BirdsEye

Newsletter of The RSPB Local Group Winter 2013

Events for Next Four Months Sunday 16 March - Seaton Pits - 9 am

See Programme for More Information Indoor Presentations **** 17 December - Flights of Fancy - Brian Nobbs Public Events

21 January - Easy Way to Identify Gulls - Saturday 15 to Sunday 23 February - NKMR David Darrell-Lambert Event - Riverside Country Park

18 February - Medway YOC 41 years on - North birds, RSPB and Saving Nature - GROUP LEADER’S NOTES Mike Clarke I hope you have all had a good summer. There 18 March - Hope for Malta’s Birds - Robin Potts was certainly plenty of warm weather to go round, although the lack of rain was an issue for **** the gardeners. We have always been a nation Outdoor Visits (Walks) of weather watchers and this year has certainly given us cause for debate! “What a cold Saturday 23 November - Seaton Gravel Pits - spring”, “Whew it’s too hot today”, “Is it ever 9.30 am going to stop raining!!!?” I guess that our unpredictable weather is set to get even more Wednesday 27 November - Loose Valley & unpredictable due to global warming. Having Robin’s Nest - 9.30 am said that, the wonderful warm weather this summer was a salvation to my garden wildlife Sunday 1 December - Conyer Creek - 8.30 am and I had an excellent time observing the nature in it. Thursday 12 December - Riverside Country Park Clouded yellow - 10 am

Sunday 5 January - Dungeness RSPB Reserve - 10 am

Sunday 19 January - New Hythe Lakes - 9 am

Wednesday 22 January - Riverside Country Park - 10 am

Sunday 2 February - Elmley Reserve - 9 am

Sunday 16 February - Conyer Creek - 9 am Along with the birds that regularly visit the free Wednesday 19 February - Bedgebury Pinetum - Tilley al fresco dining establishment (‘eat in or 12 Noon takeaway’), I had lots of the hovering, buzzing, darting kinds of visitors. I had 11 species of Sunday 9 March - Rye Meads/Lee Valley - CT butterflies including my first recorded clouded yellow. 1 A buddleia is worth planting in a sunny position There is good news on the horizon though as in any garden to attract all manner of insects and Alan is in contact with another company that butterflies. may be taking up the dredging rights, so fingers crossed that this is successful. Due to the The thing that gave me most pleasure though recession there has been less money available. was a buff-tailed bumble bees nest that was established at the edge of our pond. To witness Other developments are in the management of the creation and development of this colony of Higham Marshes, almost a continuation of Cliffe! bees was fascinating and I spent many an Alan is also in discussions with the neighbouring afternoon watching them go about their farmers and it is hoped in future that a wildlife industrious lives. corridor will be developed extending along to Northwood Hill. As winter approaches it will be nice to read about all the great walks we have had this spring At Northwood Hill ‘Gordon’s Hide’ has been and summer and relive warmer, lighter days. erected at the bottom of the hill at the view point. At the moment it is quite a few metres away from Marie Tilley the pool but the intention is to extend the pool so that it will reach the edge of the hide. The hide has been constructed by a local carpenter and I RESERVES BRIEFING must say he has done a really good job. The view point now looks fantastic with the new I recently attended a briefing at Northwood Hill, benches and the hide (See photo). given by Alan Johnson, Reserves Manager for Rainham Marshes, North Kent Marshes Reserves and Dungeness. The purpose of these briefings, which are held about three times a year, is to give the ‘heads up’ to group leaders about what is going on at the reserves.

Alan highlighted the plight of the lapwing population having fallen to an unsustainable level. If measures were not taken then the population would be in dire straits. It was thought the failure in the successful raising of chicks was due to the predation of the eggs and chicks by mammals, foxes etc, so it was decided to erect predatory fencing to see if this would halt the decline. The good news is that it is working; the numbers of chicks now being raised successfully From left: Alan Johnson, Michael Walters, Marie Tilley, has increased to a sustainable level. Although Jean Howland, Peter Curd. the fencing is not aesthetically appealing it none the less had a significant effect. I’m pleased to say that I think our reserves are being well looked after so thanks to Alan and all Rainham Marshes the reserve staff. This reserve continues to improve and is developing nicely with accessibility for families. Marie Tilley They have a good team there and the reserve is maturing into a very good site for wildlife. NEWS FROM NORTH KENT MARSHES North Kent Marshes Reserves RESERVES - East (Seasalter Levels, Great There has been criticism made about the lack of Bells Farm, Elmley, The River Medway), and development at Cliffe. Unfortunately this has West (Cliffe Pools, Northward Hill and Shorne been due mainly to the lack of funding brought Marshes). about by the cessation of the dredging that was occurring in the estuary. The company was to It has been a big year for the RSPB, starting with pay to have the spoil disposed of and the the publication of the ‘State of Nature’ Report in reserve was going to use the material to build up May. Initiated by the RSPB, 25 partner the scrapes etc so it would have been a win win organisations produced a sobering report on UK situation for the RSPB, but this did not happen. biodiversity declines. 2 The RSPB took this opportunity to roll out its Cliffe Pools was positively heaving with nesting new brand. For those members who were sea birds this year, but they didn’t prove good unable to attend the regional ‘Aren’t Volunteers neighbours! 540 black-headed gulls did well but Brilliant’ event at RSPB Dungeness (July 20th), may have been responsible for the majority of 83 Paul Outhwaite - regional Public Affairs nesting common terns moving on, resulting in Manager, led a workshop that embraced why the just two fledged terns. Both species are Amber RSPB is growing in the direction that it is. The listed (BTO), so what do you do? A good following day Paul was knocked off his bicycle, example of the need for landscape scale but I am pleased to report that he is continuing conservation. Other Amber listed species to recover well from serious injuries. The RSPB included 57 pairs of avocets, 63 singing TV advert will return to your screens this autumn whitethroats and 16 singing nightingales. and initial indications show that the promotional campaign is having the desired effect, including 25 singing nightingales at Northward Hill was a an increase in membership support. little down on the previous year (although 2012 was the best on record), but this was a trend In parallel with the new brand, RSPB staff are across the country due to the late spring. Only focused on delivering the new strategy as one pair of breeding turtle doves was alarming, championed by Mike Clarke - ‘Saving Nature’. but we are continuing efforts to establish a This follows a full review of our priorities and ‘cover crop’ of plant species specifically for them. means of delivery and introduces a new 84 herons and 64 egrets bred at Northward Hill. business culture. Between the new brand and ‘Saving Nature’ the RSPB is best placed to The family of our late friend, Gordon Allison, tackle the challenges so starkly presented in visited the reserve at the end of September to May’s report. see the new bird hide that they provided in his memory. Earthworks and planting is ongoing to Stepping down a rung from the big picture, the screen the hide and more new scrapes have team on the North Kent Marshes, wardens, been created between the reservoirs. As part of residential volunteers and volunteer work parties the ongoing building refurbishment at Bromhey have accomplished a huge amount this summer. Farm it was assessed that the old barns had to One reward has been the best year on record for be removed Barn owl lapwing chick survival. 88 pairs of lapwings for safety. attempted to breed, and the highest number of This was chicks ever, fledged. This was thanks to a completed in combination of site management and favourable October and weather. the owls have already Black-headed gull O n S h o r n e moved into a Marshes a new new owl box electric predator in the walnut fence has been tree. Two installed that will further owl give breeding boxes have waders a further b e e n line of defence installed at against large each end of ground predators. the cattle Emma Sheard, our shed. John Markham (rspb-images.com) Farm Conservation Advisor, has been Everywhere has enjoyed an excellent year for out and about invertebrates. The Maid of Kent beetle was forging new links discovered at Cliffe Pools for the first time, a Andy Hay (rspb-images.com) with landowners shrill carder bee was found at Northward Hill and that could result in butterflies were everywhere late into the autumn. the sort of management agreement now in effect Roger Kiddie, our long-standing volunteer with on the Higham Marshes that will see improved all things invertebrate, has also run, this year, a conditions for breeding waders; our monthly public bird ringing event with his congratulations to Emma, who will be moving to colleagues. This is proving popular and we will Scotland to start a PhD in farming practices that post the dates for 2014 as soon as we have enhance wader productivity. them. 3 We currently have two residential volunteers, Finally, Sir Howard Davies and members of the Ben Coogan and Dr Ruth Brown who are with us government’s Aviation Committee visited RSPB until the New Year. We said goodbye and hello Northward Hill during a fact-finding visit to again to Amy Winchester, who, after a year on Medway; this went very well and Sir Howard the marshes was successful at interview and is expressed his surprise at the diversity of land now the warden at Blean Woods - Canterbury. use on the Peninsula. A select team of RSPB Next year we will transition to a new internship staff, local, regional and national, continues to scheme partnered with RSPB Dungeness. work very hard against the Thames Estuary airport proposals, a third Thames crossing, and The RSPB took the novel step of opening up Medway Council’s plans to develop Lodge Hill in some of its reserves to a summer camping Chattenden. We expect an announcement from extravaganza and Northward Hill could not resist Natural England in November as to whether hosting a ‘Big Wild Sleepout’. This was a Lodge Hill will be designated a Site of Special fantastic event, with a delightful mix of people Scientific Interest for the greater than 1% of UK pitching up, toasting marshmallows around the nightingales that nest there each year. camp fire, walking through the woods in the pitch black and stargazing with Mid Kent Astronomical Thank you, from all of us, for your continued Society. Be sure to book early for next support. summer’s Sleepout, pitches are limited. Rolf Williams We are again indebted to Medway Local Group Communications NKMRs for providing the bulk of the volunteers that delivered the Wildlife and Countryside Fair. The weather was a little tricky, but 1,300 attended, NEWS FROM DUNGENESS enjoyed the music, good food and nature trails and for the first time in its history, we turned a Unfortunately due to staff shortages there will be profit and welcomed nine new family members to no news from Dungeness this time. We are the RSPB! It is always a team effort, but I have assured that this will all be sorted out ready for to pick out our new Administrator, Marie Calvert, our spring newsletter. Chris Hawkins who has who led from the front. written our reports from Dungeness over many years has now left the reserve. We would like to David James has been very busy recruiting express our thanks for her input over this time. around North Kent, often accompanied by the Greater Thames Futurescapes Officer – Editors Stephanie Lawrence, and your good selves.

