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98-515: The valley is famous for its two activities: birdwatching and fly fishing . This article about a place in Neuquén Province , Argentina is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in Argentina is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Birdwatching Birdwatching , or birding , is the observing of birds , either as

196-402: A citizen science project used by ornithologists to document trends in bird populations, it allows birders see recent reports by other birders and search by species and location. Some species, including endangered species and others likely to be disrupted by increased human activity, are designated "sensitive species" by eBird and have locations of sightings hidden from the general public. As

294-479: A country list , state list , county list , yard list , year list , or any combination of these. The early interest in observing birds for their aesthetic rather than utilitarian (mainly food) value is traced to the late 18th century in the works of Gilbert White , Thomas Bewick , George Montagu and John Clare . The study of birds, and of natural history in general, became increasingly prevalent in Britain during

392-404: A golden-winged warbler ( Vermivora chrysoptera ), which is native to North America. Twitchers have developed their own vocabulary . For example, a twitcher who fails to see a rare bird has dipped out ; if other twitchers do see the bird, they may feel gripped off . Suppression is the act of concealing news of a rare bird from other twitchers. Many birders maintain a life list , that is,

490-470: A spotting scope with tripod , a smartphone , a notepad, and one or more field guides . Hides (known as blinds in North America) or observation towers are often used to conceal the observers from birds, and/or to improve viewing conditions. Virtually all optics manufacturers offer specific binoculars for birding, and some have even geared their whole brand to birders. Recognition of bird vocalizations

588-477: A distance away from nests and nesting colonies, and respecting private property. The lack of definite evidence, except arguably in the form of photographs, makes birding records difficult to prove but birdwatchers strive to build trust in their identification. One of the few major disputes was the case of the Hastings Rarities . Ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen considers birdwatching to be an expression of

686-598: A higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared to 20% nationwide. The average hours worked per week by residents of Kent were 43.1 for males and 30.9 for females. Their industry of employment was 17.3% retail, 12.4% manufacturing, 11.8% real estate, 10.3% health and social work, 8.9% construction, 8.2% transport and communications, 7.9% education, 6.0% public administration and defence, 5.6% finance, 4.8% other community and personal service activities, 4.1% hotels and restaurants, 1.6% agriculture, 0.8% energy and water supply, 0.2% mining, and 0.1% private households. This

784-559: A list of all of the species they have seen in their life, usually with details about the sighting such as date and location. The American Birding Association has specific rules about how a bird species may be documented and recorded in such a list if it is submitted to the ABA; however, the criteria for the personal recording of these lists are very subjective. Some birders "count" species they have identified audibly, while others only record species that they have identified visually. Some also maintain

882-414: A list. The term originated in the 1950s, when it was used to describe the nervous behaviour of Howard Medhurst, a British birdwatcher. Earlier terms for those who chased rarities were pot-hunter , tally-hunter , or tick-hunter . The main goal of twitching is often to accumulate species on one's lists. Some birders engage in competition to accumulate the longest species list. The act of the pursuit itself

980-484: A major business, with at least 127 companies offering tours worldwide. An average trip to a less-developed country costs $ 4,000 per person and includes about 12 participants for each of 150 trips a year. It has been suggested that this economic potential needs to be tapped for conservation. Birdwatching tourism is considered to be one of the fastest-growing nature-based tourism sectors in the world, often involving well-educated or wealthy travelers with specific interests in

1078-801: A minimum of 10% of its net profits to bird conservation and communities it operates in. Another tour operator, Hardy Boat, has donated $ 200,000 to Project Puffin to conserve puffin populations off the Atlantic Coast. One of the expectations of ecotourism is that the travels of birders to a place will contribute to the improvement of the local economy, ensuring that the environment is valued and protected. Birdwatchers contribute to conservation, helping build and disseminate environmental knowledge by participating in citizen science. However, birding can bring about an increased penetration of ecosystem services that are perceived as birdwatchers' indispensable attributes. By their presence and obstinacy, birdwatchers affect

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1176-585: A more limited scope, perhaps not venturing far from their own yards or local parks to view birds. Indeed, in 1969 a Birding Glossary appeared in Birding magazine which gave the following definitions: Birder . The acceptable term used to describe the person who seriously pursues the hobby of birding. May be professional or amateur. Birding . A hobby in which individuals enjoy the challenge of bird study, listing, or other general activities involving bird life. Bird-watcher . A rather ambiguous term used to describe

