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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...

Well, here we are again. After a lot of investigation & loads of techy stuff waaay over my head, the bottom line is that I am now able to get onto the RSPB website from Elmley. So hopefully, normal service has been resumed. It's been about a month since my last update and in terms of water...

The RSPB IS people have apparently solved my continuing website problems, although it's now dependent on the mobile phone company to action the change. Something they're being frustratingly slow to address. So anyway, back at Northward Hill office, so access to the website has allowed an up...

Fingers crossed, the Elmley/RSPB website saga could soon be rectified. It seems that the mobile phone connection we use for our computer system at Kingshill Farm has been routing requests to access the website to a different address & so the operation "times out" before the mistake is realised...

Plenty of stuff around for the good numbers of visitors that visited Elmley over the weekend. Where to start? The 3 spoonbills remained faithful to the Flood most of the time, although they can sometimes be difficult to see when they choose to feed in the deeper channels. Still at least 3 garganey...

I was going to call this blog "March of the Med Gull", but more of that later. Todays visit by a whiskered tern was a long over-due first for the reserve and quite clearly the days highlight. Found by Rob Clements at c.10am, the bird stuck around the grazing marsh and Flood until c. 5pm...

There's now been up to 3 spoonbills on the Flood on a daily basis since last weekend, but only 2 were present today. And I could only see one this evening, but hopefully one or more will hang around until tomorrow. Raptors today included 2 each of buzzard, sparrowhawk & peregrine + ring-tail...

Well, don't actually - it wasn't that hard to predict! But the first wheatear of the year duly arrived along the access track on Saturday. No sign of it today, but I'm sure that there will be others. There was also a chiffchaff reported. Today's highlight was an adult spoonbill on the...

With light winds & sunny skies, I was quite hopeful that today would produce our first yellow wagtail or garganey of the year. Alas, I was disappointed, but the variety of raptors around today made up for it. Both male & ring-tail hen harrier were seen, along with a merlin, at least 3 buzzards...

After yesterdays beautiful, almost spring-like day, with wall-to-wall sunshine, singing skylarks & the first tentative signs of lapwing display, things were sadly back to normal today. Dull, dull, dull. Still the gloom was brightened briefly at lunchtime when i nipped down to check pumps/sheep etc...

It's not every day that I add a new species to my Elmley list (I think you'd have to go back to the May 25th "double-whammy" of black-winged pratincole and hoopoe in 2009. Now that was a day...!); and even less often that I get to use the ever-so-slightly disparaging term for a red...

Another rather dreary, cold start to the day, with grey skies and a keen NE'ly wind that quickly froze my fingers. And then in the early afternoon, the sun came out! What a difference - still cold, but you can cope with it when the sun's shining. All "the usual" birds of prey were...

Of course, it was more or less inevitable... Having led y/days guided walk in dull, windy conditions and searched in vain for a peregrine sighting, today was nice & sunny, still a bit windy, though not too bad and the first bird I saw as I passed the orchard on my way down to the reserve today...

A slightly belated new year's greeting from Elmley. I have been back at the reserve since the 30th, but haven't found the time to update what's been going on here. So here's a quick summary. Natalie found an Egyptian goose by the access track on Boxing Day and up to 4 have been present...

We were fog-bound yesterday, so my wander around the reserve to check the livestock didn't reveal very much. The poor visibility was compounded by the fact that the water bodies had frozen, meaning that most of the waterfowl have abandoned the reserve for the Swale. I did see at least 500 wigeon...

Yesterday gave us the first real blast of winter at Elmley. No snow, unlike other parts of the country, but leaden skies and a biting northerly wind were a taster for what's to come over the next week or so. Despite the cold, the livestock are still doing a good job maintaining the sward out on the...

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...

Our cattle grazier came to the reserve today to take the first animals back to their winter quarters. He likes his cows to calf indoors, although we've already had 2 un-expected deliveries this year on site. Fortunately, both calves have done well, but they were amongst the first load to go, along...

Out bright & breezy this morning to check the livestock and to instruct our digger driver on the days jobs, I drove round the corner of the seawall at Swale hide & flushed a snow bunting from a small patch of saltmarshy vegetation near the hide. "Great! The first of the winter" I thought...

Both Natalie & myself had the weekend off, but a number of visitors reported some interesting birds on the reserve. On Saturday, a spoonbill was again seen on the Swale, along with a spotted redshank. Raptors included male hen harrier, merlin and 3 buzzard. Continuing the run of bearded tit records...

Natalie & I attended a series of meetings at Northward Hill today, although the North Kent Marshes team managed to escape at lunch-time to spend a short spell up at the Marshland Viewpoint on the reserve. Well worth the effort, with a ring-tail hen harrier, hobby, buzzard, marsh harrier & a stonechat...

Having spent all day in the office, a quick trip down to the reserve before it got dark was on the cards. It was a still, mild evening, but the threat of more heavy showers was in the air. However, I'm pleased that I made the effort as I found the juvenile black tern that had been reported over the...

A juvenile hen harrier at Elmley this evening. Other raptors included 2 buzzard, peregrine & hobby. Waders on the Flood included 6 curlew sandpiper, 4 little stint, single spotted redshank & ruff and 2 greenshank. The cuckoo was still around Kingshill Farm, as was a whitethroat & a whinchat