Late Spring at Elmley.

 Towards the end of April Lisa and I headed once again to the north Kent reserve of Elmley. This time it was a one day only visit, although we were going to be staying overnight nearby to save the long drive home.

One of my hoped for birds was the Yellow Wagtail. A bird I don't see too often, and when I do they are generally distant views as they feed around cattle. Strangely, the first bird we saw of significance was another bird well known for being around cattle, the Cattle Egret. There were a few of them there but only one was near enough for a shot.

Cattle Egret with Cattle.

At Elmley the entrance track to the car park is a couple of miles long, and is known as the self drive safari as the car is used as a hide. The birds are used to cars going along the track and allow a close approach much of the time.

We were about halfway along the drive when I spotted a wagtail fly over the car. Once it settled it was clearly the Yellow Wagtail that I had hoped for. To start with the bird was on the wrong side of the car as it had the sun behind it, however, it then flew to the other side and landed in a shallow dyke. Occasionally it was calling, and I was lucky enough to get a photo in mid call.

Yellow Wagtail calling.

It soon flew back to the wrong side again before then flying further away. We hoped that we would get another opportunity later on.

After parking up and starting our walk, it became clear that there was quite a bit of Brown Hare activity going on. To start with I kept being in the wrong place to catch the action, but eventually, with some very careful and quiet walking I spotted one to photograph close to me.

Although the hare knew I was there it wasn't at all startled, and soon it moved a short distance, which fortunately for me was not in long grass.

Brown Hare.

After several minutes the hare then moved towards the track that I had just walked along. Lisa was the other side of the hare, and as there was a bush between her and the hare she couldn't actually see the animal, despite me trying to let her know that it was there. The beautiful animal posed for me briefly before crossing the path and going into deeper scrub.

Brown Hare.

Later we decided to wander down to the hides, past where we had seen the Bearded Tits on our previous visit. Unfortunately, we didn't see them this time, but once at the first hide we did see several waders. These included a Spotted Redshank, although this was quite distant. The Avocets however, were in the mood for breeding, and a pair mated not far from us.

Mating Avocets.

We have seen this several times over the past two years, mainly at Rye Harbour. As usual the female signals she is ready, and then the male spends some time preening before mounting her. The mating itself is quite brief, but as he's dismounting her he wraps a wing around her and they touch bills before seperating, when they then do a short fast run together. It's all rather sweet!!

The male wrapping his wing around the female.

We decided after this to only go to the next hide, where little was happening. On the return walk Lisa spotted another Brown Hare that was tucked away in the long grass. 

Brown Hare in cover.

After trying for the Marsh Harriers, in the spot we had success last time, with less activity we once again drove down the entrance track. We had been told by a warden that the first baby Lapwing had been seen that day. It wasn't long before we spotted a pair of Lapwing keeping an eye on three little bundles of fluff. As we stopped the car one parent called to the chicks and all three came running to her. The first two quickly took cover, but the third had a job to fit under the parent. Eventually it managed to barge under. Very quickly the parent realised we were no threat at all and the chicks all came back out again and all ran off in different directions. After watching and photographing a chick that came very close, we left the family in peace. They were so gorgeous to watch though.

Lapwing parent with chick. The legs of the other chicks can be seen under the parent bird.

All safely tucked away.

Lapwing Chick back exploring.

A little further along the track we spotted a close Oystercatcher. This smart bird allowed a close approach, and looked superb in the late afternoon light.

Oystercatcher.

We were now approaching the area where we had seen the Yellow Wagtail earlier, but there was no sign of it. However, although it was now getting late we decided to have one more drive up and down the track. This time we did see the gorgeous Yellow Wagtail again, and it was also the closest view we had of the bird.

Yellow Wagtail.

It was wonderful having one more chance of the bird, and was a fitting end to the visit.

The Red Fox.

 I was delighted in early April to get an invitation from my good friend Phil, to visit his new woodland hide that he had built. He had been getting regular visits from a fox, and he hoped that I would get some opportunities to photograph this handsome mammal from the hide.

The day looked to be pretty much perfect, as it wasn't too sunny, which would have given harsh shadows in the woodland setting, but also it wasn't heavy clouds which would have made it too dark.

We spent a couple of hours in the hide together and during that time we had three seperate visits from the fox. To start with it was a little wary, but with each visit it relaxed more and came closer.

Red Fox.

Between visits we were also treated to watching some of the woodland birds at close range, with Great-spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch as well as a couple of birds that I rarely bother with, a Robin and Pheasant!!

Male Great-spotted Woodpecker.

Nuthatch

Robin.

Pheasant.

My thanks as ever to Phil for giving me another unforgettable experience.

Black-necked Grebe.

 For just over a week a Black-necked Grebe was at West Rise on the outskirts of Eastbourne. The bird wasn't quite in full breeding plumage, but it was getting close and was a beautiful bird.

I visited the site on several occasions hoping to get some nice images, and to also just enjoy watching the bird. As it was also a new species for Lisa, she was also keen to see it. The bird spent much of its time well out in the middle of the bay, well out of reach of the lenses we had, but occasionally it came within range.

A small selection of images of the bird over 4 visits below, which really show off the gorgeous red eye. In America the bird is known as an Eared Grebe due to the golden ear feathers which become more prominent in full breeding plumage.