1274-449: A much more widespread aspect of the hobby. As with the arrival of affordable digital cameras , the development of more compact and affordable digital video cameras has made them more attractive and accessible to the birding community. Cross-over, non-linear digital models now exist that take high-quality stills at acceptable resolutions, as well as being able to record and play audio and video. The ability to capture and reproduce not only

1372-408: A part of birding, but in the past the cost of cameras with super-telephoto lenses made this a minority, often semi-professional, interest. The advent of affordable digital cameras , which can be used in conjunction with a spotting scope or binoculars (using the technique of afocal photography , referred to by the neologism " digiscoping " or sometimes digibinning for binoculars), have made this

1470-609: A possibility for a large number of people towards the 1980s. The need for global guides to birds increased, and one of the biggest resulting projects was the Handbook of the Birds of the World , begun in the 1990s by Josep del Hoyo, Jordi Sargatal, David A. Christie, and ornithologist Andy Elliott. Initially, birdwatching was largely restricted to developed countries such as the United Kingdom and

1568-402: A recreational activity or as a form of citizen science . A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device such as binoculars or a telescope , by listening for bird sounds, watching public webcams , or by viewing smart bird feeder cameras. Most birdwatchers pursue this activity for recreational or social reasons, unlike ornithologists , who engage in

1666-576: A useful tool for environmental education and awareness of environmental issues. Birdwatching can increase respect for nature and awareness of the fragility of ecosystems . Birding as a competitive event is organized in some parts of the world. Such competitions encourage individuals or teams to accumulate large numbers of species within a specified time or area with special rules. Some birdwatchers will also compete by attempting to increase their life list, national list, state list, provincial list, county list, or year list . The American Birding Association

1764-568: A view to forming a new unified authority for East Kent, although remaining within the auspices of Kent County Council. This idea was eventually dropped. For almost nine centuries, a small part of present-day East London (the North Woolwich , London E16 area), formed part of Kent. Kent is in the southeastern corner of England. It borders the Thames Estuary and the North Sea to the north, and

1862-613: Is a rich sequence of Bronze Age , Celtic Iron Age , and Britto- Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley . Julius Caesar described the area as Cantium , or the home of the Cantiaci , in 51 BC. The extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by a Celtic Iron Age tribe known as

1960-424: Is an important part of a birder's toolkit. Sound information can assist in the locating, watching, identification, and sometimes sexing of birds. Recent developments in audio technology have seen recording and reproduction devices shrink in both size and price, making them accessible to a greater portion of the birding community. The non-linear nature of digital audio technology has also made selecting and accessing

2058-434: Is estimated that birdwatching ecotourism contributes $ 41 billion per year to the U.S. economy. The large funds generated by birdwatching ecotourism have been suggested as a replacement for tax revenue generated by bird hunting which has dropped to its lowest levels in decades. Birding ecotourism companies are also making contributions to conservation. Birding Ecotours, which runs both international and domestic trips, donates

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2156-477: Is higher than the whole of England for construction and transport/communications and lower for manufacturing. Kent is sometimes known as the "Garden of England" for its abundance of orchards and hop gardens. In particular the county produces tree-grown fruits, strawberries and hazelnuts. Distinctive hop-drying buildings called oasts are common in the countryside, although many have been converted into dwellings. Nearer to London, market gardens also flourish. Kent

2254-586: Is referred to as a twitch or a chase . A rare bird that stays long enough for people to see it is twitchable or chaseable . Twitching is highly developed in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands , Denmark , Ireland , Finland and Sweden . The size of these countries makes it possible to travel throughout them quickly and with relative ease. The most popular twitches in the UK have drawn large crowds; for example, approximately 2,500 people travelled to Kent , to view

2352-486: Is the main area for hazelnut production in the UK. However, in recent years, there has been a significant drop in agriculture, and industry and services are increasing their utilisation of the area. This is illustrated by the following table of economic indicator gross value added (GVA) between 1995 and 2003 (figures are in £ millions): North Kent is heavily industrialised, with cement-making at Northfleet and Cuxton , brickmaking at Sittingbourne, shipbuilding on

2450-400: Is under Liberal Democrat control (Tunbridge Wells), and six are under no overall control and are administered by coalitions (Tonbridge and Malling, Maidstone, Swale, Ashford, Canterbury, Folkestone and Hythe). Notably, Thanet is the only council in the United Kingdom to have come under UK Independence Party (UKIP) control, which it did in 2015 . At the national level, Kent is represented in