We said goodbye to Elmley Marshes in the NEWS FROM BLEAN WOODS spring, although we continue to liaise closely with the Elmley Conservation Trust on a number We left the last news letter with our dedicated of projects. Check out their new website: volunteers clearing the paths and keeping all the www.elmleynaturereserve.co.uk. vegetation cut back. They also completed odd jobs including erecting a barrier across an A few outstanding earthworks have now been entrance to dissuade people from fly tipping, and completed at Great Bells Farm next door and upgrading all our signage. We do not generally over on the Seasalter Levels (near Whitstable), do a lot of habitat management work between the project partnership is moving into the final April and September, most of our time is taken stage of compulsory purchase of the Plotlands in up by species surveying. Most notably, the advance of this SSSI being returned to breeding birds and heath fritillaries but also other favourable condition under RSPB management. species such as the dormouse.

Autumn has arrived with a bump, and Gordon’s It was a fairly tough year, with most species at or new scrape and hide were barely installed and below average. Nightingale numbers were down three ruff were there to check it out… “build it this year with only 20 pairs recorded compared and they will come.” Cliffe Pools hosted a lesser to last year’s 27. Nightjar, again were slightly yellowlegs, an American rarity, but we are below average, with three displaying males looking forward to the 300,000 regulars back to recorded and two pairs of lesser-spotted the marshes for the winter, not least to remind woodpeckers. Unfortunately, the willow warblers Boris Johnson, yet again, why it is designated a are still reflecting the (southern) national trend Special Protection Area under EU legislation! with just 13 pairs compared to last year’s 28. 4 The heath fritillary is one of our rarest and most INDOOR MEETINGS localised butterflies and Blean Woods is one of the top spots in the UK to see it. 16 July Travels in Columbia Heath fritillary Barry Wright

Barry started his talk by showing us where Colombia was and the huge land area it has, abutting on Panama, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil and Peru. Needless to say with such an area, all types of habitats exist for both birds and wildlife. Fundacion Pro Aves (similar to the RSPB) works with local communities to protect habitats for birds and wildlife.

Barry aimed to convince us that despite the bad drug reputation and FARC (the Armed Revolutionary Forces) Colombia was a superb venue for birdwatching.

Lyndsey Record There are nearly 1900 registered bird species in Colombia and more are being identified on a Heath fritillaries are very dependent on the sun regular basis. One I believe is the chestnut- and so on a sunny day, the males especially, will capped piha found in the Arrierito district. spend most of their time flying low to the ground Colombia has the largest global bird list. 83 of and flitting amongst the plants. the bird species are threatened and Pro Aves is working diligently to protect the yellow-eared The heath fritillaries breeding behaviour and life parrot seriously threatened at present. cycle provides a very strong focus when it White-headed wren comes to planning the management of Blean Woods. Rides are widened and managed on a yearly rotational basis and areas are coppiced in order to keep its food source – common cow wheat - in abundance and ultimately ensure the survival of this beautiful and rare butterfly.

The heath fritillary was very late in appearing this year, the first being seen in the second week of June...... up to three weeks later than normal! It wasn’t one of our better years with some of the main colonies declining rather than growing. However this is most probably due to the cold spring, as in general numbers are still good, especially compared to early 2000.

The ride widening and coppicing work started at the beginning of October and will continue on Obviously Barry could only show us a fraction of through the Christmas and New Year period until the birds he has photographed on his visits to we stop again in April next year ready to start Colombia. I liked the idea of the white-headed our surveys. wren being the size of a thrush – one bird I recall from the many species including macaws, This is a good opportunity to introduce Blean’s parrots, humming birds, pihas and owls that new warden - Amy Winchester. She started at were shown during the evening. the beginning of October and has hit the ground running as we head into our busiest time of year. With so many species, I for one would like to see Amy has moved over to Blean from Northward his talk again to enjoy the huge variety of birds, Hill and is looking forward to getting stuck in. many new to me.

