Rye Harbour Village and Nature Reserve

Rye Harbour village figures a lot in my current jottings, for reasons those of you who read my blog will know. Rye Harbour is a village located on the East Sussex coast in southeast England near the estuary of the River Rother: it is part of the civil parish of Icklesham and is located some two miles downstream of the town of Rye. The village has a large car park, two pubs, a shop, a café and a gallery and tea room. The Rye lifeboat is stationed here.

The RNLI Lifeboat Station

Having recently holidayed here with my wife Ros, met Riley - the cat we want to adopt - enjoyed the hospitality of the William the Conquerer public house, Rye Harbour village is a place I could happily relocate to.

View of the village from the nature reserve

The village is 200 years old, having been built on an extension of the shingle beaches, progressively deposited by the sea over the last 800 years.

The Rye Harbour Nature Reserve was established nearby in 1970 and it now offers special wildlife experiences to 200,000 visitors a year. It has national and international designations and is home to more than 150 rare or endangered species.

The vast expanse of shingle that borders part of the NR

Moorings on the River Rother

The area is vast, rugged and wild to a great extent. A wonderful place for those with an adventurous spirit. For those of us who never really grow old....

And I cannot resist another 'look' at our holiday cottage 'Harbour Lights'...

Tenterden - a Jewel in Kent's Crown

Remiss of me not to have posted much of late; I am somewhat preoccupied with concern for Riley, the homeless cat in Rye Harbour village - the cat I have offered to re-home - and it's rather complicated. But that's another story.

During our vacation earlier this week we visited the town of Tenterden in Kent. This is one of the most beautiful places I have been to, a town with a broad tree-lined High street that is bordered with a well-tendered area of lawn.  It is good to see a busy town centre which is home to many small boutiques and antique shops, as well as craft shops, book shops and various banks, side by side with larger national retailers.

The town boasts no less than six public houses:

• The Woolpack, next to the Town Hall.
• The White Lion, in the High Street.
• The Vine, in the High Street.
• The William Caxton, in the High Street.
• The Crown, at Ashford Road in St. Michaels.
• The Fat Ox at the corner of Ashford Road and Ox Lane in St. Michaels.

Following are some photos of the wonderful buildings in the High Street: a pictorial tour as it were - 

'Riley' - for the love of a cat

The following is the text of an email I sent this afternoon. It helps to explain the story of 'Riley' - the cat in Rye Harbour village:

Hello André

Ros and I are back home from our wonderful break at Harbour Lights; it’s 46 miles door-to-door and took 1½ hours.

It was a pleasure meeting you and I have added to you to the short list of people who I consider friends. Thank you again for the World Music recordings you burned for me. We played one in the car on the way home and it helped to subdue the rather melancholy mood I was in - still am. It’s all about Riley…

The little guy has captured our hearts; we never asked him to walk into our lives - but he did. Perhaps we shouldn’t have fed him - but we did. Perhaps we shouldn’t have allowed him access to the cottage - but we did. In just four days we came to love that cat. Yesterday evening he arrived for his tea; this was after you and I had spoken at length outside the pub. Riley had his tea and we had our dinner. Ros went to watch TV and Riley climbed into her lap and went fast asleep….

Come 10pm we had to part company. I opened the door at the back of the cottage to see if he would leave of his own accord. Several minutes passed before he ventured out onto the patio, washed himself for a few moments - and then he followed the garden path - and was gone.

This morning as I packed items into the car he appeared and wandered in the front door. We had one sachet of food left and gave him that. And of course we had to carry him out before we left. As over-sentimental as it might sound, it broke my heart. Looking at him as I drove away, on my mind for most of the journey, still is.

Please do let me know what develops with Riley’s well-being. So concerned now about the colder nights and inclement weather. If no-one offers him a permanent home, then he has one here with Ros and me and Bertie and Oliver, our two cats. That is our commitment. Perhaps he would be happier in the environment he has come to know but that is no substitute for the love to be found in a permanent home.

Do keep in touch André and send news of Riley....

Intermittent Wi-Fi

Holidaying in Rye Harbour and my portable router only has intermittent reception so will probably have to wait until I get home on Wednesday to post about the trip. If this works here is a pic of our holiday home 'Harbour Lights'.