2548-567: The Sibley Guide to Birds and the official Audubon Society app. Other apps utilize machine learning to automatically identifying birds from photographs and audio recordings, such as the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Merlin Bird ID application and iNaturalist . Cornell Lab of Ornithology 's eBird database is a popular tool used by birders to document their sightings. In addition to serving as

2646-816: The American Birding Association and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in North America. Many statewide or local Audubon organizations are also active in the United States, as are many provincial and local organizations in Canada. BirdLife International is an important global alliance of bird conservation organizations. Many countries and smaller regions (states/provinces) have "rarities committees" to check, accept or reject reports of rare birds made by birders. Equipment commonly used for birding includes binoculars ,

2744-479: The Christmas Bird Count , or follow carefully designed study protocols. This kind of citizen science can assist in identifying environmental threats to the well-being of birds or, conversely, in assessing outcomes of environmental management initiatives intended to ensure the survival of at-risk species or to encourage the breeding of species for aesthetic or ecological reasons. This more scientific side of

2842-506: The County of London was created and took over responsibility for local administration of parts of north-west Kent. These included the towns of Greenwich , Woolwich , Plumstead , Deptford , Lee , Eltham , Charlton , and Kidbrooke . In 1900, however, Kent absorbed the district of Penge . Some of Kent is contiguous with the Greater London sprawl, notably parts of Dartford . Originally,

2940-502: The Greensand Ridge span the length of the county and in the Vale of Holmesdale in between and to the south are most of the county's 26 castles . The county has agriculture, haulage, logistics and tourism industries. As the land between the capital and the wider continent, it is a high-income county. Agriculture of the county is a notable sector: "The Garden of England" is a nickname for

3038-576: The House of Commons by eighteen Members of Parliament (MPs). The county has historically been dominated by the Conservative Party at general elections. Prior to 2024, the party had won a majority of Kentish seats in every election since the local government reforms of 1974, including during Labour's landslide victories of 1997 and 2001 . In both 2010 and 2015 , the Conservatives won every seat in

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3136-616: The Leeds Castle peace talks of 1978 and 2004. England relied on the county's ports to provide warships through much of its history; the Cinque Ports in the 10th –14th centuries and Chatham Dockyard in the 16th–20th centuries were of particular importance. France can be seen clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover . Hills in the form of the North Downs and

3234-758: The Local Government Act 1972 , Kent County Council has been under Conservative Party control; the exception was between 1993 and 1997 when the party came under no overall control with Labour Party leadership. At the most recent county council election in 2021 , the Conservatives won 62 out of 81 seats. Also elected were seven Labour councillors, six Liberal Democrats , four from the Green Party , one Swale Independent and one residents' association representative. Of Kent's thirteen districts, two are under Conservative control (Sevenoaks, Dartford), four are under Labour control (Gravesham, Medway, Thanet, Dover), one

3332-543: The Regni . Caesar wrote that the people of Kent were 'by far the most civilised inhabitants of Britain'. Following the withdrawal of the Romans, large numbers of Germanic speakers from mainland Europe settled in Kent, bringing their language, which came to be Old English . While they expelled the native Romano-British population, some likely remained in the area, eventually assimilating with

3430-797: The River Darent , tributaries of the River Medway, and on the River Stour . Two 18th century mills were on the River Len and at Tovil on the River Loose . In the late 19th century huge modern mills were built at Dartford and Northfleet on the River Thames and at Kemsley on The Swale. In pre-industrial times, almost every village and town had its own windmill or watermill , with over 400 windmills known to have stood at some time. Twenty-eight survive within

3528-515: The River Medway in 1547. By the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) a small dockyard had been established at Chatham . By 1618, storehouses, a ropewalk , a drydock , and houses for officials had been built downstream from Chatham. By the 17th century, tensions between Britain and the powers of the Netherlands and France led to increasing military build-up in the county. Forts were built all along

3626-533: The River Medway , rises near East Grinstead in Sussex and flows eastwards to Maidstone . Here it turns north and breaks through the North Downs at Rochester, then joins the estuary of the River Thames near Sheerness . The Medway is some 70 miles (112 km) long. The river is tidal as far as Allington lock, but in earlier times, cargo-carrying vessels reached as far upstream as Tonbridge . The Medway has captured

3724-796: The Straits of Dover and the English Channel to the south. France is 21 miles (34 km) across the Strait. The major geographical features of the county are based on a series of ridges and valleys running east–west across the county. These are the results of erosion of the Wealden dome, a dome across Kent and Sussex created by alpine movements 20–10 million years ago. This dome consists of an upper layer of chalk above successive layers of Upper Greensand , Gault Clay , Lower Greensand , Weald Clay , and Wealden sandstone. The ridges and valleys formed when

