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Another 2 weeks has passed & still no joy in getting onto the RSPB website at Elmley - a real conundrum. I have been sent another possible fix that I will try when I return to Kingshill Farm, but I'm currently at Northward Hill, hence the chance for a further up-date about what's hip &...

Another breezy, showery day, without anything too exciting happening around the reserve. Although a visitor reported seeing a stoat at Wellmarsh hide carrying either a young moorhen or coot. After Monday, our spoonbills appear to have gone AWOL again, I haven't seen the garganey again since Sunday...

And thank Crunchie for that! They say that us Brits have a bit of a weather fixation, but as the Warden of a wetland nature reserve, the "fixation" is probably bordering on "obsession". I really was starting to get a bit concerned by the way that water was disappearing from the reserve...

Either that, or things are on the move early in this slightly odd year. Having confidently predicted the first returning autumn waders on the 9th or 10th of the month, it was almost inevitable I suppose, but I was still surprised to flush a green sandpiper yesterday. Green sands are scarce spring migrants...

The seasons are changing - ever so subtly, but changing they are. It's only the end of May, but the first post-breeding lapwing flocks are starting to gather. These are birds that for whatever reason have not bred this year, or have tried to breed unsuccessfully. As June progresses, their numbers...

The rain finally arrived at Elmley on Thursday afternoon - only showers, but some of them heavy enough to make a difference. We got just over 10mm, which wasn't enough to wet up areas that have dried out, but will keep the remaining wet bits wet a bit longer. Crucial for the many wader chicks that...

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...