Browse by Tags

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...

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 &...

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...

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...

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...

Quite an exciting day on the reserve today. I was just going back into the house at Kingshill Farm this morning when I heard the unmistakeable rattling call of a garganey coming from the pool behind the house. There were actually 2 drakes and a duck present here. The call has been likened to someone...

Don't you just love bird watchers vernacular? The spoonbill was still on the Flood today, as were 2 spotted redshank and a ruff, amongst all the nesting activity of avocets, lapwing & redshank + a variety of ducks & assorted other waterfowl. A single whimbrel was in the field near Southfleet...

This winter has been pretty hopeless for short-eared owls at Elmley. We had a run of records in the autumn and then very little after the first cold snap, with the last record back in January. Until now. For the past day or so, a bird has been hunting the fields around Kingshill Farm. I was returning...

I didn't get onto the reserve until this evening, so only had a chance for a quick check of the site. Highlight for me was the winter adult little gull feeding with black-headed gulls on Windmill Creek. April is a good month for passage little gulls in the UK, as they leave their Mediterranean wintering...

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...

A nice sunny morning, with a light south-easterly blowing and the years first swallow duly arrived. Up until recently, I'd never seen a swallow in March before. Now it's almost expected. Displaying lapwing are becoming ever more obvious and even the redshank are starting to make a bit of noise...

Things have been a bit quiet on the reserve over the past few days, although even in "quiet" periods there's usually something of interest around the reserve. On the 25th, a short-eared owl, a wheatear & 3 brambling were around Kingshill Farm. On Monday, 2 little stint were present...

Back at Elmley having spent 3 days in York at the RSPB Warden's Gathering (which included a very enjoyable trip to a previous stomping ground at Blacktoft Sands - plenty of good birds, including at least 26 spotted redshanks, 3 curlew sandpipers & a skein of pink-footed geese headed south. If...

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,...

The juvenile hen harrier was again around the reserve today, favouring the Elmley Hill area in the evening, before heading off north across the reserve. There were also at least 2 hobbys. Waders on the Flood included spotted redshank, ruff & black-tailed godwit. A kingfisher was seen at Counterwall...

Well it's all go these days! Although there was no sign today of yesterdays Temminck's stint (presumably last nights clear conditions prompted it to carry on with it's migration) in it's place there was a peachy juvenile red-necked phalarope. This tiny tundra treasure twirled & twitched...

There were still at least 18 juv curlew sandpipers and one little stint up on the high tide today, but the star turn was a rather un-assuming mud coloured wader that pottered about in front of Southfleet hide this evening - an adult Temminck's stint. A few pairs of these tiny waders nest on occasions...

Most of yesterdays taiga sandpipers had moved on today - only a few green sandpipers & no reports of wood sandpiper at all. However these were replaced by a flock of high Arctic breeders as 46 curlew sandpipers appeared on the Flood at high tide. These were all juveniles, so it looks as though curlew...

Todays north-easterly winds produced an arrival of northern sandpipers at Elmley this evening. At least 45 green & 6 wood sandpipers could be found: mainly around the Flood, but particularly from Southfleet hide, where there was 24 greens, all 6 woods and a juvenile little stint to boot.. Also still...

I thought that I was going to have an encounter with the Kingshill Farm ghost this morning. 4am and I thought I heard a faint noise outside my bedroom. A minute or two later & there it was again. Definitely a noise - had I just not closed my bedroom door properly & it was moving in a draught...

A quick tour of the hides on the top of the tide produced some excellent birding. But before that, a look over the saltmarsh from the benches at Wellmarsh produced 2 black terns, 250 grey plover, 50 dunlin, 2 whimbrel & 2 bar-tailed godwit. Around the Flood, now 2 little stints (an adult & a...

An adult little stint was new on the Flood today, while the adult curlew sandpiper remains, but was particularly elusive. Other waders included 26 dunlin, 8 spotted redshank, 5 greenshank, 50 black-tailed godwit, 17 golden plover, 3 LRP & 4 ruff. Migrants around Kingshill Farm included willow...

Apologies for the delay, but Friday saw the first record of the year of curlew sandpiper. 2 of these smart Arctic waders were feeding on the Flood out from Wellmarsh hide and they were still present on Saturday. These birds are occasional spring visitors to the reserve, as they make their way north to...