Thrushes, like redwings, prefer rowan and other berries with small seeds

Image: Steve Round.

By September, the hedgerows are laden with berries, providing delicious pickings for people and birds alike. The intricate relationship between birds and berries has developed into a mutual dependence for survival.

Berries are an important food source for many birds during the winter, especially…

Thrushes, like redwings, prefer rowan and other berries with small seeds

Image : Steve Round.

By September, the hedgerows are laden with berries, providing delicious pickings for people and birds alike. The intricate relationship between birds and berries has developed into a mutual dependence for survival.

Berries are an important food source for many birds during the winter, especially…

On Sunday last Murray Orchard did a survey and this is what he recorded:-

11 Shelduck, 100 Teal, 28 Mallard, 5 Pintail, 59 Shoveler, 26 Pochard, 86 Tufted Duck, 5 Goldeneye (4 including a drake on Radar Pool, ducks were on Hidden Pool), 153 Little Grebe, 39 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Black-necked Grebe (together, on Crystal Pools), 8 Little Egret, 1 Marsh Harrier (2 year male, no sign of any roosting), 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Buzzard…

......flock together, and no mention of Essex wives!!!!

1) When to watch

The best time of year to witness flocking is winter as migratory birds prepare to head for warmer climes, and those that stick around for winter will be foraging and roosting together.

2) Honk honk

Sometimes geese at the back of their flock will make honking sounds to encourage the birds ahead to maintain their speed.

My thanks to Rob Budgen and Eliza Saunders for the images.

The old phrase used be 'blue and green should never be seen without a colour in between' but I think the blue sky of Northward Hill and the green fields are fine and don't need anything in between!!!

It is nice to see Sweeney Viewpoint signage (and others) and the benches freshly painted.

We all know caterpillars eat, eat and eat, but they they also poo, poo and poo. In point of fact it is not called poo or excretment or even faeces, it has its own name FRASS. 

So why frass, where did that come from? It is from the German fressen meaning to gobble or feed as an animal might. We might say to pig or wolf down ones dinner. So frass it is then!.

Basically, frass comes in many sizes, dependent upon the size…

The Black-necked Grebe is still showing well on Conoco Pool, (the one nearest the car-park).

Good numbers of Avocet and Ringed Plover, Golden Plover and Dunlin plus a Little Stint and a couple of hundred Black-tailed Godwit with 20 Curlew and a handful Greenshanks. Noticeable is a rise in the number of Great Black-backed Gulls.

A couple of days ago a flock of 50 chaffinches was on the path opposite the office, Roger Kiddie thinks they were picking up grit prior to feeding before moving on.

Since birds do not have teeth (a compromise to make them lighter so they can fly!) they ingest grit that remains in their crop (a very muscular organ) to grind down their food into smaller particles for digestion. When no longer of use they are vomited up…

Black and white! Really? How about black and white plus some green and blue thrown in.

With its noisy chattering, black-and-white plumage and long tail, there is nothing else quite like the magpie in the UK. When seen close-up its black plumage takes on an altogether more colourful hue with a purplish-blue iridescent sheen to the wing feathers, and a green gloss to the tail. Magpies seem to be jacks of all trades - scavengers…

Last Tuesday we had the opportunity as a group to celebrate two of our number getting the RSPB Presidents Award, as many people know this is only given out 6 times a year.

To make it memorable for the Medway group Wendy presented them with a cake at the indoor meeting at Rainham, here are a couple of images for those that couldn't make it on the night.

Apologies for the lateness of the blog this week, illness got in the way!  

This afternoon we took the dog for a walk to the woodland end of the reserve it was a beautiful day and Mr Blue Sky was evident. Looking at it through the ever-changing leaves had a magical quality, yellowy-orange against the stunning sky. The birds were enjoying it as well, Blue tits called to each other. Robins called their winter trills alongside…

Speaking to the bird ringers this morning, Andrew showed me a picture of the bird of the day, as you can see below a beautiful Firecrest. A bird that dwells mainly in confers and is a short range migrant, so maybe it's passing through or likes the look of the reserve and will stay for the winter. 

Talking of migrants Roger Kiddie told me he saw the first of the winter Redwings this morning with 21 flying overhead…

Yesterday I had the great pleasure along with Medways' Group Leader, Wendy Birtall to attend the RSPBs' AGM and Members' Day, held at the QE11 Conference Centre in Westminster. It was doubly important for Medway Group to be there as their own Des and Carol Felix were amongst the 8 recipients of the highly prestigious President's Award. This is given out once a year to 6 people or couples who have made an outstanding…

Today over the pear orchard a raptor appeared, mobbed by three crows, a common buzzard was close by getting no attention from the corvids. It appeared larger than the buzzard and the bins revealed it to have a trailing edge wing marking of black, at the 'elbow' was a dark patch, the wings were flat as it glided to avoid the crows. I watched it as it drifted toward Northward Hill. It was for me it was a Honey Buzzard on…

Swallows and house martins are still on high and resting on the wires and feeding to build up their fat reserves for the long journey ahead back to their winter quarters in sub-Saharan Africa.

As they are making plans to leave another winter visitor to the Medway Estuary have arrived, I saw about a hundred Dark-bellied Brent Geese fly into the mouth of the river across from Essex side, no doubt heading for the eelgras…

So we were walking this afternoon at Allhallows when about 100 Geese in 2 or 3 Skeins overflew us and headed from Essex side into the mouth of the Medway    

Birdlife seen in the last two days at RSPB Cliffe Pools include:- Shelduck, 3 Black-necked Grebe, Little Egret.

Avocet, Lapwing, 30 Bar-tailed Godwits, Spotted Redshank, Spoonbill, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Knot and Curlew Sandpiper.

Brilliant to report 87, Curlew, 13 Greenshank.

Many thanks to Jason Dunn and Mike Puxley for the sightings and David Saunders and Steve Wells for the photos.

Each equinox is every three months and on the 21/22nd of either September, December, March and June. The September one is the first day of Autumn, when the hours of 'light' and 'dark' are equal ie 'equinox'.

In these days of central heating, air conditioning, refrigeration and all seasonal foods, it is difficult to understand how important the changing seasons were to our forebears a couple of…