downsmail.co.uk
Rare nutcracker turns up in a village garden
ONE of the rarest birds seen in Britain, the nutcracker, has been spotted in a village garden – almost 20 years after the last sighting was officially recorded. The bird was seen sitting unper-
turbed on a weather vane by a householder and a gardener friend in Forge Lane, Leeds, before it flew off. The resident, who asked not to be named, was stunned when she saw the dark, heavily-spotted bird – amember of the crow family – in her back garden. The sighting is all the more re- markable because it is the second time a nutcracker has visited her home in the village – the last one several years ago. She said: “I was with my friend
and he spotted this large, dark bird sitting up on the weather vane. He didn’t know what it was because he’s not into birds but I did because I’dlooked it up from the time before. “Wewere able towalk round it to
have good look. Itwas about the size of a jackdaw, dark and with lovely markings.”
Ornithological experts say that al- though nutcracker sightings are “ex-
Ornithologist Paul Stancliffe and right, a rare nutcracker
tremely rare”, conditions this au- tumn have been favourable for a bird, which normally forages in the forests of Scandanavia for pine nuts, to be blown into Kent. Paul Stancliffe of the British Trust
for Ornithology said the last recorded nutcracker sighting in Britain was in 1998 at Kingsdown, near Dover. Mr Stancliffe (pictured) said mid-Kent would be “as good a place as any” for one to turn up after continual easterly airflows from con- tinental Europe. He added: “Obviously, I can’t confirm it yet, but we’d like to talk to these residents in Kent. It’s very interesting and really quite excit-
www.directorshairandbeauty.co.uk 01622 738772 7 Yeoman Court, Ashford Road, Bearsted
We have Christmas all wrapped up with our range of festive gift packs
Late night Thurs
ing. Autumn 2016 with easterly air- flows has seen lots and lots of birds turningup from continental Europe. While there have been no nutcrack- ers reported as far aswe know, Kent would have been as good a place as any for one to turn up.” Non-indigenous British birds are sometimes literally blown into the UK from parts of Europe on air streams or extremeweather. Others will disperse widely when harvests of their staple foods fail. Such dispersals are known as “ir- ruptions” and one examplewas four years ago when jays came in from Europe in their thousands after the annual crop of acorns failed.
News Downs Mail
even bigger WELCOME to the November edi- tion of the Downs Mail, Maidstone and Malling’s number one news- paper. We have expanded the number of
our publications serving the county town and surrounding areas from four to five. With the expansion of Maidstone
and an increase in its housing stock, we want to reach out to new read- ers.
Of course,wewant to provide an
even better service to our advertis- ers by adding thousands of copies being delivered door to door. Mail Publications Chairman
Claire Procter said: “At a time when some newspapers have declined,we have decided to expand our offering both to our family of loyal readers and our commercial partners. “The Downs Mail is soon to cele-
brate its 20th anniversary and what better way to do so than to an- nounce these exciting expansion plans.”
Downs Mail now publishes five editions across the Maidstone and Malling areas with more than 85,000 copies delivered direct to people’s homes and available for pick-up every month. All of our current and archived editions are also free to read on our website at
www.downsmail.co.uk
stockists of
GIFT VOUCHERS also available
Now available
Shellac manicures
Introductory Offer50% Off
Maidstone East November 2016
Cut & Finish* for all new clients on production of this advert *Offers valid until 16 December 2016. Can not be used in conjunction with any other offers. 3
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64