RXwildlife Sightings

Walking the Dungeness shingle in December reveals scenes you don’t normally notice at warmer times of the year. Such walks are relatively guilt-free because the lichens are soft and spongy, and don’t fragment when you walk on them. Something else is different about them at this time of year, or rather their illumination. The sun is at such a low angle that even a relatively flat featureless scene such as the Dungeness landscape is shown in its micro-topographic spendour. The peaks and valleys of mats of Cladonia lichens, like a miniature range of hills, are revealed by the shading produced by the almost horizontal rays of sunshine

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TQ 71 M actually…
When you do a 2-hour Timed Tetrad Visit for the Atlas, you’re supposed to plan an itinerary which will comprise all the habitat elements present within the square: farmland, scrub, wood, any body of water etc. However, since I view the surveys as nice country walks, I too often steer clear of built-up areas and consequently miss out those urban specialists such as Starling, Collared Dove and the disappearing House Sparrow.
I’ve also noticed, more this winter than last, that the provision of garden bird feeders sustains large numbers of birds which are just not apparent out in the woods.
So I made a point of starting in Battle High Street, which is a sort of picturesque canyon in which traffic noise rebounds from the house-fronts, blocking out any bird calls. You can see a few Starlings etc perched on the roofs but the trick is to look across the yards behind, around car-parks and (inconspicuously) into gardens, all of which are busy with birds.
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Highlights today, 65 Golden Plover on Flat Beach, a Dartford Warbler in bramble scrub near Lime Kiln Cottage, 3 Long-eared Owl, 2 Marsh Harrier and a Barn Owl at Castle Water and a roosting Short-eared Owl was flushed by Carrion Crows behind Ternery Pool. On Long Pit highlights were Black-necked Grebe, three Scaup and three Goldeneye (including one drake).