Last weekend we made the most of some lovely bank holiday weather to get ourselves out and about. On Sunday morning we set out early to visit the Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory scrape to see how the black-headed gull colony was getting on. We are not very familiar with black-headed gulls yet, but I already love how they use body postures and wing positioning to communicate with each other.

The shingle ridges would probably be where the gulls would choose to lay their eggs but these are still underwater after the wet spring, so they were making the best of things and nesting in the grass of the islands:

The birds are at the egg laying stage and there was much ongoing mating:

The colony was busy and loud, but not so cacophonous that we couldn’t hear the wonderful call of a cuckoo floating across the water. Other species were quietly going about their business nearby:

We will return to the scrape before too long and hope to see some spotty gull chicks.

On bank holiday Saturday we went to a plant fair at Saltwood Castle, near Hythe. The late MP Alan Clark was a controversial figure but he inherited this medieval castle from his father and his widow still lives there today, opening the castle grounds for a few days each year to support local charities:

I have to also include a photo of this cake stall because the cake we had from here was really nice:

Always on the look out for wildlife, we heard a rustling in the undergrowth and I suppose shouldn’t have been surprised when a peacock emerged. We were, after all, at a castle:

Eight tortoises were contained in a cage for the day. Ordinarily they live amongst the castle grounds:

Alan Clark’s collection of heritage cars was on display in the garages:

On leaving Saltwood Castle and heading for home, we took the wrong road and pulled into a driveway to turn around. We then noticed that it was the entrance of a house that was just about to open under the National Garden Scheme and so we spontaneously drove in. We had unexpectedly arrived at Sandling Park, and that morning was the first time that the gardens were opening to the public since the outbreak of covid. We were the first to arrive.

We talked to one of the family who live here and between them they manage the expansive gardens with the help of just one gardener. We learned that ravens nest in a large conifer up by the house every year and that she has already seen two hoopoes on her lawn this spring. The garden is also very rich in hedgehogs which is wonderful to hear – we don’t get them at all in the meadows or in the wood.

We might not have been meaning to visit Sandling Park but it was an uplifting spring garden and well worth the visit. Another helping of tea and cake was involved, of course.

This week I spent some quality time with a centipede. Unlike all the centipedes that I have ever seen before, this one moved in a very leisurely fashion so I had plenty of time to get some photographs and to have a proper look at how it moved all those 71 pairs of legs without tripping over. It was mesmerising.

In September I will have been writing this blog for ten years and I believe that this is the first time that it has ever included mention of a centipede.

The hawthorn is in full flower in the meadows and providing pollen and nectar for all sorts of interesting invertebrates:

There is one particular reptile sampling square under which large numbers of slow worms gather to warm up:

Viviparous lizards are the other reptiles that live in the meadows:

Every summer a few pairs of starlings arrive to breed. There are seven birds here and so there might be four pairs this year:

A tawny owl is on this new perch every night:

This is very pleasing because the perch is in a part of the meadows that we have been tentatively developing into a different type of habitat over the last two or three years. Selected bushes of bramble and blackthorn have been left to grow up in this area but we are keeping the grasses mowed around them to maintain control. We thought that whitethroats and other small birds might like to nest in the thorny clumps, but the repeated visits by this tawny recently suggest that they are also providing shelter for small mammals and the area is now developing its own personality, distinct from the rest of the meadows:

A kestrel has been hunting here as well:

I am pleased to report that there are three baby badgers this year – triplets! They have started to come out with their mother to be shown the ropes:

A fox on the hay pile:

For two nights this week we had Vigilant, a Border Force vessel, anchored alongside the meadows. The Goodwin Sands offshore from the meadows, are exposed only at low tide and can be seen behind Vigilant here. The black blobs on the sand are grey seals:

We sometimes get a bizarre optical illusion where ships seem to be flying through the skies. This was particularly extreme one day this week, although we only had our phones with us so the photo isn’t great:

We hear that swifts are now arriving in the country, although we haven’t seen any as yet. Now, with maybe not a moment to spare, we are finally prepared for them. The builders have today returned to fit the swift boxes into the tower of our new garage:

Inside the tower the boxes are now up:

The backs of the boxes can come off and there is then a perspex screen. This could also come away for the bird ringers to ring any chicks, should there ever be any:

A birds eye view out from the box and across the meadows:

Last year swifts nested in a box that is attached to the house, and we now have a camera in there ready to leap into action:

So, everything is ready. All we need now are some swifts….