Lyndsey Record, Acting Warden Carole Nixon 5 August Some have now been electronically tagged so No meeting the mystery may be solved - a pity in some ways Dominic thought. 17 September Meetings with Remarkable Birds Another common bird Dominic mentioned was Dominic Couzens the great tit. The yellow colour on the breast of these birds is the result of eating caterpillars, Those of us who ventured out to attend this thus the males with the most highly coloured indoor meeting enjoyed a most entertaining, breasts are the ones chosen as mates by the amusing and informative evening with Dominic. females as they must be the ones who would be His dry sense of humour meant there was a lot the best providers for their families. of laughter throughout his talk. Some of his presentation was about the complicated sex The second half of the talk was about less well- lives of several species including dunnocks and known species. Penguins, one species of which pied flycatchers. hatches and raises its young in temperatures as low as -70◦C and another which breeds in He began by talking about birds familiar to us all temperatures as high as 40◦C, a temperature – just the day before his talk he had variation of 110◦C which is remarkable for birds photographed a sparrowhawk in his garden of the same family. which had dispatched a blackbird and eaten it all except for one leg (he wondered where the other The beautiful sun bird from South Africa is leg was). He pointed out that a male gradually beginning to hover like a humming bird sparrowhawk would have to catch between six – this is thought to be as a result of trumpet- and eight birds a day to feed its young – no easy shaped flowers which have been introduced into feat. His next bird was an ‘exotic’ feral pigeon!! its habitat. Dominic showed us pictures of the It is still not certain how these birds find their sword-billed humming bird whose bill is as long way home when removed from their territories. as its body so it has to use its feet for preening! The longest known journey for one of these birds was from Guernsey to Brazil, a trip of over Dominic talked about many other birds including 7,000Km. road runners, ostriches, lammergeiers, golden oriels and many more. He finished with pictures Long-tailed tit of the orange-rumped parrot from Tasmania. There are only eleven of these left in the wild so in all likelihood they will soon become extinct. A sad story to end with!!

All in all Dominic gave us a wonderful evening and I’m sure everyone must have learned something, or in my case a lot, about remarkable birds!!

Carol Felix John Bridges (rspb-images.com) 15 October The long-tailed tit, one of our most charismatic Transatlantic Travels birds, is not quite as cuddly as it seems. Mike Mockler Feathers with which it makes its nest are taken from the corpses of birds killed by sparrowhawks Bournemouth-based Mike delighted us with his which the tit watches for this purpose. When fourth visit to MLG and his whistle-stop these cute little birds cuddle up at night on a photographic tour of Ecuador, the Galapagos branch in winter, the youngest birds are left on Islands, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Canada and the outside edges and die first from hypothermia Patagonia. allowing Mum, Dad and older siblings to survive. It seemed appropriate to begin the journey in the Apparently, at the end of summer some Galapagos (Tortoise) Islands amongst the iconic 1,000,000 house martins make their long land iguanas, giant tortoises, green turtles and migration back to Africa but in spite of this huge Sally-Lightfoot crabs as they stimulated so much number of birds no one knows where the thought and influence over Mr. Charles Darwin majority end up. himself. 6 Mike also showed us some great photos of Back on land, Vancouver Island is also home to boobies (Nazca, red-footed and blue-footed), large populations of bald eagles, brown (grizzly) frigate birds, tropic birds, penguins, gulls and and black bears. albatrosses – many of which were endemic to the Galapagos. Next stop was mainland Next stop was the Rockies in fall (autumn) where Ecuador itself and the cloud forests in particular, Mike managed to photograph his target species to see his wonderful images of sword-tailed of coyotes, wolves, big-horned sheep, elks and hummingbirds and violet-tailed sylph moose. Mike noted that birds were very few and hummingbirds. far between in the Rockies but he did have a couple of photos of grey jays, Cooper’s hawks Blue-footed boobies and northern flickers to share with us.

Last stop was Patagonia (southern tip of Chile and Argentina) for some more mammal watching. Here we were treated to Mike’s photos of southern sea-lions, elephant seals, caveys (a hamster-like animal), maras (a hare- like animal), pikies (a tennis-ball like animal) and a hog-nosed skunk.

Mike’s fanfare was the Torres del Pinne mountains in Chile where he was able to share with us his fantastic photos of pumas (aka mountain lion or cougar), Andean condors and guanaco’s.

Richard Hanman

Costa Rica was next, and high in the volcanic rainforests Mike showed us photo after photo of OUTDOOR MEETINGS amazing birds of paradise including respondent quetzls, three-wattled bellbirds, tanagers, honey- Sunday 7 July creepers, mot-mots and scissor-tailed Nashenden Valley KWT flycatchers. It isn’t just the birdlife that attracts Leader Peter Saville wildlife watchers to Costa Rica as the howler and capuchin monkeys and sloths compete for Last year the Nashenden Valley walk attracted the viewer’s attention with butterflies the size of only three members, but as the weather had napkins, tree-frogs the size of your thumb and been pretty poor it was decided to give the lizards of just about every size and colour venue another go. This time there were four of imaginable. us, but we were joined by another during the walk. We had parked at the end of Nashenden After leaving Central America it was time to head Lane and made our way through the tiny hamlet to the Blue Mountains of Jamaica with its 28 of Nashenden, across the bridge over HS1 onto endemic species, including red-billed and black- the nature reserve of billed streamertails, black-billed and yellow-billed Nashenden Down. parrots, Jamaican woodpeckers, Jamaican Linnet toadys and the vervain hummingbirds (the As we made our way second smallest bird in the world). along paths around the reserve we picked up Our last stop before the interval was eastern- some common birds - Canada in the wintertime which gave Mike the greenfinches, perfect opportunity to share with us his goldfinches, chaffinches, magnificent photos of snowy owls. After house sparrows, linnets refreshments, we headed across to Canada‘s and wrens, and then a west coast and to Vancouver Island for a spot of little brown job. Despite whale watching. On display were Mike’s photos our best efforts we could of hump-backed whales and orcas (aka killer not decide whether it whale), as well as sea otters, stella’s sea-lions was a willow warbler or and Pacific white-sided dolphins. a chiffchaff. RSPB (rspb-images.com) 7 As we climbed higher we got views over the As we stood looking we also had cormorants, valley, but there were not many birds about, just herring gulls, fulmars, swifts, swallows, martins black-headed gulls, a herring gull and the and black-headed gulls. I took a stroll to the cliff inevitable wood pigeons. We then made our and had a brief glimpse of a black redstart. We way through the woods without adding to our list, tried to get another glimpse so that we could all but when we came out into the open downland get a view, but alas it was not to be. once again we saw skylarks, swifts, whitethroats and jays and heard both blackcaps and We headed back for a coffee and then took the chiffchaffs. We later added lesser and greater tarmac path across the headland to the beach black-backed gulls and a few more "garden" keeping our eye out for orchids, but didn’t see birds in the shape of robins, blue tits and any. We did get views of blue and great tits, blackbirds. starlings and moorhens. At the beach we had a solitary rock pipit and more gulls. There is an area of new plantation on the reserve, which it is hoped will mature into Roch pipit woodland. Currently the saplings are pretty small and there is a variety of wild flowers acting as ground cover, but despite this there were few insects and no birds in this area. This was typical of the whole reserve: the cold spring had held everything back and the lack of flowers had led to a dearth of insects and hence not many birds. The recent warm weather had still to get things back to where they should have been. However, there were signs of movement and in addition to the two dozen species of birds we saw emperor dragonflies and brimstone, small tortoiseshell, marbled white, speckled wood, meadow brown, red admiral and painted lady butterflies. The group split up for the return route, an oystercatcher was seen on the seaward side but It was a pleasant enough walk, but we could nothing was added on the trackside path. have done with a few more birds - and bees. This reserve is the newest section of the south Warren Mann east, made from the spoil from the Channel tunnel and is recommended especially for those Saturday 20 July who maybe can’t walk far or who need flat Samphire Hoe terrain. It’s accessed via a single file tunnel just Leader Karen Snow outside Dover Western Docks. This obviously causes problems for foreign drivers however – I The day was cooler than it had been, so fleeces witnessed two cars ignoring the red light on the were the order of the day. Seven of us headed way in and just heading straight down the tunnel, down to the seawall and took a slow walk along and on the way out, I was actually in the tunnel to the usual peregrine spot. En route, a meadow when a French-registered car came towards me! pipit was spotted on the fence and sheep were on the bank, one of which seemed to have a bell Karen Snow similar to those you would normally see in the Alps! Wednesday 31 July Cliffe Pools RSPB Reserve Evening Walk A peregrine was spotted high on the cliff sitting Leader Warren Mann on a ledge, and we all saw it through the telescope. One of our number was in a There were only four of us who made the wheelchair and a scope was lowered to allow journey to Cliffe Pools on a warm, bright summer her to view it. It was then we discovered the two evening. There was a brief sighting of a sparrow scopes were trained on different birds! It hawk for one early arrival. I missed it as I was appeared to be a male and female who were talking to two local children explaining why there sitting on different ledges looking almost was no fishing, swimming or canoeing in the identical, except that one had one leg tucked up pools and that it was not a good idea to go underneath it. looking for ponies at this time of night. 8 We had limited time and Trevor suggested we Still, better luck next time and we all saw some should look for long-eared owls as it got dark. decent birds. So after a brief trip up the Pinnacle to get an overview of the reserve we decided on walking Total number of species seen - 34, plus a good up the Saxon Shore Way along the side of number of unidentified little brown jobs. Radar Pool to Flamingo to see the high tide roost. Warren Mann

