Summer in the woods and Dungeness

It's been a while since I last updated this blog, and there's been a lot going on - including me starting a new job part-time in addition to my existing work! But first, let's catch up on some photos from the woods over the past few months. Spring brought the usual display of flowers, such as these Wood Anemones, but a little later than some years as it was quite chilly.

The wild apple tree near our camp in the woods had another good display of blossom - I look forward to seeing how many apples develop, not that I'll be eating any of them...

And of course the bluebells were looking as great as ever in May:

Up at the top of the hill, where we coppiced last winter, things are growing back nicely. Here's some Ash and Sweet Chestnut:

The whole area has greened up a lot, and the brash piles are slowly disappearing from view:

I did also get this great video of a Buzzard eating its prey (probably a pigeon), followed by a fox coming to sniff around after it had gone!

Only one camping trip so far this year, but we had great weather for it and plenty of time to sit round the fire.

The big news is I've got a part-time job for 6 months as a Ranger at Dungeness National Nature Reserve. I'm doing this alongside my existing work at Ashden, so I've suddenly become rather busy, and the preceding couple of months were busy too as I tried to 'clear the decks' of any jobs that needed doing at home and in the woods. Dungeness is certainly a nice place to be in the summer!

I get a truck do drive around:

And it's not just about the sea and the shingle, there's also the 'long pits' which you only get to see if you venture away from the usual tourist attractions near the main car park:

One other thing I did manage to squeeze in before starting the Ranger work was a day at the Hands of Hope site in Hawkhurst, where there's a kind of community garden and also a woodland - my friend Rich and I went and volunteered for a day to help fell some dangerous trees.

Finally, closer to home, there was a strange object on the beach at Rye Harbour....

It's actually an art installation called The Beacon, by Joseph Williams, intended to draw attention to the fragility of the area and the growing impacts of climate change. It's a bit odd to look at, but quite amazing once you're inside it:

It's actually modelled on the Yellow Horned Poppy, which grows in the area:

Also at Rye Harbour, we recently visited a bird hide at Castle Water, which we'd not been to before. It really has some excellent views:

I got a number of nice photos of Cormorants there:

Did you know Cormarants nest in trees? They look a bit big to do that, but they really do:

And finally, a nice little family of Greylag Geese on one of the other lakes in the reserve:

That's all for now :-)

Mike

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Sunrise at Rye Harbour

Earlier this week I dropped Tracy's car off for it's MOT in Rye Harbour, and walked back home. As it was sunny and -6C, I thought I'd take the route along the edge of the nature reserve to get some photos of the sunrise. So here they are...

Mike

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Digging in the woods

For once it wasn't the wild boar digging holes, it was me! I've been trying to persuade this bog not to drain into the track for some time, but have finally decided the only way is to dig a ditch to try and drain it in a different direction:

As you can see from the above photo, part of the reason for this is that I need to drive on this bit of the track this summer, to extract wood I cut 18 months ago, and a drier track will make it much easier. I'll go back in a week and see how it's going... But the rest of the track was fine - for readers that know the woods, the photo below was taken by the Wild Service tree and two Oak trees on the track that separates Chestnut Coppice from Sweep Wood, which is quite deep inside the woods:

Here's a few pics from Rye Harbour too, taken a few weeks ago.The gulls were busy building nests:

They were all making a lot of noise, especially this Common Tern:

For the first time I got a photo of Great Crested Grebe down there, though I think they are fairly common.

And finally, a couple of scenic shots to finish off. First, Rye Harbour:

And second, Pett Level:

Mike

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Rye Harbour Sunsets

We've had some lovely sunny days over Christmas, and I've been down to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve a few times to make the most of it. Here's a few snaps of the sunset there a couple of days ago:

Walking back along the beach I saw this huge flock of Oystercatchers...

Of course, they took off as I approached! I felt a bit bad for disturbing them, but it was past sunset by this point so I knew they'd be heading to the lake for the night soon anyway...

Mike

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Avocets, Terns and Gulls at Rye Harbour

Once again the Avocets are the star of the show this week - I captured this video of two pairs of them fighting! Ironically their offspring seem to all be getting along fine, but I'm sure they'll learn from their parents soon enough!

Although the chicks do spend time on their own now, they're never far from their parents, and follow them closely some of the time:

I was fortunate to get a few pictures of one of the adults flying:

They weren't the only birds flying though, I also got this Little Egret (which doesn't look so little when it's in flight!):

and also some Sandwich Terns:

This Cormorant had other ideas, preferring to head downwards... Watch the video to see how long it dives underwater for! I now understand why they spend time sat around with their wings spread out to dry!

The Common Terns now have their chicks hatched:

I think the Sandwich Terns do too, but the shrubs on their island have grown up so much I can't see them any more! The Black Headed Gull offspring are now heading into the juvenile stage:

But this doesn't stop them annoying their parents by begging for food!

Some of them have hatched much later though, and are still tiny:

You can see the difference between them and their peers that are just a few weeks older here:

The adults meanwhile are continuing to model ideal gull behaviour for their offspring...

Finally, I got my first picture of a Linnet at Rye Harbour, though it's not as sharp as I would like...

and I also saw a Sparrow, with its beak stuffed full of food! :-)

Anyway that's all for now. I've been busy up at the woods too, fixing tracks now they've dried out, and processing seasoned wood into logs ready for winter. Doesn't make for exciting photos though!

Mike

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