3822-461: The Victorian Era , often associated with collection , eggs and later skins being the artifacts of interest. Wealthy collectors made use of their contacts in the colonies to obtain specimens from around the world. It was only in the late 19th century that the call for bird protection led to the rising popularity of observations of living birds. The Audubon Society was started to protect birds from

3920-507: The World Wide Web , birders have been using the Internet to convey information; this can be via mailing lists , forums , bulletin-boards , web-based databases and other social media . While most birding lists are geographic in scope, there are special-interest lists that cater to bird-identification, 'twitchers', seabirds and raptor enthusiasts to name but a few. Messages can range from

4018-641: The auditory aspects of enjoying birds. In North America, many birders differentiate themselves from birdwatchers, and the term birder is unfamiliar to most lay people. At the most basic level, the distinction is perceived as one of dedication or intensity, though this is a subjective differentiation. Generally, self-described birders perceive themselves to be more versed in minutiae such as identification (aural and visual), molt, distribution, migration timing, and habitat usage. Whereas these dedicated birders may often travel specifically in search of birds, birdwatchers have been described by some enthusiasts as having

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4116-896: The 'scientification' of the pastime was 'undesirable'. This stand was to change only in 1936 when the RSPB was taken over by Tom Harrisson and others. Harrisson was instrumental in the organization of pioneering surveys of the great crested grebe . Increased mobility of birdwatchers ensured that books like Where to Watch Birds by John Gooders became best-sellers. By the 1960s air travel became feasible and long-distance holiday destinations opened up. By 1965, Britain's first birding tour company, Ornitholidays had been started by Lawrence Holloway. Travelling far away also led to problems in name usage: British birds such as "wheatear", "heron" and "swallow" needed adjectives to differentiate them in places where there were several related species. The falling cost of air travel made flying to remote birding destinations

4214-425: The 19th and 20th centuries. Cement came to the fore in the 19th century when massive building projects were undertaken. The ready supply of chalk and huge pits between Stone and Gravesend bear testament to that industry. There were also other workings around Burham on the tidal Medway. Chalk, gravel and clay were excavated on Dartford Heath for centuries. Kent's original paper mills stood on streams like

4312-496: The Anglophone countries or Scandinavia. In the 20th century, most of the birding activity in North America was done on the east coast. The publication of Roger Tory Peterson's field guide in 1934 led to the initial increase in birding. Binoculars, an essential piece of birding equipment, became more easily available after World War II, making the hobby more accessible. The practice of travelling long distances to see rare bird species

4410-601: The Audubon Society, which was against the killing of birds, and the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). The availability of first the bicycle and then the car increased the mobility of birdwatchers and this made new locations accessible. Networks of birdwatchers in the UK began to form in the late 1930s under the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). The BTO saw the potential to produce scientific results through

4508-630: The Medway and Swale , engineering and aircraft design and construction at Rochester, chemicals at Dartford, papermaking at Swanley , and oil refining at Grain . There is a steel mini mill in Sheerness and a rolling mill in Queenborough . There are two nuclear power stations at Dungeness , although the older one, Dungeness A, built in 1965, was decommissioned in 2006. Cement-making, papermaking, and coal-mining were important industries in Kent during

4606-735: The Richter Scale. It was centred in the Sandwich area of east Kent at about ten miles below the surface. There was little if any damage reported. The coastline of Kent is continuously changing, due to tectonic uplift and coastal erosion . Until about 960, the Isle of Thanet was an island, separated by the Wantsum channel , formed around a deposit of chalk; over time, the channels silted up with alluvium . Similarly Romney Marsh and Dungeness have been formed by accumulation of alluvium. Kent's principal river,

4704-467: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2016, over 45 million Americans consider themselves birders. North American birders were estimated to have spent as much as US$ 32 billion in 2001. The spending is on the rise around the world. Kuşcenneti National Park (KNP) at Lake Manyas, a Ramsar site in Turkey, was estimated to attract birders who spent as much as US$ 103,320,074 annually. Guided bird tours have become

4802-561: The US was Birds through an Opera Glass (1889) by Florence Bailey . Birding in North America was focused in the early and mid-20th century in the eastern seaboard region, and was influenced by the works of Ludlow Griscom and later Roger Tory Peterson . Bird Neighbors (1897) by Neltje Blanchan , an early birding book, sold over 250,000 copies. It was illustrated with color photographs of stuffed birds. The organization and networking of those interested in birds began through organizations like

