The night before last there was some mighty screeching in the street outside - fox cubs fighting. The lighting’s poor, so while I know there were 3 foxes - two cubs fighting and one other watching - I couldn’t make out if the third was another cub or an adult. It all looked pretty ferocious - started me wondering if it was still play or it was time for cubs to disperse.
Last night the motion sensitive security lights out back lit up, and there were two cubs playing out there - so I guess it’s still play fighting for the moment. But these sightings reminded me:
I took a peek. There has been a lot of new digging. So I guess we have resident cubs.
Wild turkey hens & assorted chicks (different sizes, so they’d clearly banded together a communal “kindergarten”) in my front yard, a few days ago.
One hen went into the street, clucked a bit, then the others all followed, with one hen bringing up the caboose and making sure the littles were all safely herded across.
It was clear that the adult females were cooperating. It’s hard to see in the pic, but the bebbies were obviously from different clutches, and the moms were herding all of them together indiscriminately.
The one pulling up the caboose kept looking around, looking behind - it was plain that she took her job very seriously.
Time to move this thread back to the top of the page.
I got no critter or plant news, but back in post #1309 the precedent was established that chalk cliffs count, which is just as well because this was flat-out gorgeous. This is the view, from Seaford Head, of The Seven Sisters
Seven Sisters - geddit? If your eyes are good you may just make out a building on the seventh sister - that is Belle Tout Lighthouse. It’s a guesthouse now, so you can book a room there for your next trip over. However, a note of caution:
By 1999 the erosion of the cliffs was threatening the foundations of the building and drastic steps had to be taken to stop it from falling into the sea. On 17 March 1999 in a remarkable feat of engineering work the Belle Tout was moved 17 metres (56 ft) away from the cliff face.
Aside: This (today) was our first time for that view - we had never walked the path before. But - incredibly - it turns out that Google Maps have sent their car up there (!) (Well, quad bike, but even so…). Here’s their version of the view:
I’ve wondered how the chalk cliffs are doing with the drought you are experiencing in England and Europe, in general. Where I live, we are in light drought, so not experiencing drastic problems. I worry where things are so dry that any rain can produce flooding and ground collapse.
It’s been a fairly quiet summer here. I can’t get used to the lack of crows due to bird flu. The pollinating bugs are having a good time of it, but really nothing much to report. We’ve had our usually mid-August nighttime temperature drop. It is now tomato ripening season.
Yeah, the collapses tend to happen in periods of heavy rain - aside from anything else, that must make the porous chalk heavier - but a period of drought must stress the rock, I would have thought. I guess we’ll get an idea of what damage has been done to the cliff structure when the winter rains kick in (if they do!)
As a postscript, as fabulous as that view is, the view back the other way (from the first sister towards Seaford Head) is even better. No photo will ever do it justice, but in the summer evening sun, the meanders as the Cuckmere River wends its way to the sea are breathtaking. Here’s what Google Streetview has:
Regarding the stress, yes. the dirt and stone can shrink and crack as it dries up. A sudden deluge of water on super-dry ground adds weight but isn’t absorbed as quickly as if the ground were slightly damp. It can do a lot of damage while trying to find a way to reach it’s own level.
A couple days ago I saw a duck that I don’t think has ever been recorded in my area (Albuquerque NM). It’s the Fulvous Whistling Duck and is usually seen in Florida or the Gulf. There are two of them along with a mallard.
I saw a crow and a hawk sitting next to each other on a fence. They were both facing forward, about a foot apart. I’ve seen crows mobbing hawks before, but never anything like this. After about a minute the hawk flew away and the crow flew off in a different direction.
I was waiting for a bus and happened to look down to see what appeared to be a tiny ant fighting with a used staple. I have no idea what the ant wanted with the staple but it appeared to be losing.
I would have taken a picture but I only had my phone with me and don’t know how to use that for taking pictures. The bus was also due any minute.