Initially there were relatively few black-headed Sunday 4 August gulls, but we found the rest later. We saw green Bough Beech Reservoir woodpeckers, avocets, many coots and great- Leader Adrian Olsen crested grebes plus one (and later another) little grebe. There were redshanks, grey herons and In 1970 Bough Beech was transformed from a good numbers of little egrets. Then things flooded agricultural valley into the reservoir we looked up as we saw greenshanks and possible see today with a dam holding back over 10 spotted redshank. million cubic metres of water. Situated deep in the Darent valley it provides an ideal stop off for We slowly moved up the Saxon Shore Way passage migrants as they rest and feed up using all available viewpoints and confirmed before continuing their long journey. spotted redshanks and also saw shelducks, mallards, pochards, grey plovers in breeding Common sandpiper plumage, a lone bar-tailed godwit, oystercatcher, curlew (with possible whimbrel - but after much debate we thought not), lapwings and, best of all, several curlew sandpipers going out of breeding plumage.

Further up the track we saw and heard several common terns. At the top of Flamingo there were five great black-backed gulls, dunlins in breeding plumage, several whimbrels (no doubts this time), plus a good few hundred black- Richard Hanman headed gulls, including many juveniles in a variety of plumages. Many resident birds enjoy this tranquil patch of water and can easily be seen from the causeway We then made our way to meet local naturalist running through the middle of it, so 12 of us Frank Cackett, who had previously seen long- descended onto the causeway on a bright eared owls on the reserve at dusk. We reached morning to see our first passage migrants the likely spot and were told it might be 20 or 30 straight away - a common sandpiper and close minutes before there would be much action. As by for comparison of size and behaviour a few we waited, it was suggested that we go looking green sandpipers. Great-crested grebes were for barn owls, which had been seen elsewhere the most numerous on the reservoir but tufted on the reserve. This was not a good move. ducks and lapwings were also in good numbers.

Three of us returned 30 minutes later after a Green sandpiper fruitless route march to the other side of the reserve and back. There were no barn owls to be seen, and we had missed sightings of a cuckoo and an adult long-eared owl. We waited as dusk became night with only the mozzies for company. There were no more sightings of long -eared owls, but at least we did hear the rather strange call of the juvenile long-eared owls a good number of times.

It was a good evening despite the insect bights. Thanks are due to Frank and Trevor for giving the rest of us the chance to see long-eared owls, Richard Hanman and our apologies for missing the opportunity. 9 Common terns were a delight to see especially Sunday 18 August with young chicks to feed on the man-made islands. 25 mute swans could be seen in the far Leaders Sue Carter/Steve Goodrich distance while nearby a pied wagtail accompanied a grey wagtail. Eight mandarin Temminck’s stint ducks nonchalantly bobbed up and down along the waves caused by the cool breeze across the reservoir. A buzzard appeared high above the woodland and then a sparrowhawk flew past with great speed as a kestrel hovered above our heads.

Herons, cormorants and little egrets were loafing around the water’s edge as we walked towards the converted 19th century oast house which stands as the original Kent Wildlife Trust information centre, flushing out a green woodpecker as we went. On a pleasant sunny morning with a warm breeze a bakers dozen met in the car park ready Goldfinch to “do the circuit”. We started by checking the roadside west scrape for the Temminck's stint, which had been in residence there for the past week or so. No sign of it but we did pick up green sandpipers, two little ringed plovers, redshanks, ruff, lapwings and yellow wagtails. We then went to the sea wall and walked west for 50 yards to look into the small creek which we found held greenshanks, little grebes, shovelers and teals and we were rewarded by the sight of two bearded tits flying into the reeds.

