The organic vineyards on the slopes above the hamlet of Luddesdown are maturing and the arable weeds are hopefully still thriving. The ancient woodlands within Rochester Forest are alive with the sounds of spring birdsong and we find bluebells in flower amongst the celandine as well the much more local Moschatel or ‘town hall clock’….
Tag: Kent
Hunting raptors
A female hen harrier patiently works a patch of long grass within the grazing marshes at Cooling; it floats lazily low over the ground and seeks its small mammal or bird prey on which it will suddenly twist and pounce. A nearby flock of starlings seems unconcerned and moves restlessly across the short-grazed grassland ever…
Sissinghurst on St David’s Day
Having previously visited on a leap day, this is a visit four years and a day later under similarly blustery conditions with the clear light of early spring occasionally lighting up the deep red brick and fattening white magnolias. The place is unchanged. The white garden is green and the other gardens empty apart from…
Chasing oystercatchers and sleeping turnstones
Spring is alive when the oystercatchers start chasing rivals off territories. Two birds twist and turn up and down the beach in close formation. This frenzy is in marked contrast to the roosting turnstones and a single knot that quietly sit out the high tide on the wooden groynes. At the peak of the flood,…
Early spring on the North Downs
The cherry plum is out again in early February; always the starting shot to the new Spring with its blizzard of pure white blossom. The verges are coming alive with celandine and the single badger sett on the top of the bank is freshly dug, spewing flinted earth on to the narrow lane. Swanley village…
A Tale of Two Estuaries
In early January, the Torridge estuary in North Devon is wild and windswept; repeatedly hit by a series of gales blowing in from the Atlantic. Only a handful of walkers brave the elements. The pretty fishing village of Appledore is sheltered from the worst of the weather and looks east to the sand dunes of Braunton…
Brown hairstreaks on the North Downs
30th July 2023 The walk from home near Hextable in north west Kent to the corn bunting colony up on the downs passes along a tall, ancient hedgerow before emerging onto the rolling arable fields. This year the fields are down to flax and there are no nesting buntings to be seen or heard in…
Marc Chagall at Tudeley Church, Kent
This is a collage of some of the stained glass windows created by Marc Chagall and installed at All Saints’ Church in Tudeley near Tonbridge in West Kent; it’s a snapshot of the sad beauty of the extraordinary art that was inspired by the accidental drowning of the 21-year old daughter of the local landowner….
Kent – 13th May 2023
Saturday was a grand tour of some of Kent’s finest places. The day was bright and breezy and confirmed that May, the month of many weathers, is the best month of the year for wildlife (and possibly gardens). Sissinghurst We checked the plant species in the cottage garden where the colours are always burning hot…
Bursting Cornflowers
Cornflowers are just bursting. A pretty plant renowned for its a long association with cereal agriculture, apparently hated by farmers because its tough stems blunted their scythes. The pollen record suggests it was an introduction most probably from steppe habitats to Northern European countries from the ‘High Middle Ages’, perhaps enabled through the increased movements…
January sun
The vixen sleeps in the morning sun under the thick hedge that borders the road and in plain sight of the kitchen window. She looks up when she hears the Sunday joggers bustle down the hill but soon settles back down. She checks our bird feeders regularly mainly for any strewn peanuts; and to date…