Tuesday 21st October 2014

A couple of recent visits proved very uninteresting , with very little found . A visit to Kelsey Park in

Beckenham proved otherwise , with the Mandarins already in their finery and paired up , even though April is their normal breeding time . As usual , females are in short supply , so unpaired males had to

make do with a bit of showing off , hoping a female might change her mind . A noticeable change was the number of Brown Rats all over the site . Notices ask people not to leave food around and put

the explosion in numbers down to the last wet Winter and Spring . One individual must have been

watching the Grey Squirrels on site , begging to be fed as I approached . On the way home , I stopped again at the woods at Crystal Palace and again heard and got a possible glimpse of a Firecrest , possibly two , high in a Yew , but looking into the sun I was only looking at silhouettes . Then two dogs decided to start WW3 directly under the tree , and that was that .
Yesterday , I decided to visit the Isle of Sheppey before the arrival of the latest ex-hurricane . As it

was high tide on arrival , I started at Leysdown , finding little more than a few Turnstone , picking over the small area of beach that wasn't covered by the tide . Down the Shellness track , just a flock of Brent Geese feeding in a brassica crop and a couple of Reed Buntings on arrival at the car park . A flat walk out to the point found a large number of waders , mostly Godwits with a couple of Little

Egret , out in the middle of the saltmarsh . But that was nothing compared to the main hightide roost

on the beach . Impossible to estimate the number of birds , and this shot is only of the centre of the roost . Shortly after I took the shot , a walker put half of the birds up , so I didn't go any further ,

instead went to have a look at the male Hen Harrier painted on the blockhouse , a superb piece of art , I just wished I saw a real one , or a SE Owl , but the only raptor seen was a male Kestrel . By the houses , I was photographing a Redshank perched on a half submerged post , when I got just too

close , and it flew off and neatly fitted in between 6 Grey Plover , perched a bit further out . At the same time , a small flock of Ringed Plover , flew in from behind the houses , and landed on the beach

just 10 metres from where I was standing . I managed to fire off six shots before they realised I was there , and flew off further down the beach . At the time I thought I had photographed a Rock Pipit

directly behind the last house , but on looking at home , I think it is a Meadow Pipit . On returning to the car park , the sound of geese , although a good distance away beyond Leysdown was incredible ,

and once again , I only managed to photograph the middle of the flock as it flew out to sea , wheeled , and settled on the sea , seemingly between Leysdown and Warden Point . I expected to come across them on my way back to Leysdown , but didn't .

A drive down to Capel Fleet and the raptor viewpoint was quiet apart from several Marsh Harriers ,

including this juvenile , which were throwing the waterfowl into panic as they passed over . My last stop was at Elmley Nature Reserve for a look along the track , with clouds building , but there was

still time for a very confiding Wheatear along the track , both male and female Stonechat amongst

the ripened seed heads , but only the male was willing to pose . At the car park , the resident House

Sparrows were in constant conversation , by the old wardens house , at least three Red Admirals were

enjoying what remained of the sunshine . In the old orchard , two LEOwls were busy at roost , one

almost completely shrouded in vegetation , but the other a little less so . Several Migrant Hawkers

were on the wing in the area , and one came to rest on one of the Shepherds Huts . On the way back

down the track , Skylarks were singing and displaying , a pair of Mute Swan were practising their

synchronised flying , a male Clouded Yellow and a Stoat that raced across the track in front of me .