4900-511: The US), probably has the most subscribers, followed by the English-language fork of Eurobirdnet , Birding-Aus from Australia, SABirdnet from South Africa and Orientalbirding. The increasing availability of mobile devices in the 2010s allowed the smartphone to become a useful tool for birding. Mobile apps can be used as replacements for physical birding field guides, such as the digital version of

4998-540: The United States of America. Since the second half of the 20th century an increasing number of people in developing countries have engaged in this activity, such as in the Degua Tembien district of Ethiopia. Transnational birding has played an important role in this, as birders in developing countries usually take up the pastime under the influence of foreign cultures with a history of birding. A majority of transnational birders are middle-aged, male, affluent, and belong to

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5096-771: The Westphalian Sandstone are about 820–1,310 ft (250–400 m) deep, and are subject to flooding. They occur in two major troughs, which extend under the English Channel. Seismic activity has occasionally been recorded in Kent, though the epicentres were offshore. In 1382 and 1580 there were two earthquakes exceeding 6.0 on the Richter Scale . In 1776, 1950, and on 28 April 2007 there were earthquakes of around 4.3. The 2007 earthquake caused physical damage in Folkestone. A further quake on 22 May 2015 measured 4.2 on

5194-553: The ability to store and play large quantities of information, pocket-sized devices allow a full birding multimedia library to be taken into the field and mobile Internet access makes obtaining and transmitting information possible in near real time. New technologies are allowing birdwatching activities to take place over the Internet, using robotic camera installations and mobile phones set up in remote wildlife areas. Projects such as CONE [1] allow users to observe and photograph birds over

5292-567: The area is called Cantia or Cantium , while the Anglo-Saxons referred to it as Cent , Cent lond or Centrice . The area was first occupied by early humans , intermittently due to periods of extreme cold, during the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age), as attested by an early Neanderthal skull found in the quarries at Swanscombe . The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era. There

5390-489: The area is required to achieve these objectives; it has been opposed by environmental groups. Kent is one of the warmest parts of Britain. On 10 August 2003, in the hamlet of Brogdale near Faversham the temperature reached 38.5 °C (101.3 °F), at that time the highest temperature ever officially recorded in the United Kingdom. The record still stands as the hottest August day ever recorded. Kent County Council and its twelve district councils administer most of

5488-460: The area's military importance, the first Ordnance Survey map ever drawn was a one-inch map of Kent, published in 1801. Many of the Georgian naval buildings still stand. In the early 19th century, smugglers were very active on the Kent coastline. Gangs such as The Aldington Gang brought spirits, tobacco and salt to the county, and transported goods such as wool across the sea to France. In 1889,

5586-437: The attractiveness of the breeding migration or roosting sites for birds, flush birds, and otherwise increase the pressure on birds and their habitats (e.g., luring birds out of their hideouts and stressing them by playing their calls or exposing birds and their nests to predators). Furthermore, other impacts include disturbance to birds, the environment, local cultures and the economy. Methods to reduce negative impact and improve

5684-485: The birds are more active and vocal making them easier to spot. Certain locations such as a local patch of forest, wetland and coast may be favoured according to the location and season. Seawatching , or pelagic birding, is a type of birding where observers based at a coastal watch point, such as a headland, watch birds flying over the sea. This is one form of pelagic birding, though birders also seek pelagic species from seagoing vessels. Weather plays an important role in

5782-849: The border between Kent and Sussex (later East Sussex ) ran through the towns of Tunbridge Wells and Lamberhurst . In 1894, by the Local Government Act , the parts of these towns that lay in East Sussex were absorbed by Kent. During the Second World War, much of the Battle of Britain was fought in the skies over Kent. Between June 1944 and March 1945, more than 10,000 V1 flying bombs , or "Doodlebugs", were fired towards London from bases in Northern France . Although many were destroyed by aircraft, anti-aircraft guns and barrage balloons , both London and Kent were hit by around 2,500 of these bombs. After

5880-525: The capital such as commutes and transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty : the North Downs and The High Weald . Kent was one of the first British territories to be settled by Germanic tribes, most notably the Jutes , following the withdrawal of the Romans. Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, the oldest cathedral in England, has been

