The first rare of the autumn was found at Counterwall hide this afternoon. An adult pectoral sandpiper arrived in the company of a couple of ruff & stuck around, often showing very well right in front of the hide. Pec's are usually regarded as "Yanks", but their breeding range extends into Siberia, so an eastern origin isn't impossible. The spoonbill also dropped into the pool at Counterwall hide, so it was the place to be in the late afternoon. Other birds today included 14 spotted redshank, 7+ ruff, 100+ black-tailed godwit, 21 green sandpiper, 6 common sandpiper, 3 dunlin, 2 turnstone, 1 whimbrel, buzzard, peregrine, hobby, wheatear and several small flocks of sand martins, totalling c.30 birds heading south.
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You’ll have to forgive my lack of blogging over the past few weeks. The summer is a busy time of year on a wet grassland reserve, and it’s been all hands to the grindstone. As you wander about the reserve in July and August you will see the grass being topped by tractor- a necessary management technique to remove grass seed heads and thistles and return the vegetation height to a low, even one. The cows will now work their magic at creating and retaining a suitable sward height through the summer and autumn for passage waders, for the wintering wildfowl in the colder months of the year, and ready for the spring breeding season in 2011. Topping takes place from July onwards so it doesn’t clash with the breeding season, when there are still many wader chicks about in the long grass. This said, there’s still at least one ringed plover nest going on site that I’m aware of.
Whilst out and about on the reserve in the past week, birds I’ve picked up on include: avocets, black-tailed godwits, redshanks, lapwings, oystercatchers, spotted redshanks, common sandpipers, green sandpipers, corn buntings, two bearded tits (near Counterwall hide), swallows, starlings, house sparrows, yellow wagtails, marsh harriers and kestrels amongst others. Last week, having been told to keep an eye out for it, I thought I might have caught sight of a very rare white-tailed plover at Elmley. I can’t have though, since the bird in question had arrived at Dungeness RSPB Reserve, having left Rainham Marshes RSPB Reserve a day or two before. There are plenty of dragonflies around at the moment, and if you are about on the reserve and happen to be near to a fresh cowpat or two, why not keep your eyes open for the rare Maid of Kent beetle, Emus hirtus, too. This beetle resembled a black and yellow bee at first glace, and spends its time diving into fresh cowpats. It was thought to be extinct in the UK since 1950, but was rediscovered at Elmley in 1997 and is now found at only two sites in the country- at Rye Street between Cliffe and Cooling, and at Elmley.
News from other sites: topping will commence at the Seasalter Levels reserve near Whitstable in the next week or so. There are a lot of meetings happening at present about this site since it is a fairly new RSPB reserve and there is a lot of work to be done here. Exciting developments coming up include a hydrology project to improve wetting of the site and distribution of water and a programme to control an invasive plant species: floating water pennywort.
Volunteers at Elmley have been carrying out a fantastic job as usual. Last week we spent a day finishing off a wiring job on the electric fence around the flood- a job that’s been on the cards for some time! We’ve also been carrying out a lot of vegetation clearance around visitor trails and in front of hides, but it grows back so fast it’s a constant battle! Last week we also had a group from Goldman Sachs come in for the day for a team challenge. We worked our way along the sea wall clearing litter and washed up debris from the start of the reserve near Wellmarsh hide all the way up to Spitend Point hide, and what a lot of it there was! Many thanks to all involved- it would have been quite a task to carry out by ourselves.
If you fancy volunteering at Elmley Marshes or any other RSPB reserve, why not have a look at the RSPB volunteering pages online.
Just a single spoonbill again on the Flood this evening, dropping in at c.7pm in front of Southfleet hide. There was also a single wood sandpiper, 2 green sandpiper and a ruff from here. Totals of 11 spotted redshank and 300 black-tailed godwit also on the Flood. A female pochard has her brood of developing ducklings on the ditch right outside Wellmarsh hide. There was a group of at least 5 garganey on the flash at Sharfleet Creek this evening & a single hobby.
Despite the breezy conditions (or perhaps because of them..) an obvious arrival of waders today: Spotted redshank totalled 29 on the Flood, where there was also 260 black-tailed godwit, 4 bar-tailed godwit, 1 LRP and a wigeon in eclipse plumage. Other waders around the reserve included 22 green sandpiper, 6 common sandpiper & single ruff, greenshank & snipe.Other birds of note included a hobby, 1 Med gull, 2 sand martins S and grey partridge & corn bunting around Kingshill Farm.
At least 1 spoonbill remained at the reserve today, with other waders on the Flood including 15 spotted redshank, 100+ black-tailed godwit, 4 green sandpiper and single greenshank & common sandpiper. Little egret numbers are increasing, with "flocks" of 7 or 8 birds regularly fishing in the rapidly drying out pools. Fortunately, there's still plenty of water in the reservoir, so our big 6" diesel pump will be able to keep the Flood nice & wet for the migrant waders that will be starting to pass through the reserve in increasing numbers very soon. 4 garganey were on the pool behind kingshill Farm this evening, raptors included a common buzzard and there are still a few Med gulls floating around.