From the slipway we watched two common buzzards hanging in the updraught over Harty Hill. A common tern was on one of the poles Handy Hay (rspb-images.com) and two turnstones flew towards us from the tide line. They allowed close views as they posed on Swallows nest under an old barn roof as people rocks and probed the seaweed for sand sit and have tea. A hide looks out onto Bough hoppers. A great-crested grebe was on the Beech Brook where linnets, goldfinches, coots Swale. and moorhens were seen. On leaving the hide Steve Goodrich spotted a greater-spotted On the way to the sea hide an inquisitive woodpecker hiding in the shadow of a small common seal kept bobbing up to check our coppice. progress and by the time we reached the hide the tide was fully in. On the section to the sluice Venturing along the nature trail a commotion the highlights were a common snipe, a reed ensued in the sky where swallows and house warbler, a distant peregrine and a couple of martins were mobbing a sparrowhawk as it water rails and then Adrian found an emperor seemed to attempt to land in the field we were moth caterpillar crawling across the path. in. It took off into the woods carrying what seemed to be a bird. Luckily we had camera We stood for some time surveying the massed man Richard Hanman on hand snapping away ranks of roosting black-tailed godwits, black- at it to reveal to us all on his 'diggey' some great headed gulls and avocets before spotting Karen 'pics' of a poor moorhen with its long legs and approaching from the opposite direction. She big feet dangling from the talons of this master mentioned that she had seen the Bonaparte's hunter. gull which appears to have made Oare its new home on this side of the Pond. Oare regular, We totalled 43 species for the day. Murray Wright, was happy to put us onto the bird, which is a smaller and daintier version of Adrian Olsen our black-headed gull. 10 We learned, via the wonders of modern science, We picked up Ostrich that this American gull was named by Prince a few common Charles Louis Bonaparte, who was both a s p e c i e s zoologist and a nephew of Napoleon. This bird culminating was a life tick for some of the group and for with a male Wendy it was her second of the day, courtesy of bullfinch but the beardies! little else. As we reached Other waders seen were golden plovers, some the Wildlife still resplendent in their breeding plumage, Park we got ringed plovers and dunlin. Raptors were m o r e represented by a female kestrel and a female animated as marsh harrier, in addition to the buzzards and o u r f o cu s peregrine mentioned above. Passerines were in switched to short supply with singles of meadow pipit, such exotica common whitethroat and pied wagtail and small a s w a t e r numbers of house sparrows, goldfinches and b u f f a l o s , linnets. Not a single reed bunting was seen. All z e b r a s , Other (rspb- three hirundines were fly-bys with small groups o s t r i c h e s mages.com) of swallows, sand martins and house martins (surely a first passing through. for the Medway group bird list!), giraffes and an assortment of unidentified antelopes and deer. As we split up to go our separate ways, Brian Unfortunately we had all failed to bring along our saw a stoat run across the road in front of him field guides to East African Mammals! and Karen, Steve and I witnessed the spectacle of a young female peregrine stoop at the birds A footpath to the right climbs up the escarpment on the east flood, miss and then do a low level and brought us a cocktail of butterflies including attack which was also unsuccessful. painted lady, small tortoiseshell, comma, red admiral, speckled wood and common blue. Our The sunny weather produced a wealth of identification skills were tested (and found butterflies which included whites, meadow wanting) when we saw a group of four raptors browns, gatekeepers, small coppers, small circling and interacting but unfortunately they skippers, peacocks, tortoiseshells, common were directly into the sun. There was a blues and clouded yellows. Trevor pointed out consensus of unanimity that three of them were some sea-lavendar which was a colourful buzzards but we were all equally sure that the addition to the shoreline. fourth one was not. None of us could come up with a firm ID from the silhouette and we marked Thanks to all who took part for an enjoyable it off as a possible harrier of some description. morning with 53 bird species recorded. The return trip on the opposite side of the canal Sue Carter & Steve Goodrich is much more open with views to the south across Romney Marsh and the canal (devoid of Thursday 29 August birdlife) on the left. The sun was beating down Botolph’s Bridge/Royal Military Canal Hythe on us by this time so we walked briskly until my Leader Robin Smith other (better?) half picked up the cronking of a raven overhead which we were able to pick up This was a first visit to this venue for the Group OK although it was quite high in the sky. This and will certainly warrant a return visit in the completed our full compliment of corvids, having future. That is not to say that it was teeming with seen carrion crows, rooks, jackdaws, magpies birds around every corner but it offered a and jays earlier. pleasant walk alongside the Military Canal with a sprinkling of good birds thrown in and plenty of As we neared the end of the walk we all interest from the Port Lympne Wildlife Park managed to get fleeting glimpses of two alongside the canal. kingfishers. Then right at the end as we were chatting in the car park a raptor call drew our The outward walk takes you through an area of eyes upwards to see two hobbies finish off the scrub and mature trees with the Lympne morning in great style. escarpment on your right but offering only limited views of the canal on your left. Robin Smith 11 Thursday 12 September Along the path to the next hide we picked up Dungeness RSPB Reserve mute swans, grey herons, reed warblers and Leader Marie Tilley Cetti's warblers. Adrian Haywood managed to get a glimpse of the latter bird, but the rest of us Six of us assembled in the car park on a dry but had to be content with just hearing it. At the somewhat dreary September morning. As usual Scott hide we all managed to get definitive views the early arrivals were able to tell the rest of us of the black-necked grebes. We were then what they had already spotted. Barry and Sue joined by birders from the Firth Hide who told us Gould had seen a linnet but this was rather that seconds after we had left they were treated trumped by Adrian Olsen's report of crows to a fly-by from a black tern. mobbing a short-eared owl. They were not about when the rest of us arrived. On the way to the Christmas Dell Hide we saw a kestrel, and Barry Gould had a glimpse of a We made a good start from the visitor centre possible hobby, which was confirmed when we with swallows and house martins being seen all rushed outside to get a view. At the Denge amongst the many sand martins. We also Marsh Hide we added greylags (there were picked up coots, lapwings, little egrets, great- loads of them) but not the hoped for great white crested grebes, shovelers, pochards and black- egret. However, Adrian Haywood spotted two headed gulls. We left the visitor centre and saw peregrines perched on neighbouring pylons. both little grebes and moorhens in the pond and Whitethroat had good views of wheatears on the shingle bank behind. We also saw the first of many cormorants around the reserve.

The view from the Firth Hide confirmed that the water levels were down and this had left exposed a good number of islands and, more importantly, much muddy ground in front of the hide which had attracted good numbers of waders as well as the ducks and gulls. Several bar-tailed godwits first caught our eye, together John Bridges with avocets, ringed plovers, golden plovers, (rspb-images.com) snipe and redshanks, plus both great and lesser black-backed gulls. We were fortunate enough The two Adrians' saw whitethroat as we made to see both ruffs and reeves, which sometimes our way to the view point. There did not seem to got close to each other, enabling us to see the be much around at first glance, but soon some difference in size. had glimpses of marsh harriers and hobbies and Adrian Olsen found two buzzards perched way A greenshank gave us lovely views and then we apart on the same fence. Then Elizabeth Mann picked out both dunlins and little stints. We gave found the great white egret and we all had good these latter birds very close scrutiny as this is views as it walked along the edge of the reed where a semi-palmated sandpiper had been bed, before being disturbed by a passing marsh reported earlier in the week. We could not find harrier, whereupon it flew off into the reed bed. it, and its absence was confirmed by another The egret was a life tick for both Sue and Barry birder. He had seen it here two days before, but Gould. had spent the best part of three hours looking for it on this occasion, but without any luck. We We made our way back to the visitor centre for a also saw wigeons, teals, gadwalls and tufted somewhat belated lunch. Whilst watching the ducks. As well as a pied wagtail, we were lucky bird feeders, we added blue tits and chaffinches enough to see a small flock of yellow wagtails. to our earlier great tits, but overall it was The males were particularly smart. As we were remarkable how few passerines were about in leaving the hide another birder directed us to the scrub around the reserve. three birds, which he said were two little grebes and one black-necked grebe. By the time we left Four of us elected to go the ARC Pits and on the the whole hide was trying to sort them out, but way we saw tree sparrows on the bird feeders in opinions differed as to which was which. the front garden of the farm. We went to the However, Elizabeth Mann thought she had hide and again the water levels were ideal, with clinched it when she saw that one of the birds the islands and scrapes attracting many waders, had a red eye. including good numbers of lapwings. 12 We had seen many of the species previously, The 70 plus pink-footed geese had only just but it was still good to see another little stint, arrived and I could only wonder if they could be together with ringed plovers, snipe and dunlins. the same birds I’d seen in Spitz-bergen in the We added curlews, black-tailed godwits and Arctic last month. Canada geese to our list before we left. Hen and marsh harriers were seen and a small On our way back to the car park we heard a harrier on high, which we will always debate as green woodpecker and at the car park Adrian to whether it was Montague’s harrier. Haywood picked up a juvenile great-spotted Fortunately Richard Hanman got photos of it, so woodpecker clinging to a telegraph pole. He maybe we might get a definitive answer then saw a passing sparrow hawk to round off eventually. our day. Although we missed one or two, overall we saw sixty four species and had a very We were lucky enough to bump into a Medway enjoyable and civilised day’s bird watching. Local Group founding member, David Wilson, Dungeness had delivered once again. who lives locally and promised to come to come along to our Fortieth Anniversary (Ruby) Warren Mann celebrations next year at Northward Hill. As we walked back to the centre reminiscing, he told us Sunday 15 September that we were walking along the East Bank made Cley Marshes NWT Reserve famous by Richard Richardson; illustrator of the Coach Trip first Collins Bird Guide published in 1952. Leader David Saunders Richard was born in London in 1922 and by the Our trip on the 15th of September to Cley Marsh age of seven had already developed an interest Norfolk Wildlife Reserve was our final coach trip in birds with his earliest surviving sketch of a of the year, and well attended by 27 members. puffin dated 1936. Greylag geese