5978-632: The coast following the raid on the Medway , a successful attack by the Dutch navy on the shipyards of the Medway towns in 1667. The 18th century was dominated by wars with France, during which the Medway became the primary base for a fleet that could act along the Dutch and French coasts. When the theatre of operation moved to the Atlantic , this role was assumed by Portsmouth and Plymouth , with Chatham concentrating on shipbuilding and ship repair. As an indication of

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6076-525: The county (3352 km ), whilst the Medway Council administers the more densely populated Medway unitary authority (192 km ), independently of the county council. Together they have around 300 town and parish councils . Kent County Council's headquarters are in Maidstone , while Medway's offices are at Gun Wharf, Chatham . For most of its history since the local government reforms instituted by

6174-556: The county (including Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, and Sevenoaks) has less than 50% of the average claimant count for low incomes or worklessness as the coastal districts of Dover, Folkestone and Hythe, and Thanet (chiefly three resorts: Ramsgate, Broadstairs, and Margate). West and Central Kent have long had many City of London commuters . Kent's geographical location between the Straits of Dover and London has influenced its architecture, as has its Cretaceous geology and its good farming land and fine building clays. Kent's countryside pattern

6272-427: The county today, plus two replica mills and a further two in that part of Kent now absorbed into London. All the major rivers in the county were used to power watermills. From about 1900, several coal pits operated in East Kent. The Kent Coalfield was mined during the 20th century at several collieries, including Chislet, Tilmanstone, Betteshanger, and the Snowdown Colliery, which ran from 1908 to 1986. The west of

6370-411: The county was granted similar powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales and Scotland . During the medieval and early modern period, Kent played a major role in several of England's most notable rebellions, including the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, led by Wat Tyler , Jack Cade 's Kent rebellion of 1450, and Wyatt's Rebellion of 1554 against Queen Mary I . The Royal Navy first used

6468-405: The county, which has multiple orchards and allotments. In north-west Kent, industries include aggregate building material extraction, printing and scientific research. Coal mining has also played its part in the county's industrial heritage. The name is of Celtic origin, and dates back to at least the 4th century BC. It is one of the earliest names recorded in Britain, known to the Greeks since

6566-441: The county. The 2024 election saw a sharp decline in support for the Conservatives, and the county is currently represented by eleven Labour MPs, six Conservatives and one Liberal Democrat. At the 2011 census , Kent, including Medway, had 1,727,665 residents (18.0% of which in Medway); had 711,847 households (17.5% of which in Medway) and had 743,436 dwellings (14.8% of which in Medway). 51.1% of Kent's population excluding Medway

6664-435: The entire estuary of the River Thames to the north; the French department of Pas-de-Calais across the Strait of Dover to the south-east; East Sussex to the south-west; Surrey to the west and Greater London to the north-west. The county town is Maidstone . It is the fifth most populous county in England, the most populous non-metropolitan county and the most populous of the Home Counties , an area influenced by

6762-404: The explorer Pytheas recorded it as Kantion during his voyage around the British Isles in about 325 BC. As such, it has been claimed as the "oldest recorded name still in use in England." The meaning has been explained as 'coastal district,' 'corner-land' or 'land on the edge' (Welsh cant 'bordering of a circle, tyre, edge;' Breton cant 'circle;' Dutch kant 'side, edge'). In Latin sources

6860-419: The exposed clay eroded faster than the exposed chalk, greensand, or sandstone. Sevenoaks , Maidstone , Ashford , and Folkestone are built on greensand, while Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells are built on sandstone. Dartford , Gravesend , the Medway towns, Sittingbourne , Faversham , Canterbury , Deal , and Dover are built on chalk. The easterly section of the Wealden dome has been eroded away by

6958-521: The first Archbishop of Canterbury . In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity. The Diocese of Canterbury became England's first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained England's centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was for West Kent at Rochester Cathedral . Kent was traditionally partitioned into East and West Kent, and into lathes and hundreds . The traditional border of East and West Kent

7056-551: The growing trade in feathers in the United States while the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds began in Britain. The phrase "bird watching" appeared for the first time as the title of the book Bird Watching by Edmund Selous in 1901. In North America, the identification of birds, once thought possible only by shooting, was made possible by the emergence of optics and field identification guides. The earliest field guide in

7154-449: The head waters of other rivers such as the River Darent . Other rivers of Kent include the River Stour in the east. A 2014 study found that Kent shares significant reserves of shale oil with other neighbouring counties, totalling 4.4 billion barrels of oil , which then Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon said "will bring jobs and business opportunities" and significantly help with UK energy self-sufficiency. Fracking in