Packed and Ready...

We are packed and ready to go tomorrow. A pleasant drive along the Sussex coast to Rye Harbour and 'Harbour Lights' cottage, our 'home' for the next five days. Plenty of R&R, birding, seafood, good wine, real ale, single malts, books, music, local pubs, beach-combing, antique shops, shoe shops (Ros only), book shops, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, wellingtons, Tilley hats, Barbour coats, OS maps... and perhaps an umbrella!

BirdTrack

I have joined BirdTrack. This is a site where records submitted by BirdTrackers form the central elements of the page. You can explore the map to find out what has been seen locally or to visualise the relative frequency of records of any species across Britain and Ireland. You can discover the latest reporting rates (the percentage of complete lists that contain each species) using the interactive graphing facility and see which members of the BirdTrack community have been most active via the ‘Top BirdTrackers’ tables… and log in to see how your own BirdTrack stats compare.

Having entered my record list for 2014 so far I find myself at position number 1,780 in terms of species recorded this year.

Clearly I have much to do. A visit to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve this weekend should contribute significantly to my list....

Badger cull slammed by wildlife charity

Secret World, based in East Huntspill, is concerned for badgers’ welfare, claiming that up to 22.8% of the animals in the 2013 cull suffered, taking longer than five minutes to die from gunshot wounds. This has caused welfare groups and scientists to condemn the cull as inhumane.

Read more here:

http://www.thisisthewestcountry.co.uk/news/11477017.Badger_cull_slammed_by_wildlife_charity/ 

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

I have just joined the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary. Membership includes a digital subscription to the award-winning quarterly journal Living Bird.

The journal features stunning bird photography and fascinating articles on bird biology, behaviour, conservation, art, humour, travel and reviews of birding books and equipment.

Whilst I live in the United Kingdom I do not limit my interest in birding to these shores. The USA enjoys a wealth of magnificent birds that we do not see amongst our residents or visitors and Living Bird is a marvellous means of expanding my knowledge of ornithology overseas. 

More information here 

Facet Lock

I spent 45 minutes this morning with my osteopath who diagnosed that I had a facet lock at L5/S1. He said that the pain from this could be excruciating. Yes, I already knew that. Anyway, 30 minutes or so of manipulation during which I heard and felt the lock 'unlock' and the relief is incalculable. I am experiencing some understandable discomfort from the session and have an ice pack to use for 10 minute spells. Have booked a follow up appointment for Thursday before going on holiday on Saturday.

I can walk normally again....

This is Painful

Pain is on my mind. Pain beyond the pale. Think I have trapped my sciatic nerve. Unbelievable muscular spasms in the lower lumbar region. Every step is excruciating. Have an appointment on Monday with my osteopath, if I can get there! Reckon Ros will have to drive me over. Just hope he can sort me out as we go on holiday next Saturday....

The Badger Slaughter Continues...

It has been three days since the first 2014 bullet was fired at a British Badger. How many poor creatures have been murdered since then? Fifty? One Hundred? We will not know until the shooting ends in six weeks time. But we already know how many badgers should have been killed: None.

Since 2009 in Wales, where cattle control was chosen over badger culling, TB related cattle slaughter has fallen by more than half. In England, the government won't even hire back the independent experts that reviewed last years cull, after they so categorically described its failures.

Each time a bullet flies through the night, and a badger doesn't make it home, it isn't because our nation has failed badgers. It is because our government has failed us.

Addendum to Nightingale threat

Following are two important links provided by Sandra Palme:

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.change.org%2Fp%2Frt-hon-eric-pickles-mp-please-reject-the-proposal-to-develop-lodge-hill-in-medway%3Fshare_id%3DBjPmqWvldw%26utm_campaign%3Dautopublish%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook%26utm_source%3Dshare_petition&h=IAQED_7Cr

This is a petition site asking the Rt. Hon. Eric Pickles MP to reject the proposal to develop Lodge Hill in Medway. If you feel strongly about this as we do, please sign this petition.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fe-activist.com%2Fea-action%2Faction%3Fea.client.id%3D13%26ea.campaign.id%3D29359%26en_chan%3Dfb%26en_ref%3D23194821&h=IAQED_7Cr

This is a link to the RSPB campaign to help protect England's precious wildlife sites.

