THE HURRICANE SEASON

Twenty three years ago tonight the south east was savaged by Hurricane Michael,named after Mr Fish the weatherman,who infamously denied the existence of such a beast on the evening news.The devestation was amazing,luckily few were killed as the worst of the storm took place at night,but it changed the landscape forever.Hopefully there will be no repeat tonight.

PIED FLYCATCHER

PIED FLYCATCHER

GOLDCREST

WHEATEARBLUE TITLONG TAILED TITJAYRAVEN

My birding week began at Langdon on Sunday with a pied flycatcher in the hawthorns,a raven cronked its way across the hole with full crop,where was he going I wonder.Two other unusual birds for Langdon were jay and great spotted woodpecker.Large numbers of goldfinch were passing through along with some swallows and a lone wheatear was found on the cliff edge.An autumnal tit flock went through the scrub consisting mainly of about thirty long tailed several blue and a couple of great tits with a following of several goldcrests,a late red admiral provided a reminder of summer in the warm autumn sunshine.

RED ADMIRABLE

SS BALMORAL

ANCIENT AND MODERN

On a different tack there was some interesting activity in the channel,where the Balmoral was being filmed by an irritatingly noisy helicopter and a splendid norwegian sailing ship,Christian Radich made her way steadily westward,with the 40000 ton container ship Kota Latif providing a stark contrast of old and modern seafaring practises.