
Has anyone had collared doves unsuccessfully nesting in their garden? A friend of mine has had a bird in a nest in a palm tree near her house almost without interruption for the last six months. On occasions eggs have fallen from the tree, unbroken, but there has been no sign of food being brought […]
This week’s Wednesday walk was at High Elms Reserve near Downe. As we arrived it started to rain but this soon stopped and we had a good walk with cloud interspersed with sunshine. We followed the circular walk which takes you through a variety of habitats; past sites where John Lubbock (a young man encouraged […]
15 joined Paul for the walk at Stodmarsh today. The weather was cloudy, overcast and very windy which didn’t set itself up for the best of birdwatching days, but spirits were high. On arrival the banter was flowing freely in the car park – some folk just don’t understand the limits of a 1.2 cc […]