Obliging Lapwing by the roadside
(Bird photographs copyright Phil Farrer, landscapes copyright the author)
Following a very successful visit to Elmley in January 2004, which I couldn't attend because of another commitment, I was glad that our Outings Secretary decided to repeat the experience again this year. This time I made it!
Some 17 of us set out from Hemel in the early morning light for an agreed breakfast stop at the services on the M2. The chosen restaurant turned out to be the slowest on the planet at serving breakfast. However we were duly fortified then we traveled the last few miles binoculars at the ready to our destination.
It started to rain as we crossed the bridge onto the Isle of Sheppey and the sky looked very gloomy. The bird watching started just as we left the A249 and turned onto the track leading to the reserve car park. Two Marsh Harriers were almost immediately spotted quickly followed by a Kestrel and Sparrowhawk; a lucky few also spotted a Merlin. A little further on the track Lapwing and Redshank were feeding by the roadside in shallow ditches that looked like they had been made by the now famous RSPB ditching machine. A little further away were Wigeon and Shelduck feeding.. Cameras, scopes and binoculars were being pointed out of the cars' windows in all directions as we crept along the track; it took nearly a half hour to reach the car park.
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Obliging Lapwing by the roadside |
Just as we left the farm buildings, there were Lapwing and Golden Plover feeding in the field behind and many, many Wigeon feeding in the middle distance. At Sharfleet Creek, we saw Knot, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover and Black-tailed Godwit feeding on the saltings. Progress was slow; every bird that moved had to be identified. At Wellmarsh Creek, more waders and, by the sun was shining in a still-watery sky.
Some took a lunchbreak in the Wellmarsh Hide overlooking pools on which there were Pintail and Shovelor. Word from the other end of the hide suggest that a distant raptor was a Hen Harrier but it was too far away for me to tell. Just behind this hide, two Stonechats and a Meadow Pipit kept flitting on and off the nearby barbwire fence.
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Wellmarsh Scrape from the Wellmarsh Hide |
Meadow Pipit |
At the Swale Hide overlooking the river, the tide was coming in rapidly now and there were Great Crested Grebes quite close by, Shelduck and other ducks further away and a coach party from the Central London RSPB group occupying anything that could be sat on in the hide.
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Short Eared Owl |
Short Eared Owl with a Crow |
My last hide stop was at the South Fleet hide where we had excellent views of a Short-Eared Owl on the prowl and a hotly disputed Peregrine/Merlin. I thought that it was too small for a Peregrine and when it took off none of the nearby ducks took any notice, but I wasn't sure it was a Merlin either.
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| Obliging Kestrel | Kestrel |
On the return leg, the Wellmarsh Creek area yielded a female Kestrel sitting very close by on a fence post as well as Grey Plover, Dunlin and a single Avocet. As the sun sank slowly over the River Swale, we made our way back to the cars after a superb day's birding. Doesn't time fly when you are having fun!
Stuart Harrison
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River Swale complete with Thames sailing barge in the fading afternoon light |
Our species list for the day (67) :-
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Little Grebe |
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