So, off to Sheppey for the first winter Harrier hunt....
I arrived just as the light was getting anywhere near good to actually see some birds...thanks to JK for some tip-top map work and directions.....I did think I was going to be late thanks to some local hicks on the island moving some static homes and slowing everyone up immensely. Thankfully they departed the thoroughfare with the remainder of the cars being prison bound.
I missed my initial stopping point but just after found a Coot standing in the road! A reversal of car and I could make out Swans flying off to various fields....though eventually I could only find Mutes.
From my vantage point on the hill a little patience provided me with a ringtail Hen Harrier, though quite distant and not what I would call quality views....mind you, better views than last year when I had none!
Two Barn Owls were hunting near by.
I waited a while to see if any more would come along, preferably a lot closer, but with no more apparent, and no more Harriers around, I moved a few hundred metres down the road where I found various ducks and many Lapwing with Starling accompaniment...both were easily alarmed and flighting much of the time. This was being played out across the marsh as many flocks of birds took flight. Great views of Greylag Geese coming across too.
Mallard, Teal, Lapwing et al
As I turned to go back to the car a Barn Owl was hunting a few metres behind me and landed on a pot nearby....still somewhat gloomy and beginning to threaten rain...
Barn Owl
So I headed to the raptor viewpoint to see if this would improve things and on the way....I found a small flock of...
Corn Buntings
...yes....I know...hard to identify by that photo....but they were there and occasionally doing the jangly key thing....fabulous birds...
At the viewpoint I found another Barn Owl, a distant Marsh Harrier on a post...a nearer Buzzard, very light, on a post...a couple of other Marsh Harriers flitted by. Several Kestrels had made themselves seen along the road, sitting on wires and posts...but this one sat very nicely ON the raptor viewpoint....cant ask for more....well...maybe a big cheque and a Hen Harrier sitting on it...but...
Kestrel
Rain delayed again....which happened a few times....thankfully it stopped....I decided to stop by the Church at the west end entrance to the Swale reserve. I walked a little way to the trees and scoped a Marsh Harrier and a flock of Linnets...
Linnets
It rained....so...back to the car....and a trip to Harty Ferry Inn...no...not for a drink...but a quick look in the shelter of the trees across to Oare....I found a few waders as expected and a large flock of Brent Geese were feeding with many Shelduck...I looked through them but couldn't find the fabled Pale-bellied....eventually the rain got harder and I hid in the car for a while.
With blue sky in the distance and heading in my direction I returned to the church and walked off toward the reserve again....the blue sky came over....the sun came out...and a magic ten minutes of birding commenced...and this, for me, is what birding is about, the magic moments that are real highlights...
A fabulous male Hen Harrier was across the field, hunting along the hedgerow, trying to catch anything and everything.....too and throw....then it meandered over to the reserve but I could still follow it. After a few minutes out of view it re-appeared where I first found it and again it chased and turned....all in the glorious sunshine....the best views I have ever had of a Hen Harrier and, for me, a real birding highlight, just him and me....
With the Harrier etched on my mind and now gone, flown west along the front...I returned to my car and headed for Shellness Road.
Here I found another flock of Brents....on the sea this time. Where I had parked a solitary Red-legged Partridge appeared...
Red-legged Partridge
I then headed inland along a footpath and found a smaller flock of Linnets and a good number of Skylark. Whilst I was there a flock of around 80 or so Brents came in to feed....followed by more flocks...till there was around 450 - 500 of them....
Brent Geese
....eventually I came across the Pale-bellied Brent Goose...it should simply stand out from the crowd...but with most of them feeding tightly it took a while to pick it out...
....its in there....really...!!
Todays list....
Coot, Mute Swan, Teal, Shoveler, Barn Owl, Mallard, Lapwing, Hen Harrier, Meadow Pipit, Chaffinch, Greylag Geese, Fieldfare, Red-legged Partridge, Starling, Marsh Harrier, Stonechat, Water Rail, Kestrel, Corn Bunting, Reed Bunting, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Magpie, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Buzzard, Common Gull, Collared Dove, Curlew, Robin, Crow, Greenfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Linnet, Feral Pigeon, Avocet, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Little Egret, Brent Geese (1 Pale-bellied), Skylark, Song Thrush, House Sparrow, Wren, Greater Black-backed Gull
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