Nightingale under catastrophic threat

There is no other bird that sings so deeply, so full of ecstasy as the nightingale. The melody is endlessly varied. Nightingales are best known for their singing talent. In the spring, they sing during the day as well as at night. As a youngster growing up in East Kent, to hear the nightingale sing in Spring was almost as commonplace as hearing blackbird, song thrush or robin. No longer.

Over the years the geographical range of the nightingale has shrunk. Habitat loss, changes in farming practices, climate change and hunters have contributed to the decline of this beautiful song bird. In the United Kingdom this migrant from Africa will no longer be found anywhere north of a line drawn from the Humber to the Severn estuary. Hotspots for the nightingale are still to be found in the south of England and it is now more important than ever to ensure that these sites are protected, lest we are to see the ultimate extinction of this bird from our territory.

Lodge Hill on the Hoo Peninsula of the North Kent coast is a nationally protected wildlife site and is home to a nationally-important population of nightingales. And yet, Medway Council’s Planning Committee has approved an Outline Planning Application by Land Securities on behalf of the Ministry of Defence for the development of 5,000 homes on the 330 hectare Chattenden Woods and Lodge Hill Special Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI). This decision, announced on the 4th of September, will directly destroy 144 hectares of the SSSI, one of the largest losses of a SSSI since the Wildlife and Countryside Act came into force in 1981. The decision is in direct conflict with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

Lodge Hill is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), designated by the Government’s statutory authority for the natural environment - Natural England. It was designated for the dense breeding population of nightingales that comprise more than one per cent of the entire UK population. Between 1995 and 2008, the numbers of UK nightingale population more than halved (53 per cent).

For Medway Council to approve this proposal is both arrogant and contemptible and shows a complete disregard for Natural England’s site designation. It puts greed and truculence before any consideration for conservation, before any consideration for the preservation of a song bird, that should be paramount.

If this development goes ahead it will be a crime of magnitude that would lead to irretrievable loss. It must not be allowed to happen. 

The Three Stooges

So, Cameron, Clegg and Miliband have flown north for a frenzied day of campaigning that will probably do more for the 'Yes' camp than they otherwise wish to achieve. Three stooges united in a vain attempt to bolster the intervention of ex PM Gordon Brown. Alex Salmond was quoted as saying: "This is the day the 'No' campaign finally fell apart at the seams". He may well be right.

A 'Yes' vote could mean political earthquake in the House of Commons. A recent Poll of polls suggested that Ed Miliband will win an overall majority of 32 in next May's general election. But if Scottish MPs are excluded there would be a hung parliament, with Labour three seats short of a majority. Scotland is potentially critical to Labour's ability to win an overall majority.

Either way the Scots' vote will be a momentous decision. I only hope that it is not decided on a 51/49 split of those who vote (as suggested by the latest poll). Such a historic occasion needs a positive, democratically reached outcome with a significant majority one way or the other. Such a slim margin as the poll indicates is sure to leave many voters dissatisfied.

Our Badgers are dying

Despite the best efforts of Network For Animals, Team Badger, and thousands of motivated people around the UK, the 2014 badger cull finally began last night, Monday 8th September.

Over the next six weeks, up to 1876 innocent badgers will be shot by government employed marksmen, either trapped in cages that could have been used to vaccinate them, or fired upon from up to 70 metres away while meekly foraging for food.

Parliament voted in April by 219 to 1 that the culls should not continue. Public opinion is firmly against culling. Majority independent scientific opinion suggests badger culling could make bovine TB worse. And hundreds of thousands of us have spoken out, time after time.

Yet here we are. Unheard. And our badgers are dying.

I listened this morning on the radio to Elizabeth Truss, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, uttering the same verbal diarrhoea that we used to suffer from Owen Patterson and no doubt spoon-fed to her by the NFU. The blind arrogance of these people is overwhelming.

In May 2015, the United Kingdom will elect its next government (with or without Scotland). The general election is now the vehicle for change that we must embrace. A pledge to end the badger cull will need to be written into any political manifesto that expects my support. 

I trust that you feel the same.

