20th January - Elmley NNR, Kent

The first visit of the year to Kent, and a chance for me to visit Elmley once again.  The cold snap was still with us, but the weather was due to change later in the day, to start though it was cold and frosty, sunny but with a lot of high cloud that was making the light very watery.

I arrived at the reserve entrance and while I waited for it to open a male Marsh Harrier entertained over a nearby pool.

The marsh was frozen with very little open water, consequently there were very few duck along the entrance track and as a result of that no Marsh Harrier other than the male I saw at the entrance.  There were a few Lapwing and Curlew foraging amongst the grass but that was about all.  As I approached the car park there was a Brown Hare sat in the field taking in the warming sunshine.

A little further along I picked out a Barn Owl in the trees that line the path to the Brickfields.  After parking I walked down to the Old School remains and had a brief view of a Little Owl on the apex of the old roof before it disappeared into the cavity between two brick walls

Back at the car park I checked the scrub behind the car park and pool for the Long-eared Owl, it was no surprise there was nothing there.  Whilst there was sunshine the wind had picked up and was very cold as it traveled across the frozen ground and this was blowing directly into the area where the owl would normally be seen in the sunshine, so it was probably tucked away somewhere else.

I walked down to the Swale Screen and found the duck that would be normally on the marsh, they were all out on the Swale Estuary.

The sun was catching the tops of the reeds around the frozen ponds.

Shelduck flew over a welcome sight in what was a very quiet birding walk.

There had been reports of Russian White-fronted Geese with Greylags in the fields around the north area of the hides.  Well I found some Greylags.

Then scanning the fields I found many more, but of more interest was the two geese in the foreground, they are out of focus but show a white patch on the head, were these some of the white-fronts?

I walked back, passing a couple of reed beds where I heard the calls of Bearded Tit, but never managed to see them.  Back at the screen a male marsh Harrier was over the marsh, and then a female did a much closer fly past.

The pool opposite the screen had some open water and in it and on the ice was a large group of Mallard.

But looking closer there was a lone drake Gadwall.

And a Wigeon that clearly didn't like the Mallards company and walked off across the ice.

Back at the car park the female Kestrel was hunting.

I made my way back to the old school in hope the Little Owl would show, but it didn't, I walked on all the way to Swale, where the tide was out and Wigeon and Teal lined the edge of the water and Little and Great Crested Grebes were on the water.

Walking back I heard Bearded Tit once again and this time managed to see one fly across the path and into the reed mace on the south side.  A little further along I was surprised when a lone Avocet flew over.

There was still no sign of the Long-eared Owl, however on the pond there was a Coot negotiating the frozen water, showing off their amazing feet.

The wind was picking up now and was quite strong, this was not good for the Short-eared owls, but the female Kestrel was using it to her advantage as she hunted once again the field alongside the car park.

With the sun going in behind the clouds and the ever strengthening wind, it seemed unlikely the owls would show, so I decided to drive the entrance track once again.  It was still quiet with a lot still frozen.  There was a group of Black-tailed Godwits chattering away and moving around trying to find ground that was not frozen.

I had stopped to check a raptor on a post that turned out to be another Buzzard, when this Snipe dropped in to the edge of the pool alongside the track.

I think that if the weather had been like the day previous, cold, sunny and still I would have seen a lot more, as it was the strong south west wind and watery sunshine did not really help at all.  Still shouldn't complain it was a nice day out, in what is a very special place.