Richard Hanman

Leaving Sittingbourne at 7 am it was a long four Having left school at sixteen he worked in an and half hour trip. The weather forecast hadn’t office in London but spent most of his free time looked promising but in the event the predicted bird-watching or sketching in St James Park, down-pour held off in general to the end of the keeping illustrated diaries of his observations. afternoon. For me personally it was my first time there, although I had called in briefly at the Following a spell with the Royal Norfolk award winning visitor centre a couple of Regiment, Richard eventually settled at Cley. summers ago. No visit to Cley in North Norfolk was complete without meeting up with him and spending many We were lucky enough at the onset to see huge happy hours in his company. He established the numbers of godwits feeding on the pools and Cley Bird Observatory and served as its only every now and then wheeling around the skies. warden until it closed in 1963. 13 However, as a self-taught artist, Richard had been perfecting his skills of bird illustrations since his teenage years and his pictures appeared in over twenty books as well as bird reports. His most successful commission was as the illustrator of the Pocket Guide to British Birds which was published in 1952 followed two years later by The Pocket Guide to Nests and Eggs.

A two sentence history of Cley:- During the Middle Ages the marsh was sea covered at high tide allowing boats to navigate to a harbour near to the Church. In 1949 a series of banks were built to protect the village from flooding thus increasing the grazing land.

So to re-cap, apart from the (possible) Montague’s harrier, the bird of the day was seen Sue Mills and Sue Carter photo taken by Robin on the journey back, when a red kite suddenly Smith. flew low across the road ahead. The terrain as we moved further on through David Saunders Fairlight Glen was certainly far from easy and the relief of the downhill stretches was tempered We are advised by Sue Carter that it has been in the knowledge that 'what goes down must confirmed from Richard Hanman’s photo that it come back up!' For certain periods the puffing was indeed a Montague’s harrier. We can also and panting of six individuals drowned out the confirm that red kites aplenty can be seen above noise of the hirundines above. We headed the M40 in the Chiltern Hills, over 50 at one time. towards a viewpoint that was marked on the map but a horde (or should the collective noun Editors. be a 'zip') of flies forced us to beat a retreat. By this time we had decided to forsake further Sunday 22 September exploration into Ecclesbourne Glen and instead Hastings Country Park East Sussex sought a more gentle route to return to the car Leader Robin Smith park.

The name 'Country Park' conjures up images of Apart from the omnipresent hirundines the a formal parkland habitat with perhaps an area bushes were alive with assorted warblers with set aside for a children's playground but both common and lesser whitethroats, blackcaps Hastings Country Park is far from that. It offers a and chiffchaffs being most plentiful. The superb mixture of woods, farmland, gorse, farmland areas produced linnets and bracken and grassland dissected by small yellowhammers and in the woodland green and streams that tumble down towards the English great-spotted woodpeckers were seen. A mixed Channel. flock of long-tailed tits and warblers included a nuthatch. Big birds were represented by Six of us met in the spacious car park (with clean buzzard, grey heron and raven. A lone toilets nearby) on what turned out to be a calm, wheatear sitting high up on some power cables quiet day without even the hint of a breeze. All caused some identification problems for a while we could hear above us was the constant and the final bird of the day was a mistle thrush twittering of thousands of house martins and spotted on a telegraph pole as we headed for swallows that were stocking up with food before the tea room. setting off in search of warmer climes. This is a site that ticks a lot of boxes. It has good Our route took us initially to Warren Glen and we and plentiful parking, toilets, an excellent visitors' remarked that it was a pity that neither Warren centre and the Fairlight Tea Room offers yummy nor Glen were present in our party. As it cakes in a quaint setting. It is, however, not for happened a third of our party were called Sue the unfit or less-able and I am sure that we all and you can imagine the squeals of delight when slept well that evening. we came upon a bench looking out to sea with the legend 'For Sue' inscribed upon the back. Robin Smith 14 Saturday 5 October Blackcap Sandwich Bay/Pegwell Bay Leader Richard Hanman

I arrived at Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory (SSBO) at 8 am to meet Eugene and his pals at the ringing station. There was already a lot of activity with 50+ birds captured in the mist nets on the first tranche; including 30 chiffchaffs, 19 blackcaps, one reed warbler and one excitable song thrush.

At 9 am I was joined by eight other keen birders which included six from RSPB Medway Local Group (MLG) - Sue & Steve, Warren & Elizabeth, Giuseppe and Adrian and two new guests - Nigel & Judy Davies, who had seen the walk advertised on our new website, so we did our best to extend a warm MLG welcome.

Richard Hanman The second tranche of birds from the mist nets came in just after 9 am and produced more The woods on the opposite side were chiffchaffs and blackcaps, but also siskins, a surprisingly quiet – maybe all the birds were robin, willow warbler, goldfinch, chaffinch, a wrapped up in little bags back at the ringing gorgeous tiny firecrest, and meadow pipits of station! – but we did see blue tit, great tit, both English and Scottish decent. See if you blackcap and a green woodpecker, as well as can tell the difference in the picture below – red admiral, large white and comma butterflies.

At the hide overlooking the scrape we picked up water rails, moorhens, teals, stock doves, little egrets and grey herons. A Jack snipe had been seen here recently but we were not lucky enough to catch sight of it today. Back on the road, and heading towards the sea, we added stonechats and kestrels to our walk list as well as numerous dragonflies and a pretty small copper butterfly.

