Clockwork Little Egrets

Little Egret feeding on a large Earthworm

Preening and getting ready for breeding - but where?

As winter continues into its second half, two Little Egrets have become daily residents of the mud quagmire, the once green pasture, that sits behind our garden. From dawn to dusk, unperturbed by the ceaseless rain they follow each other closely, eating, sleeping and preening.

Garden views of Ravens and Little Egret

Between the long days of rain, when the sun shines, a quick  look outdoors shows our wildlife is there to see - with some of the best so close to home. The rain-sodden field behind the garden is over-run with too many horses and is now mostly a shallow muddy lake. It seems so unpleasant for the horses, but like previous winters the field is attracting plenty of birds. One little Egret has made infrequent visits this winter and is happy to scavenge the horse dung for flies. For the first time we have noticed an occasional Buzzard down on the mud too, this time eating earthworms and then once, when a visiting Buzzard was chased away by the local crows, a surprise, not one but possibly 3 Ravens joined the charge. A glance at the Crows disappearing off after the Buzzard, suggested to me that there may have been a total of 3 Ravens mixed in with the Corvid flock, a record number together for Shadoxhurst.

Just out of Shadoxhurst small flocks of Crossbills and Redpolls are still present in Orlestone forest often they're very difficult to see just their calls give away there presence.Apart from that there's very little else so for now it's best at home.

Raven No1. flies across the sun in pursuit of the Buzzard. It's straight over the garden

As Raven No1. headed into the distance, its's joined by at least 2 other birds (one is a Carrion Crow).

The culprit of the Ravens anger! Buzzards are prospecting their territories, and are easy to see in Shadoxhurst

A large flock of feral Doves feed daily on stray seed from the horse feed, very rarely do they come into the garden despite abundant seed being devoured daily by Wood pigeons.

Despite spending days in the mud, the Doves often look to have immaculate plumage. They're big birds too.

Its often hard to imagine how such a large bird manages to survive on spilled seed yet the Feral Dove flock appears to get bigger every year.

Farmyard Horses huddle together in what must be very poor conditions.

As the sun sets, Mallards arrive and feed in the deeper water areas, whilst the horses stay close to their Hay bales

Ship on the Romney Marsh horizon

Walking through Soapers Wood, Orlestone forest and into open farmland, a clear view of the coast towards Dymchurch is possible. Today this super container ship made a very good impression of  a drifting island as it cut through the channel.

Back in the wood itself, there were plenty of common woodland birds including one Crossbill, 2 male Bullfinch, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch. In the Garden the Great Spotted woodpeckers can now be heard drumming.

Common Crossbill, Orlestone forest

Female common Common Crossbill, Orlestone forest

I've been on the look-out for Crossbills in the forest since late summer, and whilst they're undoubtedly present a lot of luck and patience is required to find them. This is the fourth group I've found in as many months and all have been in different areas of the forest. This morning my first walk to an area of Norweigen Spruce revealed nothing. My second walk was successful. I found a small group of 4 birds feeding high in the canopy of Scots Pine. The birds made just the briefest of calls and I could only locate them from the sound of cones falling to the woodland floor.  Frustratingly, try as I might to follow the birds, I quickly lost sight of  them as they moved slowly through the canopy to feed.

Fairfield Church, Brookland - a watery Boxing Day world

Late afternoon on Boxing day at Fairfield Church, Kent. Clear windless skies and flooded fields a perfect recipe for a crisp reflection of a iconic Romney Marsh Church.

Christmas Day - storm aftermath and Tortoiseshell butterfly

Black headed Gulls share the same flooded fields with the local horses

A break from work and a break from the persistent daily rain, meant in the garden we were able to watch a Peregrine falcon take a swipe at the Gulls that are congregating in the flooded paddocks behind the garden. Once the Peregrine had flushed all other birds away, a Buzzard came into land just yards from the garden fence attracted by a bounty of worms brought to the surface of the water-sodden land.

A quick walk in Orlestone Forest revealed a small number of large trees had fallen in Sundays storms. One was a large Cherry Tree, almost cut in two, it had fungus growing through its trunk. Other Trees fallen included some of the mature pines in the plantations. There demise will help the forest appear more natural and wild in years to come. We had a pleasant walk, a small flock of Goldcrests were feeding in the larches, but sadly no sign of any Crossbills today. A Tortoiseshell butterfly flying along a glade in the unseasonally warm and sunny weather was the biggest surprise. It had better find secure shelter soon before the next gale arrives on friday.

Wood Ants (Formica Rufa) in Orlestone Forest

'Southern Wood Ant' Formica Rufa in Orlestone Forest

 Stood talking by a roadside pull-in at Orlestone forest with friends Bernard and Andil and lamenting the lack of woodland birds, we were distracted by the tiniest of movements close to the road-side. There, twigs, leaves, dried grasses were seemingly moving with a life of their own. A closer look showed it was the work of Wood Ants toing and froing. We had accidentally found their colony, a little 'Eureka' moment for me as it's has taken me years to find Wood ants in Orlestone forest and this was the first time.

By contrast at the Blean Wood complex, Canterbury, it's comparatively easy to find Wood Ants especially where the woods have been coppiced for the Heath Fritillary Butterfly. Over here in Orlestone forest, whenever I've actively looked for Wood Ants I've drawn a blank.

Looking at this colony, the site seems unnaturally located close to the road and there are several reasons for this: firstly, the colony is sited where the road is intersected by a woodland ride and combined with light from above the roadside, plenty of sunlight is present all year round - a big requirement for Wood Ants; secondly, the Ants have chosen the site due to a lucky accident by us humans. The site is located on the top of a raised bank of mud and stone built to stop illegal entrance to the forest by off-roaders. The loose mixture of stone and earth, has allowed the Ants to build and burrow easily into the bank far easier than the woodland floor.

Colony site is built on a partially over-grown raised bank.

The raised bank has another benefit for the colony too – protection from flooding.  Much of the surrounding woodland floor was flooded during the winter and spring months of 2012/13.  Perhaps this is also another reason why I haven't found any colonies in the past?

Our Orlestone Forest Wood Ants will need some protection in the future. If for any reason the Forestry Commision were to rebuild the bank, the colony would be destroyed.  I'd be very interested to know if anyone else knows of Wood Ants in Orlestone Forest and what their true status is.

'Southern Wood Ants' Formica Rufa