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I thought that we'd got rid of it, but once again certain bits of the reserve are experiencing a "bloom" of blue-green algae. It's not actually an alga at all, as it's "proper" name is cyanobacteria. These are photosynthesising bacteria, that can affect water quality when...

A day off on Saturday, so an opportunity to get off Sheppey & I decided to head off & try to see some new species of odonata. Or dragonflies & damselflies to you & I. Heading south from Elmley, the lifting bridge was up over the Swale, so rather than sit in a queue of stationary traffic...

First of all, apologies for the lack of blog up-dates in the past week or so - for some reason I've been unable to access the RSPB website from here and so haven't been able to add anything. Not that there hasn't been anything happening! As people may have seen from the Forum comments...

I'd been concerned for 3 months about the lack of rain, but of course I was forgetting that June is the month for Wimbledon & cricket test matches, so maybe shouldn't have been quite so worried. The last couple of days has seen another half an inch of rain drop on Elmley and todays strong...

This predictions business isn't easy you know. A couple of posts ago, I suggested that a couple of nice June surprises for the reserve might involve a roller or a squacco heron. Imagine my frustration when first a roller appeared on Monday. In Suffolk. And then today came the news that there was...

I've spent the last couple of days fairly intensively scouring the reserve for broods of lapwing chicks. In the end, we found a total of 22 broods, totalling 42 chicks - not great, but better than last year & considering the way the water is disappearing, I'm quite pleased with the total...

Can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since my last blog - time just seems to zip past these days! Going around the reserve today checking the livestock, there were numerous familiar faces: there's still one spoonbill hanging around the pools east of the Flood, although the strong wind today...

There's probably one question above all others (well maybe apart from "I've found a baby bird. What do I do etc?") that visitors & callers to the reserve ask at this time of year. And that's "Are there any baby avocets we can see from the hides?" Well, I can exclusively...

WARNING: THIS BLOG CONTAINS IMAGES THAT SOME VIEWERS MAY FIND DISTRESSING I made a comment on the forum about the diversity of some birds of prey diets. Not so the peregrine. It's almost exclusively feeds on other birds, usually caught on the wing. According to Birds of the Western Palearctic...

Having been away over the bank holiday at Spurn Bird Obs (am I the only person in the world not to have seen "that" dress?) and only now seeming to get 10 minutes to myself since my return, I thought it was about time that we had a bit of a catch up. The drought continues: there was 0.3mm...

NOT a quote from a Monty Python sketch, but another bizarre occurence for the Elmley warden. I'd experienced a bit of car trouble today and having got back to the reserve was slightly concerned by the smell of "overheating car" when I got out. Lifting the bonnet, I noticed 2 things: firstly...

Today was the first "field by field" census of the year for this breeding season. We carry out 3 of these to record the breeding populations across the site, walking through every field & aiming to get to within 100m of all points on the reserve. Elmley's quite a big area, so to cover...

Having had a mild rant in my last blog about birding abbreviations, I thought I'd carry on about another pet hate of mine! Sitting in Southfleet hide this evening, I had the surreal experience of watching SpongeBob SquarePants float across the Flood. "How amusing" I hear you say. Unfortunately...

About time too! I've been looking out for our first garganey of the year for a couple of weeks now. This is our only summer migrant duck, the first birds arriving back in the UK from their African wintering grounds as early as Mid-March, although most push through later in April & May. The drakes...

Yesterday was awful. Wet, windy, yuk. I'd mentally prepared myself for a day in the office catching up with some paperwork, cd player on in the background, kettle on. Nice. And then the phone rang & it was our cattle grazier who wanted to come up to take the calves off for weaning. Did he know...

The high tide roost at Elmley today saw 24 curlew sandpipers & 6 little stint, along with 193 dunlin, 3 spotted redshank, 2 ruff, 150 avocet, 5 bar-tailed & 25 black-tailed godwit, 2 turnstone, 200 ringed plover, 1 common & 3 green sandpiper & a greenshank. Raptors included a merlin,...

While I was out checking the livestock this afternoon, I flushed 2 spoonbills from the edge of the reservoir. Unfortunately, they headed off across the Swale in the direction of Oare Marshes, where they seem to have been seen more regularly just recently. This was the first record since the end of July...

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...

A spoonbill back on the Flood today, before flying south across the Swale at 7.20pm. Also present on the Flood a 1st-year little gull & a garganey. Waders included 12 spotted redshank, 155 black-tailed godwit, 1 ruff, 5 turnstone, 3 dunlin, 6 common sandpiper, 4 green sandpiper, 3 snipe & 2 LRP...

I was just concentrating on the waders today as the tide was quite high, so there ought to have been a few on the reserve. However, nothings certain in this game, so there wasn't quite as many as I was expecting. Best were 21 spotted redshank on the Flood, the highest count for a while. Most are...

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...

Bah!! White-tailed plover (or lapwing if you prefer) is one of those fantasy birds that I always imagined I'd find at Elmley. So when one finally turns up in the region, where does it end up? Rainham RSPB. Wrong side of the Thames. Still, a cracking bird & well done to Howard et al for pulling...

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...

The 2 spoonbills again on the Flood today, although one flew west at about 6.45pm. Also on the Flood 270 black-tailed godwit, but only 8 spotted redshank noted. More green sandpipers today, with at least 11 around the reserve. 2 sand martins flew south, along with small numbers of swift; and 2 juvenile...

After a weeks absence, the 2 sub-adult spoonbills were back on the Flood at Elmley this afternoon, showing from Wellmarsh hide. Not as many black-tailed godwits present as the past few days (the tide wasn't particularly high), but still at least 350, as well as 27 spotted redshank, 2 greenshank &...