7252-458: The hobby is an aspect of ornithology, coordinated in the UK by the British Trust for Ornithology . The Cornell Lab of Ornithology hosts many citizen-science projects to track the number and distribution of bird species across North America. These surveys help scientists note major changes from year to year which may occur as a result of climate change , disease, predation, and other factors. Because of their accessibility and ubiquity, birds are

7350-483: The late 1980s. The income level of birders has been found to be well above average. The Sibley Guide to Birds , published in 2000, had sold 500,000 copies by 2002. It was found that the number of birdwatchers rose, but there appeared to be a drop in birdwatching in the backyard. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service study, birders contributed $ 36 billion to the US economy in 2006, and one fifth (20%) of all Americans are identified as birdwatchers. According to

7448-541: The male hunting instinct, while Simon Baron-Cohen links it with a male tendency for "systemizing". There have been suggestions that identification of birds may be a form of gaining status which has been compared with Kula valuables noted in Papua New Guinean cultures. Kent Kent is a county in the South East England region, the closest county to continental Europe . It borders Essex across

7546-531: The motto Invicta , meaning "undefeated" or "unconquered". The adoption of this motto followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy , as he was unable to subdue the county and they negotiated favourable terms. The continued resistance of the Kentish people against the Normans led to Kent's designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Under the nominal rule of William's half-brother Odo of Bayeux ,

7644-550: The networks, unlike the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) which like the Audubon Society originated from the bird protection movement. Like the AOU in North America, the BOU had a focus mainly on collection-based taxonomy. The BOU changed focus to ecology and behaviour only in the 1940s. The BTO movement towards 'organized birdwatching' was opposed by the RSPB, which claimed that

7742-494: The newcomers. Of the invading tribes, the Jutes were the most prominent, and the area became a Jutish kingdom recorded as Cantia in about 730 and Cent in 835. The early medieval inhabitants of the county were referred to as the Cantwara , or Kentish people. The city of Canterbury was the largest in Kent. In 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary (who became Saint Augustine of Canterbury after his death) as

7840-403: The numbers of birdwatchers increases, there is growing concern about the impact of birdwatching on the birds and their habitat. Birdwatching etiquette is evolving in response to this concern. Some examples of birdwatching etiquette include promoting the welfare of birds and their environment, limiting use of photography, pishing and playback devices to mitigate stress caused to birds, maintaining

7938-417: The occurrence of rare birds. In Britain, suitable wind conditions may lead to drift migration , and an influx of birds from the east. In North America, birds caught in the tail-end of a hurricane may be blown inland. Birders may take part in censuses of bird populations and migratory patterns which are sometimes specific to individual species. These birdwatchers may also count all birds in a given area, as in

8036-432: The person who watches birds for any reason at all, and should not be used to refer to the serious birder. Twitching is a British term used to mean "the pursuit of a previously located rare bird." In North America, it is more often called chasing . The term twitcher , sometimes misapplied as a synonym for birder , is reserved for those who travel long distances to see a rare bird that would then be ticked , or counted on

8134-410: The places they visit. In addition to this, birdwatching tourism is considered a niche market of nature-based tourism. Birdwatching and other niche tourism markets are good for market diversification and mitigating the impacts of seasonality in a tourism market as well as bringing economic resources to remote communities, thus diversifying their economies and contributing to biodiversity conservation. It

8232-508: The radio in Eric Simms' Countryside program but this did not catch on. In the 1960s people began using the telephone and some people became hubs for communication. In the 1970s some cafés, such as that in Cley, Norfolk run by Nancy Gull, became centers for meeting and communication. This was replaced by telephone hotline services such as "Birdline" and "Bird Information Service". With the advent of

8330-536: The required recordings much more flexible than tape-based models. It is now possible to take a recording of every bird call you are likely to encounter in a given area out into the field stored on a device that will slip into your pocket and to retrieve calls for playback and comparison in any order you choose. As the technology continues to improve, researchers and hobby birders have started using convolutional neural networks to mine sound recordings to identify and track specific bird calls. Photography has always been

8428-572: The sea, and cliffs such as the White Cliffs of Dover are present where a chalk ridge known as the North Downs meets the coast. Spanning Dover and Westerham is the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . The Wealden dome is a Mesozoic structure lying on a Palaeozoic foundation, which can often create the right conditions for coal formation. This is found in East Kent roughly between Deal, Canterbury, and Dover. The Coal Measures within