At the seafront we paused for a bit of sea- watching but the very pleasant, sunny October morning had the sea flat calm and us all stripping off an outer layer of clothing. Just as we’d given up all hope of any maritime excitement (unless you count a lesser black- backed gull) we were lucky enough to see two wheatears and a single red-throated which was McMipit is on the right holding the Iron Brew!. Photo fishing about 30 m off the beach. by Richard Hanman As we turned left through the gate onto the From the SBBO car park we added ring-necked footpath crossing the Royal St. George’s Golf parakeets, collared doves, wood pigeons, Course, there was healthy debate within the magpies, carrion crows, rooks, jackdaws, house group as to the days ‘best bird’ and it was martins, barn swallows, house sparrows, agreed that it was a joint tie between the captive blackbirds, starlings, pied wagtails, lapwings and firecrest and the wild red-throated diver. Late mallards. additions to the list of skylarks and pheasants didn’t change the outcome of the debate, but At 10 am we set off down Knightrider Road they did increase the walk total to 45 birds, four observing black-headed gull and herring gull butterflies and two new faces. We arrived back resting in a field full of sheep. at the SBBO car park at 1 pm. 15 All in all, a very pleasant three hour ramble The families and children had all relocated to the around a variety of habitats in a beautiful part of burning campfire which had been erected about Kent. 100 metres distant.

The patience, enthusiasm and hospitality shown As I approached I could hear the sound of by Eugene, Peter and the bird ringing group at children playing, lots of laughter and SBBO always makes this a very enjoyable conversation as everyone was seated around annual outing for RSPB MLG. the large campfire having clearly settled in. Many had cooked their own dinners and the Richard Hanman. RSPB were providing hot soup for all concerned. The children were clearly enjoying themselves and appeared totally carefree in their PUBLIC EVENTS environment (not a mobile phone or computer in sight!!) Saturday 10th August Meteor shower Big Wild Sleepout Northward Hill

Over the weekend of the 9th, 10th & 11th of August the RSPB promoted their UK wide event – the Big Wild Sleepout. The event encouraged thousands of children and their families to get close to nature by sleeping under the stars in their garden, wild place or RSPB nature reserve.

As part of this promotion the RSPB reserve at Northward Hill played host to a number of families with up to 30 pitches laid out for families to put up their tents in preparation for the adventure. The event was put together by Amy Winchester, one of the residential volunteers at At about 8.00 pm everyone began to reassemble Northward Hill, together with a number of RSPB back at the Marshland Viewpoint. The events staff. However the Medway group also played that had been planned included woodland walks, its part with Edward, his finance Jane Hotham bat detecting, moth trapping and of course story and yours truly happy to support the occasion. telling. In addition the Mid Kent Astronomical Society was also present with a wide range of optical equipment and was hoping to find the Perseid Meteor Shower as well as spotting stars and galaxies late into the night.

As everyone was assembling we could see large numbers of rooks returning to their roost in the dusk evening light. Then, as if right on cue, we were treated to the sight of a barn owl rising and falling at it was hunting for its food. Many of the children had never seen a barn owl before and it was a pleasure to see the joy and wonder on John Terrance Turner their faces as they were glued to the sight of the (rspb-images.com) ghost like figure rising and falling.

Saturday 16th was a warm summers evening The group split into two parties for a woodland albeit a bit cloudy. The families and their children walk – one fairly short for the younger children had been arriving since early afternoon although and a second longer walk for older children and I wasn’t required until later and arrived at the site their parents. I was happy to perform the role of about 7.00 pm. Edward and Jane had already “back stop” on the longer walk which was led by arrived and were looking after the campsite to Rolf Williams, communications officer for The protect the tents that had been pitched at the RSPB North Kent Marshes Reserves. As the Marshland Viewpoint and the valuable walk commenced the light was gloomy but as we equipment therein. entered the woodland it became very dark. 16 Rolf clearly enjoyed his role as leader and chief It would be useful to have feedback from those storyteller. At one point he got all the children to involved (good and bad) about everything from crouch down and shine their torches into the communication prior the event, layout, content undergrowth as he told them, in his scariest and delivery on the day. voice, about all the wildlife that lived there. We heard a number of soundings on the bat Please can you extend my thanks to anyone detectors that we had been carrying but who also took part that I may not have contact unfortunately, possibly due to our large number, details for. there were no more sightings. There was one exception however as we all witnessed the Kind Regards International Space Centre as it flew over the reserve – something not seen by many of the Marie Calvert adults before. Reserves Administrator Northward Hill Nature Reserve As we walked back to the campsite there were clearly a number of tired children who would Hi all, undoubtedly sleep soundly given their escapades. I left the site to return home about Firstly, I’d like to echo Marie’s thanks to you all. 10.30pm but as I did so I thought to myself what We couldn’t have pulled it off without your hard a wonderful sight the children would have when work and commitment. I must single out Marie they woke up in the morning sunlight over the for particular tribute for the monumental effort fantastic views offered at the Viewpoint. that she put in to her first W&CF. Fantastic!

Was this a trip for the serious birdwatcher I would not be too despondent about the visitor looking to boost his/her record of sightings? – numbers being low – we still engaged with over probably not. However this was a great 1200 people in one day – that’s not to be sniffed adventure for families and their children stepping at and, for the first time ever, we actually made a out into nature and experiencing the countryside small profit! – absolutely. It is important to remember that many of the children will be tomorrow’s twitchers Usually the Fair runs at a loss to the Society of and as such the event was well worth £1000 per year – we accept that because of the supporting. ‘small’ price it is to pay for disseminating our messages and for the clarion call of saving this Danny Gavigan wonderful piece of England, but we’ve never liked it. This year we made £600. Every cloud Sunday 8 September (and there were a few on the day) has a silver NKMR Wildlife and Countryside Fair lining!

Dear All, Cheers,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Julian Nash everyone involved with this year’s Wildlife & Site Manager Countryside Fair, with particular thanks to the North Kent Marshes Medway Local Group and High Halstow Women’s Institute for providing so many Volunteer for a day volunteers for the day. All the local volunteers that we have, residential volunteers and RSPB I was a grumpy volunteer having been given a staff contributed so much on the day and the different job to the requested ones. many weeks leading up to it. We are very lucky to have this support. Sadly the visitor numbers I whinged to the organiser who then explained were down this year and I would guess that the the reason for the change; too many of us rain didn’t help us, but all in all it was wanted to play at the kids craft table. I was less successful. We have a very small team here at than gracious in accepting this and then ended Northward Hill, so this event could not happen up having a fabulous time. without all your help. My duties were welcoming and counting the This was the first Wildlife & Countryside Fair that visitors as they arrived, which, on paper I have been involved in and I definitely learnt a sounded pretty boring but in fact was good fun lot from it. once I got the hang of it. 17 The thought was more daunting than the doing, Unfortunately, as it was so busy at the entrance, possibly because I am naturally a quite shy I did not have the opportunity of looking round person. the fair though I did have time to go to the hog roast stall where the food was so much nicer There were several of us at the entrance than the boring sandwiches I had brought with covering general information, giving out and me. explaining the kids exploring trail and the selling of raffle tickets. I have never been at ease with I went from a grumpy volunteer to a very happy pushing anyone into buying something that they volunteer in a matter of half a day, so, if I offer do not really want especially as the main prize any advice to other shy people, it would be to go was camping gear; very nice if you are a camper for it and enjoy yourself. but not if you are eighty something and using a zimmer frame. Carole Coulthard

35 YEARS OF CHRISMAS SALES STALL AT HEMPSTED VALLEY SHOPPING CENTRE

In Birdseye, Summer 2013 edition, we gave our readers an idea of the money we have made over the last 34 years at this event for the RSPB. Now with the aid of some present members we would like to give you an idea of how the sales event has developed.