The North American Bird Guide 2nd edition

Today I took delivery of "The North American Bird Guide 2nd Edition" written and illustrated by David Sibley. This bulky 600 page edition weighs in at 1.4kg. Not a pocket guide then. Far from it. This supreme book is the most comprehensive guide to the birds of North America. It covers the identification of 923 species and includes nearly 7,000 paintings digitally remastered from original art.

So, what is a bloke doing, who lives on the south coast of Britain, buying a guide to North American birds? You might well ask. Well, I own many guide-books to birds from various regions of the world, but particularly the United Kingdom and Europe. This is my first, and will be my only, guide for North America. We actually share many species and 'vagrant' American birds do turn up 'over here' at times of inclement weather across the Atlantic.

I will probably spend hours looking at the astonishing artwork of David Sibley and reminding myself of the wonder of birds that I saw recently in the delightful movie "The Big Year" starring Steve Martin, Jack Blake and Owen Wilson; three amateur bird watchers who compete to become the ultimate 'birder' by spotting the greatest number of species within a single calendar year. Highly entertaining.

And just maybe I can convince myself that the long haul flight would be worth it to participate in some birding in America.

I just need to convince my wife....

Fracking Sparks Habitat Fears

New government guidelines to protect sensitive areas from the risks of fracking don't go far enough, according to Harry Huyton, the RSPB's head of climate change. Although the government has protected Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AoNBs), National Parks and World Heritage Sites, the guidelines stop short of safeguarding wildlife Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).

The document also allows companies to apply for a licence to extract shale gas in AoNBs and National Parks under "exceptional circumstances", but fails to specify what those circumstances may be.

I simply do not trust the government....

BP Found Guilty of Gross Negligence

It appears that finally all the dead sea-birds have come home to roost on BP's doorstep. The NGO has received the blow it has feared for more than four years after a US court ruled that it was guilty of gross negligence over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill - a decision that could add as much as $15 billion to its costs for the disaster.

The ruling hit BP hard sending its shares spiralling down 6 per cent and wiping $9 billion off its market value. "BP's conduct was reckless" Judge Carl Barbier said as he handed out his decision yesterday in New Orleans. Needless to say BP immediately responded by saying it would take its case to the US Court of Appeals.

The explosion on the Deepwater Horizon platform at the Macondo well in April 2010 killed 11 people and spewed several million barrels of oil into the sea over the next three months.

I remember at the time seeing horrendous footage and photographs of oiled sea-birds, in particular Brown pelicans, many so badly oiled they did not survive. One of the worst marine catastrophes of all time.

Simply heartbreaking

I have friends in the Gulf area. One of them runs a dog rescue centre that came close to closing. It relied on donations from locals, many of whom were hit hard by this disaster and did lose their businesses. Donations virtually dried up as a result of locals losing their incomes. The rescue centre were forced to lay off staff owing to a calamitous loss of income. When it came to compensation the BP attorneys based it upon the number of staff employed after the lay-offs. Despicable, but that's lawyers for you.

This hike in BP's fine would push its total bill for the disaster well above the $43 billion that it has currently accounted for to cover costs such as legal fees and compensation.

Don't expect any sympathy from me...

Operation Turtle Dove

On the 100th anniversary of the extinction of North America’s Passenger Pigeon [Monday 1 September, 2014], the RSPB is highlighting the plight of the Turtle Dove, which is currently halving in number every six years.

Just like the now-extinct Passenger Pigeon, the Turtle Dove is a migratory bird. The species nests in the UK and Europe and spends the winter in Africa, south of the Sahara.

Tara Proud, of the RSPB, said: “The decline of the Passenger Pigeon is a strikingly similar story to the decline of our very own Turtle Dove, which currently is halving in number every six years. It’s too late for Passenger Pigeon, but 100 years on we don’t have to accept that Turtle Doves will suffer the same fate. Turtle Doves are the UK’s fastest declining bird species. For every 20 doves we had in 1970, we now only have one. At this rate, the bird’s UK extinction as a nesting species is a real possibility.”

Operation Turtle Dove was launched in May 2012 to stop the Turtle Dove following the same path as the Passenger Pigeon and is a partnership between the RSPB, Conservation Grade, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust and Natural England.

