| Photographs of wild flora and fauna l have taken whilst walking around Gazen Salts Nature Reserve, The Ramparts, along the River Stour, Sandwich Bay, and other wildlife country walks around the historic town of Sandwich and the county of Kent, where l also happen to live. |
| Gazen Salts Nature Reserve The woodlands are also home to many flora species, such as primroses, celandine, dog rose, oak, ash, wild cherry, elm, field maple, wild privet, marsh marigold marshmallow, meadowsweet, black bush, yellow iris and many other exciting plants of interest. The lake and the waterways in the Reserve are sustained by a sluice gate connected to the River Stour. The waters further feed and play host to a diverse range of wildlife, including species such as sticklebacks, pond skaters, diving beetles, frogs and toads, newts, kingfishers, moorhens, bats, rats, shrews, weasels, stoats, foxes, hedgehogs, moles, water voles, grass snakes, mallard, tufted, pochard and shoveler ducks, warblers, woodpeckers, blackcaps, sparrowhawks, grey squirrels, parakeets and others including many butterfly species too. |
| I use the following cameras and lenses; Canon IXUS 185 8 x Optical Zoom, Canon EOS 700D, 18-55mm Lens, 75-300mm Zoom Lens and extension tubes for macro photography. |
| Natural Encounters Season 2 |
| Gallery 1 |
| Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. — Albert Einstein |
| Musical Score – Zenith |
| Wildlife Snippets of Interest! Bluebells [English] Found in shaded woodlands, nature reserves, countryside, grass side verge, and hedgerows. They are known for their blueish purple drooping bell-like flowers and flowering between April to mid-June. They can grow to 30 cm in height. Spanish Bluebells are often mistaken for English Bluebells. However, the former is listed as an invasive species. Many pollinators benefit from the bluebells, such as bumblebees and bees, hoverflies and butterflies. |
| Gallery above, Coopers Reed, English Bluebells, Fungi, Eastern Grey Squirrel, Blackbird, Common Seagulls and Cherry Plum Blossoms. |
| Wildlife Snippets of Interest! Common Blackbird They are also known as the Eurasian Blackbird, is widespread in Europe, Asiatic Russia, North America and North Africa, New Zealand and Australia, where it was introduced. Depending upon the location, the blackbird is found in the species and will either be a full-time resident or part-time or full-time migratory species. The UK is thought to have around six million breeding pairs. Blackbird pairs are territorial during the breeding seasons, and they can be found in parks, woodlands and gardens. The blackbird’s diet is omnivorous and consists of insects and spiders, earthworms and snails, fruits, seeds and berries. The male of the species is very distinct with his orange eye ring and beak on an otherwise all-black body. Blackbirds are well known for their fantastic bird song in which they will mix in a combination of variations to the basic song tune. Mostly, the males sing all year whilst the females sing during the breeding season. |
| Gallery Above, Ewes, Lambs, Blackbirds, Dandelions and Eastern Grey Squirrels. |
Earthly Comforts 
Your black birds… are they cousins to crows and ravens?? They look very much smaller than our crows. Our common crows, here in SoCal anyway, are the same size as ravens and I can only tell the difference by their call or seeing them walk.
I was VERY upset when I got home from hospital and saw the tall palm trees had gotten their fronds trimmed! There was a pair of crows that appeared to be nesting in one, and I know for sure that a group of a dozen or so Goldfinches were at the very least roosting in another one or two.☹️☹️ I understand the need to trim away dead fronds, but couldn’t they wait til later in Summer?! Humans have no respect for the homes of their fellow critters😭😭😭
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Crows and Blackbirds are only the same in colour. Whilst both are from the order of perching birds a crow is a crow and a blackbird is a blackbird 🙂 Both are members of the order Passeriformes just different families. 🙂
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We have that here as well Angie, [trimmings and prunings] under the guise of so called ‘tidy minding.In Gazen Salts during the breeding seasons especially, there are no tidy works that might affect habitats. But the local councils or l guess in the states they are referred to as local parks and recreations municipals don’t seem to always perform on a logical eco-friendly basis.
But most average or typical homeonwers over here don’t care either – they have to have everything trimmed and pruned and gardens need to be mowed to within an inch of their lives.
I was thinking about your question last night when l went to bed. Are blackbirds the same as crows or related? It would be easier to think of them as distant cousins. But l was reading an article last night on UK vrs USA terminology of bird species and that was interesting as it also showed the differences.
You might find it interesting also 🙂
https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2020/05/garden-birds.html
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Cool article. Yes, I forget that UK has relatively tame wildlife. The US isn’t as bad as Oz, but we’ve got some literal Killers in our canyons and back country. Sometimes the coyotes wander down neighborhood streets, or into back yards. Cats & small dogs make tasty meals 🤷🏼♀️
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Yes we don’t have aggressive wildlife in consideration to many other countries.
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I love this, Rory, the music, the photos and the commentary! I found it beautiful, informative and interesting. Natural Encounters Gallery will be amongst my favorites, for sure. 😊
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Hey Betty many thanks – l also like the new tweakings to the series in the galleries. The two new galleries also have fine tweaks that make them different to each other gallery 🙂
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Did I miss something? I will go back in when I get a chance to check. Hope you are having a great…what time is it there now?…evening, Rory! 😊
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There are two new gallery features – one is Theme Life which began yesterday and another is Best of the Month out next Sunday Betty 🙂 Wishing you a lovely Monday.
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Thanks, Rory! Checked out Theme Life. Oh, that sounds like fun! 😊 Looking forward to Best of the Month, too.
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Well that’s excellent Betty 🙂 If you are interested in seeing Best of the Month, a backdated episode was published yesterday for May 2022. It’s the prototype for the series, it’s here https://earthlycomforts.uk/2022/05/28/best-of-the-month/
June’s is out in a few days time to launch the series properly 🙂
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Thanks for the link, Rory! I enjoyed it so much! 😊
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Excellent 🙂
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