Blogs

The reedbeds and estuary at Uskmouth are teaming with wildlife at the moment, with waders in particular putting on a real show down on the mudflats. Huge numbers of curlew , golden plover , grey plover , snipe , black tailed godwit , dunlin and knot can be seen feeding out on the foreshore, especially...

Happy New Year everyone! We hope you had a fantastic holiday – we certainly did with lots of wildlife to see around the reserve. Plenty of our regular birds have been seen including long tailed tits , little owl , redwing , fieldfare , reed bunting , gadwall , teal and wigeon and Perry Lane...

Well, here we are in 2012 and returning to Elmley after my Christmas break, I very much had a sense of deja vu, although on this occasion it wasn't just the RSPB website that I couldn't access - I couldn't connect to the internet at all! We traced the glitch to a faulty dongle and having...

Anticipation is mounting for the impending arrival of a benevolent elf from Lapland. But as far as I'm concerned, he's been beaten to the UK by a number of his fellow compatriots! RSPB are now managing a number of fields on the Harty Marshes at the east end of the Isle of Sheppey. We have acquired...

Time for another of my rather infrequent updates, as I STILL can't access the RSPB website from Elmley. We're still trying to fix the problem, but it's a slow process. Highlight of the month so far was the discovery of a grey phalarope on the Flood reservoir on Saturday night. It was still...

Temperatures might feel like they’re dipping again, but nature definitely seems to think spring is on its way with swans courting and coots noisily chasing after one another just outside the Visitor Centre. The last week has also provided some exciting sightings. The UK’s smallest falcon...

The first guided walk of the year took place on the reserve today. Not ideal conditions - it didn't actually rain, but the strong wind didn't help matters. A pleasing 25 people turned up to be shown winter waterfowl and raptors, and while the waterfowl played ball, the raptors unfortunately didn't...

As predicted, more freezing conditions and another dollop of snow hit the reserve over the weekend. The access track is still passable with care, but the reserve was pretty empty today. There were a few flocks of lapwing roosting on the frozen water bodies and one small group of golden plover in with...

Following Rob Clements rough-legged buzzard that I missed on Monday, Phil Sharp came in on Wednesday (when I was away from the reserve) and found 2 shorelarks near to Southfleet hide. He even managed to get a photo. As far as I know, this is the first record of these fantastic northern larks at Elmley...