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Collective memories

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Harry Cawkell would tap his pipe out, lean back into the common room chair, survey the eager faces before him and then begin. Anecdotes and stories, gossip and rumour, all had a place in the show that had now started. Harry, Dungeness Bird Observatory’s (DBO) long standing honorary secretary, loved nothing more than to talk about ‘the old times’ with any birders that happened to be in his orbit when he popped into the obs. For those of us who had known Harry for a few years the stories would be familiar, but we listened with avid interest regardless. Some of his stories were so familiar, and so rarely did he deviate in their telling, that we would know exactly what words were about to be spoken. Some of these became catchphrases. Harry’s stories - and Harry’s telling of them - became part of the Dungeness story itself. And then, in 1999, Harry died. And with him went those stories… They didn’t entirely go. Some of us remembered them, or at least the odd personally selected highlight. I...
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Inverts on the downs

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Banstead Downs sits just to the south of the Greater London boundary - in fact, if you cross the road at its northern limit you will be straying into the London Borough of Sutton. This relatively modest area of chalk downland has a decent record of natural history recording (no doubt due to the close proximity of London) and so for the local naturalist there is the pleasure of being able to browse historical species lists across several groups. Having lived in the general area for 55 years my ventures onto this particular downland were primarily in search of its birds, plants and butterflies, but recently that has shifted to dipping in-and-out of the wonderful array of invertebrates that it has to offer. This morning I had a small window of opportunity to go exploring. There is one small area on the eastern flank that I make a bee-line for, with low vegetation choked with Bramble, Stinging-nettle, Cow Parsley and Hogweed (with a dash of Horse-radish for good measure). It is next to a l...
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The invertebrate learning curve

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Dungeness is a superb location for seeking out invertebrates, be they common-place or specialists. For a 'jack of all trades' like myself - and certainly no expert - such immersion into the world of insects can be daunting, but ultimately highly rewarding. Identification down to species level will not be possible for many of the individuals that you might come across, but sometimes just being able to identify the creature before you to a specific family is reward enough. And, at times, you just need to admit defeat when you realise that the bee you are watching might just be a hoverfly, or even a wasp - it is OK to hold your hands up and surrender! You are also opening yourself up to life on a steep learning curve when looking at tiny insects with the aid of a magnifying glass or a loop, only to realise that there are even smaller insects alongside them. Are these even smaller beasts a different species or nymphs of the larger ones with them? Questions, questions... A few of my...
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A week on the shingle

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It was but a month ago that I suggested that staying at Dungeness Bird Observatory (DBO) might be a thing of the past for me. Seeing that I have just returned from a week’s residency at that very same establishment proves that I really do not know my a*** from my elbow… And what an enjoyable week it was. There may not have been the volume of migrants that were hoped for,  but there was rarity, there was a more than passable passage at sea, the invertebrates were forthcoming and the pleasure to be gained from meeting up with friends old and new was priceless. It will come as no surprise to even the most casual of visitors to this blog that the shingle, once again, burrowed its way deep inside of me and on more than a few occasions I found myself stopping in my tracks to take in special moments - I will try to put these moments into words, although words can rarely evoke the feelings that these jolts of joy produce. Star billing went to Dungeness’s third Iberian Chiffchaff, found sin...
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Picture this (1)

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I'm a great believer in living for, and in, the moment. To not worry about the where, the what or the need to put that moment down on paper, on a computer spreadsheet or manifest itself as an assemblage of pixels on a memory card. But sometimes, if you have a camera on you - and you utilise it -  you can capture that moment in a meaningful way. And a reviewing of that captured image can help you relive that moment in a far more vivid way - it isn't always the case and rarely does it happen. The following images are not necessarily pin-sharp (almost certainly not so!) but can convey, to me at least, something beyond them being but a record shot. There will be others, these being the first in a series. The captions should be self explanatory. Dungeness, Kent: in recent years the Cormorant has become a plague bird - thousands wintering on the point, roosting on the RSPB reserve and flying out to feed over the sea across Rye and Lade Bays. They have - at least to my eyes - become a...
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A shepherd's tale

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In the spring of 1999 I was walking westwards along the North Downs Way at the base of the scarp slope, just past Juniper Hill. In the distance I could see a patch of vivid inky-blue which I assumed would be a grounded helium balloon or, less exotically, a plastic bag. As I got closer this colouration revealed itself to be a small group of large gentian flowers. They did not match anything in my botanical field guide so I took some photos and carried on walking, perplexed as to what these gentians could be. Later in the day I was able to refer to some literature - and it was Stace's second edition of his 'New Flora of the British Isles' that solved the puzzle - they were revealed as being Gentiana clusii (Trumpet Gentian)*, planted and naturalised along that very same section of the Surrey North Downs since 1960. Since then I have, on a number of occasions, revisited this clump of gentians, plus another patch (some half-a-mile further west and higher up the scarp slope) - e...
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Hidden gems

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In the last post I suggested that I might be going all out to get to 4,000 species for my UK Pan-species list. This morning saw me out in the garden, holding a washing up bowl in one hand and beating Ivy and Pieris with a stick in the other. Had I gone mad? Maybe, but the result was - apart from a bit of vegetative debris - a number of invertebrates in the bowl, including several new species! All common, but it just goes to show that there is plenty of low hanging fruit literally on one's doorstep.  This afternoon I walked up to Banstead Downs with one species firmly on my radar. Local naturalist Neil had recorded several White-shouldered Shieldbugs where the Lixus iridis weevils are, and this was an invert that I was keen on seeing! However, after two hours searching I had to make do with a number of Dock Bugs, Brassica Bugs, Woundwort Shieldbugs and a single Tortoise Shieldbug. I'll be back soon. I was, however able to add a further six species to my pan-species list that has...
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