8526-587: The seat of the Archbishops of Canterbury since the conversion of England to Christianity that began in the 6th century with Saint Augustine . Rochester Cathedral in Medway is England's second-oldest cathedral. Located between London and the Strait of Dover , which separates England from mainland Europe, Kent has been the setting for both conflict and diplomacy, including the Battle of Britain in World War II and

8624-416: The serious to trivial, notifying others of rarities, questioning the taxonomy or identification of a species, discussing field guides and other resources, asking for advice and guidance, or organizing groups to help save habitats. Occasional postings are mentioned in academic journals and therefore can be a valuable resource for professional and amateur birders alike. One of the oldest, Birdchat (based in

8722-554: The study of birds using formal scientific methods. The first recorded use of the term birdwatcher was in 1712 by William Oldsworth. The term birding was also used for the practice of fowling or hunting with firearms as in Shakespeare 's The Merry Wives of Windsor (1602): "She laments sir... her husband goes this morning a-birding." The terms birding and birdwatching are today used by some interchangeably, although some participants prefer birding , partly because it includes

8820-517: The value of conservation are the subject of research. Many birders occupy themselves with observing local species (birding in their "local patch" ), but may also make specific trips to observe birds in other locales. The most active times of the year for birding in temperate zones are during the spring or fall migrations when the greatest variety of birds may be seen. On these occasions, large numbers of birds travel north or south to wintering or nesting locations. Early mornings are typically better as

8918-405: The visual characteristics of a bird, but also its patterns of movement and its sound, has wide applications for birders in the field. This class of product includes devices that can play (and in some cases record) a range of digital media, typically video, audio and still image files. Many modern digital cameras , mobile phones , and camcorders can be classified as portable media players . With

9016-618: The war, Kent's borders changed several more times. In 1965, the London boroughs of Bromley and Bexley were created from nine towns formerly in Kent. In 1998, Rochester, Strood, Chatham, Gillingham and Rainham left the administrative county of Kent to form the Unitary Authority of Medway . Plans for another unitary authority in north-west Kent were dropped, but in 2016 consultations began between five Kent local authorities (Canterbury, Thanet, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe, and Ashford) with

9114-473: The web; similarly, robotic cameras set up in largely inhospitable areas are being used to attempt the first photographs of the rare ivory-billed woodpecker . These systems represent new technologies in the birdwatcher's toolkit. In the early 1950s, the only way of communicating new bird sightings was through the postal system and it was generally too late for the recipients to act on the information. In 1953 James Ferguson-Lees began broadcasting rare bird news on

9212-420: Was aided by the availability of cars and their associated infrastructure. Nevertheless, distance to urban centres may still affect number of birdwatchers participating in observations of rare bird species. About 4% of North Americans were interested in birding in the 1970s, and in the mid-1980s at least 11% were found to watch birds at least 20 days of the year. The number of birders was estimated at 61 million in

9310-625: Was determined by a gavelkind inheritance system that generated a proliferation of small settlements. There was no open-field system, and the large tracts were owned by the two great abbeys, Christ Church, Canterbury and St Augustine's Abbey , that did not pass into the hands of the king during the Reformation . Canterbury Cathedral is the United Kingdom's metropolitan cathedral ; it was founded in AD 598 and displays architecture from all periods. There are nine Anglo-Saxon churches in Kent. Rochester Cathedral

9408-590: Was female — as to Medway, this proportion was 50.4%. The tables below provide statistics for the administrative county of Kent, that is, excluding Medway. At the 2001 UK census , employment statistics for the residents in Kent, including Medway, were as follows: 41.1% in full-time employment, 12.4% in part-time employment, 9.1% self-employed, 2.9% unemployed, 2.3% students with jobs, 3.7% students without jobs, 12.3% retired, 7.3% looking after home or family, 4.3% permanently sick or disabled, and 2.7% economically inactive for other reasons. Of residents aged 16–74, 16% had

9506-422: Was originally started as a club for "listers", but it now serves a much broader audience. Still, the ABA continues to publish an official annual report of North American list standings. Competitive birdwatching events include: Prominent national and continental organizations concerned with birding include the British Trust for Ornithology and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the United Kingdom, and

9604-524: Was the county's main river, the Medway . Men and women from east of the Medway are Men (or Maids) of Kent, those from the west are Kentishmen or Kentish Maids. The divide has been explained by some as originating in the Anglo-Saxon migrations, with Jutes mainly settling east of the Medway and Saxons settling west of it. In the 11th century, the people of Kent (or Chenth , per the Domesday Book ) adopted

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