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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...

Churlish I know, but despite the lovely weather, I wish it would rain! It's hard to maintain a wetland reserve in tip-top condition when there's a singular lack of the wet stuff. I'm still running pumps to top up the water that we've accumulated over the winter, but sunny skies &...

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...

Sitting here on a dull, breezy morning, with the remnants of the overnight "rain" (a puny 2.6mm - where was the deluge they forecast?) in the air, the blackthorn bushes blooming in the Kingshill Farm orchard remind me that spring has pretty much arrived. And if that wasn't reminder enough...

A scan over the Flood this morning revealed 2 sleeping spoonbill-shaped blobs. I did hear a report that there were 2 seen y/day, but there were definitely 2 today and they hung around all day as well. The first yellow wagtail of the year flew over and there was also at least 1 spotted redshank and a...

Well, there's no denying that we could use a bit of rain, but what a dismal day! The steady rain set in pretty much from the off and then didn't relent all day. Naturally, our cattle grazier had decided to come up today to take off the first lot of cows that will be calving in the next month...

After a couple of days of "above zero" temperatures, the fresh water on the reserve has thawed, with the result that the Flood is covered in duck again. A quick count this afternoon revealed a good 1700 wigeon, 3-400 teal and c.40 pintail + mallard and shelduck. Unfortunately the forecast is...

It's been quite quiet on the reserve over the past few days. The continuing cold snap has meant that none of the water bodies on the reserve has properly thawed out, so most of the birds remain either over the seawall on the Swale, or have moved further afield. However, coming back to Kingshill Farm...