Initially Medway local Group started selling goods supplied by South East Regional Office (SERO) of the RSPB at regular film shows run by them in Chatham. We later sold the remainder of the goods at our indoor meetings. In 1979 Bob and Ann Scott from First left, Carole at an activity she did volunteer for at Northward Hill asked if we could sell 'out of date' Riverside Country Park goods at Hempstead Valley. They arranged Several visitors did their best to avoid us, space in the underground car park and we were possibly they thought that there was a charge for there every weekend in October and November - the programme that we were waving around but very cold and damp. it was free. The majority were happy to have a programme thrust at them with an explanation of After several years, the Management of what needed to be paid for, what was free and Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre (HVSC) then to be directed to the kids trail and raffle asked the Group if we would like space in the ticket table which did quite a good trade. run up to Christmas in the main mall. We then had a super area where the coffee cafe is The weather was a bit variable, a mixture of now. We had two wagons with sales goods on sunshine, cloud, sometimes chilly breeze and them and a video player showing tapes of ending in a downpour just before the official wildlife. There were trees in the area and we had finishing time. For me it was fine as I was toy birds in the trees and bird song playing. We moving around to welcome visitors and keeping also had 3-4 tables for sales goods. With sale or warm but I know that one colleague was colder return goods from SERO we had an amazing than the cold drinks on her stall. amount to sell and goods not sold had to be returned by 1st January. The Group was sent a Many visitors said that they would come back for 'wish list' book of various projects where we their raffle tickets. A method that I have used would like any profits to be used. many times instead of a direct ‘I don’t want to buy one thank you’, but one lady and her young In these early days we do not believe these son did dash back just in time. For me the sales and profits were attributed to the Group. highlight of the day was this lady and young lad, about 10 minutes later, winning the first prize. In 1984 it was the Group’s 10th Anniversary and They are campers and the young lad just could fifth year at HVSC so we decided to celebrate in not stop jumping up and down with excitement. a big way. 18 We had a week--long display in the mall at In 2007 the management of HVSC decided all Hempstead Valley, where we had videos charity stalls should be located in a smaller area showing RPSB films continuously, large sales outside the Wallis shop, next to the flower stall, tables, and bird oriented games for the children where it has been ever since. and plenty of members answering questions from the public. The committee had persuaded We owe a debt of gratitude to all the members the two supermarkets, Sainsbury and Presto, to who have helped to organise and run the stall for let us put RSPB stickers on brands such as the last 34 years, particularly the late Linda Penguin Biscuits, Birds Custard and Famous Sweeney and Carole Nixon and their supporters Grouse Whisky and many other products. Any and our sincere thanks to the management of customers who had a sticker on their purchase HVSC for their continuing support received a small prize. Information supplied by: - Carole Nixon, Dave The Evening Post also ran a nightly bird quiz in Hale, Des and Carol Felix, Doug Grant, Heather their paper culminating with the name of a bird & John Pollard, Robin West on the Saturday. Surprise the bird was the Avocet! We contacted the local schools to get the children involved, again with quizzes or by FATHERS’ DAY AT RSPB NORTHWARD HILL doing paintings of birds, and the well-known Sunday 16 June 2013 Radio Kent Wildlife Presenter, Dr. (we have forgotten his name!!) gave a talk on the Saturday Birds, mammals and insects are parents as well afternoon and presented the prizes. and 50% are fathers so it was fitting to spend a day at Northward Hill RSPB thinking of By 1998, Carole Nixon was in charge and parentage and fatherhood in particular. The getting her stock from HQ and sale or return woodland car park is a good place to start and a goods from RSPB Dungeness Reserve shop. slow descent along the metalled track enabled Dungeness Reserve shop continues to supply us to listen to the jackdaws overhead, the cooing us with goods to this day. We had five full sized woodpigeons and watching a red admiral tables - plus a half sized table used exclusively sunning itself on the concrete. for recruitment – right inside one of the two doors where the coffee cafe is now, which Wren blasted us with cold air when they opened automatically, but meant we had a continuous stream of potential customers down both sides of the stall.

Carole Nixon retired in 2003 and Marie Tilley took on responsibility for the event, together with her role as Group treasurer, ably assisted by her husband Rob. Des and Carol Felix joined them in the organisation of the event in 2005 and Warren and Elizabeth Mann in 2006 and this team has run it ever since, ably assisted by the 30 or so group volunteers who help staff the stall. Mike Langman Christmas sales stall HVSC 2008. From left Carol Felix, (rspb-images.com) Adrian and Lynda Olsen Hidden in the undergrowth a wren sang its powerful song. Above a chiffchaff was usefully singing its name in a hawthorn. Further down the path a blackcap sang beautifully as a green woodpecker yaffled on a long-dead elm. A great-spotted woodpecker jip-jip-jiped away on the bough of a far oak, maybe to warn of the foraging jay nearby.

A flash of white as a green-veined white butterfly flew off the path ahead into the greenery. 19 At the Northward Hill viewpoint it was incredible Linnet and goldfinch tinkled on the overhead to see The Shard due west and Canvey Island pylons. In the distance a family of six mistle across the mighty River Thames in Essex. From thrushes fed in the orchard. Ewart’s Wood below a cuckoo called and whitethroats scolded their chattery warble. David Saunders

On the way to the heronry a hobby hawk sat on a heron trail post surveying the marsh for a ROBIN’S RAMBLINGS – meal, seemingly in no particular hurry. 45 RENEWING MEMBERSHIP 2012 minutes later, after some stretching exercises, it set off across the ‘Twas on one cold and winters day grasslands, twisting and On Elmley Marsh, so dull and grey turning in chase of a Where no mortal soul should be dragonfly. Overhead a Just members of the RSPB peregrine patrolled the skies over the I came upon a lass so fair scrape. Who kindly asked me ‘should I care To join the merry Medway band And spread the message o’er the land Hobby Of ducks and geese and waders too At Cliffe Pools as well as Hoo To come and join the many walks And come and hear the monthly talks’

So impressed was I, with what I heard Richard Allan The lengths you go to protect your bird(s) (rspb-images.com) That I felt the need to join So find enclosed six pound coin(s) A couple of hundred swifts had congregated by now to feed on the loft-borne insect life and I Robin Smith wondered if any hirundine fathers fell prey to either hobby or peregrine and did not see Fathers Day out. EDITORS NOTES

On the reservoirs Canada and greylag geese Please let us have your articles ASAP or at the were seen amongst the mallards, tufted, latest by 18 February 2014 for the Spring shelduck and pochard. Little egret and redshank edition. fed by the water’s edge. A pair of black-necked grebe dived repeatedly after dinner having Editors arrived a couple of days previously. Editors: Des and Carol Felix Walking back to the car park at Bromhey Farm a 72 Marshall Road, Rainham, Kent. ME8 0AW kestrel plummeted earthbound, undercarriage or [email protected] down, in anticipation of a strike; I quickened my pace to see the outcome, but was distracted by a The RSPB Medway Local Group Website : little owl staring at me with his white eyebrows www.rspb.org.uk/groups/medway accentuating his gaze from the barn top. Any Advertisements enclosed with this newsletter are not specifically endorsed by The RSPB or The RSPB Medway Local Group.

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