Gary Howard's birds and wildlife

James Hunter, Andy Lawson and I spoke during the week and after the fantastic views of Bittern last Sunday in the Lee Valley in rather trying circumstances voiced the idea of a dawn run with photography very much in mind. We met up in the Bittern hide just before dawn and set up in spendid isolation. Water Rails were quite vocal and we soon started getting views of two of them but sadly no bitterns appeared and we gave it two and a half hours before giving up and heading off.

Shoveler -  Lee Valley

Little Grebe - Lee Valley

We ended up back at Rainham. Firstly we visited the stone barges but could not find any water pipits on the falling tide. Then we set off to scan the gulls or should I say Andy and James did and I tagged along. The birds were a bit distant but a couple of good candidates for Caspian Gull were soon spied - a 1st winter and adult. We couldn't find any glaucous gulls. The novelty of watching distant gulls soon wore off for me and I jumped into my car and headed back to Kent.

It  was grey, dull and overcast but I headed to Sheppey and drove along the track to Elmley - Curlew, Golden Plover and Lapwing but little else. My next stop was Capel Fleet where I found a large herd of swans strung out across the fields south of the fleet; 155 Mute and 43 Bewick's. That's a very good count for Sheppey, though sadly not one was an immature which points to a poor breeding season last year.

Marsh Harrier's are now a very familiar sight year-round in Kent though you don't have to go back far to remember when they were quite rare in winter. Sadly the once quite common Hen Harrier's fortunes have gone in exactly the opposite direction and so I was pleased to see a sub-adult male but not surprised to see no others. I saw a Buzzard along the fleet and then set off to explore Harty Marshes. It was generally quiet with the damp, cool, grey weather doing little to help. Despite another drive out along the Elmley track I saw no owls today.