It was sunny but with a cool breeze for my visit, but I was hopeful of seeing a few additional species for the year at this Kent Wildlife Trust reserve on the Swale estuary. I visited earlier in the year so I found the reserve without difficulty and parked up. The wind was cold and I began to wish I had brought my hat and gloves, but as the morning passed it did warm up. There were good numbers of birds on the East flood; every so often a whole group of lapwing or dunlin would be disturbed and rise up together and swirl over the water before settling once again.
I stopped in the hide and was grateful to a visitor for pointing out a greenshank roosting at the back of the flocks of lapwings and black tailed godwits. The same visitor left the hide then returned, to say that a regular little owl could be seen well in a hawthorn bush about 50 metres away so I and another bird watcher went out to look, and sure enough we could make out the small shape of the owl (tick) viewable amongst the red berried bush.
As I walked back towards the carpark, I stopped at another viewpoint. I could not identify a group of waders and waited to enquire from a group of three visitors coming in the opposite direction. Golden plovers I was told, we then located a group of common gulls,(tick) two curlew sandpipers,(tick) plus some whimbrels and a marsh harrier which were viewable on the opposite side of the road. As I neared the car park a group of long tailed birds flitted across the road and landed amongst the reeds; the orange tinge told me that they were bearded tits ( another tick).
bearded tit
little owl
common gull
golden plover
curlew sandpiper
marsh harrier
whimbrel
little egret
green woodpecker
black tailed godwit
ringed plover
greenshank
redshank
golden plover
little owl
green woodpecker
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