Tara Proud added: “Together, we are identifying the primary causes of the decline through research right across their long migration. We then develop urgent practical solutions – such as advising farmers how they can provide food for Turtle Doves on their land.”

Badgers - and this Disreputable Government

The last week has been terrible for badgers, and things are only going to get worse:

Tuesday 26th August: British Government quietly release plans to kill up to 1876 badgers in Somerset and Gloucestershire this year.

Friday 29th August: Badger Trust high court legal challenge against the badger cull is overturned.

Tuesday 2nd September: Badger vaccination projects are announced to be taking place around the country.

I don't approve when I see a story of vaccination being used to bury the real news of the imminent and unjustifiable murder of badgers.

Make no mistake, our nation is in uproar about what is being done in Somerset and Gloucestershire. More than 300,000 people signed Brian May's anti cull petition in 2013, but the cull continued. It claimed the lives of almost 2000 badgers, cost around £7,000,000 and the independent expert team hired to study the results described it as 'ineffective and inhumane'.

At this point, any sensible person would look at the overwhelming scientific evidence against the cull, the view of their own expert panel, the will of the people, and accept that they had made a mistake.

But not this government. Instead they fired the expert panel, and told the contractors to get the guns back out.

This cull is an abomination, which the government are pursuing at all costs and sweeping deftly under the media radar. Many still do not know there is to be a badger cull this year. It is up to each of us to share the truth. Please share the news of this imminent cull with friends and family:

http://www.networkforanimals.org/news/2014-badger-cull-given-go-ahead 

 

Top Bird for Britain

Many countries have a national bird but Britain isn't one of them. David Lindo, known as the Urban Birder, is on a mission to find out which feathered friend holds the dearest place in the nation's heart. The poll runs until next month here

Me with David Lindo

With 20,000 votes cast, here is the top ten so far:

1. Robin
2. Barn owl
3. Kingfisher
4. Wren
5. Blue tit
6. Mute swan
7. Puffin
8. Hen harrier
9. Blackbird
10. Red kite

So why not take a minute to add your vote at the link provided above? 

A Review on Martha

The Passenger Pigeon was once the most numerous bird on the planet, probably by a huge margin. The statistics that Mark Avery recounts on population size, breeding colonies, roosts and migrating flocks are simply mind-boggling, completely dwarfing anything we can see today. There were almost certainly somewhere between five and ten billion Passenger Pigeons in North America early in the nineteenth century.

Mark Avery provides a very useful digest of the vast literature on this species and comments on various aspects of Passenger Pigeon ecology, its dependence on native broadland forest and its mast production and statistics on population dynamics. He discusses habitat loss and the unbelievable slaughter of the birds (for food) in the 2nd half of the 19th century.

The story is a tragic one and well told, the story of a man-made extinction. Martha was the last surviving Passenger Pigeon and died 100 years ago in captivity, in Cincinatti zoo. Martha's message to us, so well reinforced by Avery, is that we should do our utmost to make sure that such an event cannot happen again.

Essential reading for anyone concerned with conservation, habitat change, loss of important food plants, modern farming methods and indiscriminate shooting. It is easy to say that the Turtle Dove will not become the new Passenger Pigeon - but can we be sure?

Neonicotinoid impacts on birds

The catastrophic impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on bees has long been suspected but now it's becoming clear that they are hitting farmland bird populations too.

Neonicotinoids are the most widely used insecticides in the world. They are toxic to most arthropods and they are widely applied as seed dressings because they act systemically, protecting all parts of the crop. Like so many pesticides used in the past they can persist and accumulate in soils and leach into waterways.

As a result of many studies, both in the laboratory and in the field, there is a widespread view among entomologists that neonicotinoid use has - in combination with the loss of flower-rich meadows, disease and mite infestations - contributed to the decline of bee populations. They are much less toxic to vertebrates and until recently evidence of any impacts on birds has been merely suggestive. However, a recent paper by Caspar Hallmann and his colleagues published in Nature has shown that decreases in bird numbers in the Netherlands shown by the Dutch Common Breeding Bird Monitoring Scheme have been most rapid in areas with highest environmental concentrations of neonics.

Read the paper here