Black-necked Grebe in sunshine and choppy conditions.

The bird was mainly fishing, but occasionally spotted a fly on the surface.

Black-necked Grebe feeding on a fly.

Black-necked Grebe.

Large Tortoiseshell.

 The only drawback with our Norfolk holiday, was that I was expecting the Large Tortoiseshells in a local woodland to come out of hibernation around the time of our trip.

For the past few years, it has been pretty clear to some of us that the Large Tortoiseshell were breeding in the woodland, and as the butterflies come out of hibernation on the sunnier days in early spring, I was hoping to photograph them before they started to show wear and tear.

The week before our trip would have been ideal, but the two really good warm and suuny days I was busy with a doctor's appointment on one day and the car MOT on the other. Hence, I missed seeing them during that first week of emergence, and by the time we were back from Norfolk, the woodland was very busy with butterfly watchers. I did try the local woodland during the first two weeks back from Norfolk, but the weather on the days I was able to get there, was just not quite warm enough.

Not wanting to miss out totally on the Large Tortoiseshell, I did visit the main Kent colony with David. There we had no trouble at all in finding some to photograph, with around 7 seen, although it would have been nice to get them in slightly better condition.

However, I certainly wasn't worried about missing the best of the Large Tortoiseshell, as we had such a great time in Norfolk, seeing species that we rarely see. After all, I have now seen plenty of Large Tortoiseshell in the UK since my first one in 2020.

Large Tortoiseshell.

Large Tortoiseshell.

Elmley Weekend.

 A few days after our Norfolk trip, and with Lisa still being on holiday, we decided to spend the weekend at Elmley.

Staying overnight on the Saturday gave us two pretty full days at the reserve, and despite it being a weekend, it was reasonably quiet.

On the drive along the long track to the car park, it was very evident that it had been very dry in recent weeks, with very low pools, this meant there were very few waders along the track. However, not long before the car park there was plenty of Marsh Harrier activity. Several Brown Hares were also hunkered down in the longer grasses. 

Male Marsh Harrier on the direct approach.

Male Marsh Harrier.

Brown Hare hunkered down.

The above Hare then moved away from its form and followed another Hare onto the field behind the rough grass area. As we were now in mid March, we were hoping for a bit of boxing action, and as the two hares reached the field we were treated to a little bit of the mad March Hare action as they started a bit of boxing. It was a shame that there was some longer grasses between us and the Hares, so some of the images were affected more than others with a hint of out of focus grasses.

Boxing Brown Hares.

And the winner is!!

All across both days we came across more Hares. I have always had a soft spot for Brown Hares, so I really do love seeing them at close range, and Elmley has to be one of the best spots for seeing them like this, especially in southern counties.

Brown Hare.

For both days the weather was lovely. Slightly breezy at times, but mostly sunny. The Blackthorn was well in flower and we saw several early season butterflies around the reserve. At one spot we were on a seat looking down on a large Blackthorn bush that was full of blossom. Several Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock were taking advantage of this nectar source. It's very rare for me to use a 600mm lens for butterfly photography, but as that was all I had with me!! Surprisingly though, the lens worked really well for these shots.

Small Tortoiseshell on Blackthorn.

Peacock on Blackthorn.

We also got lucky with a few smaller birds on the walks to the hides, with several Reed Buntings seen, as well as some gorgeous Bearded Reedling. Lisa did better than I did with the Reedling, although I did have a couple worthy of keeping.

Male Reed Bunting.

Male Bearded Reedling (Tit).

Both afternoons we spent some time using the car as a hide as the Marsh Harriers were nest building, so they were often flying nearby. We were also surprised when the male brought in prey for the female a couple of times. This then resulted in the male mounting the female to mate. We saw this three times over the weekend. The prey item was actually a Mallard duckling. 

Male Marsh Harrier with Mallard duckling.

Male Marsh Harrier hunting.

As the time came for us to depart, as the reserve closes at 4pm at this time of year, we were just leaving the Marsh Harrier area with just enough time for the long slow drive to the exit. We wanted to have a couple of minutes spare just in case we spotted something good on the way out.

I had just pulled away from the Marsh Harrier site when Lisa shouted for me to STOP!! The next thing she said was 'There's a Bittern right by us',

As it was in the small ditch running alongside the left side of the track, and I was driving I couldn't see it. However, I pulled over and looked out of the open window, and there, just twelve feet away at the most, was a superb Bittern, standing as they do, bolt upright trying to blend in with the surroundings. Luckily, we had both got the spare cameras handy with a zoom lens on. This was just as well as the Bittern was right at the nearest focal point for the 600mm lenses, and we could only just about fit the head, bill and top of the neck in the frame with the big lenses. At this point, one of the wardens pulled up by the side of us and told us we had to get a move on as the gates would be closing in just a few minutes. When I told him what we had right by us, he was also very keen to see it so he pulled in behind us so he could also photograph it as soon as we left it. We were however, trying our best to get some shots quickly as we had to get to the gate quickly. What a shame we were not able to spend quality time with this special bird. However, we did both get some great shots of this gorgeous Bittern.

Almost the full frame with the 600mm.

The amazing eyes facing down.

I doubt that we will ever get that close to a Bittern again. Despite the rush at the end, it was an amazing weekend, and as ever, we look forward to visiting Elmley again in the near future.