After some helpfull tips from others here I took my first trip to Elmley Marshes RSPB on Friday 1st July and thought I'd write a few words and show a couple of images from the trip.
After an hour or so drive we arrived at 5.30am, found the old road bridge across to the Isle of Sheppey and easily found the turning towards the reserve. I had been warned to make sure I had my camera at the ready as soon as we hit this road. I decided to get my wife Maria to drive and I sat in the back so I could grab any shots. It was excellent advice.
As you follow the track down a few hundred metres you hit a fork, bear left and through a few farm buildings. Once through the gate and across the cattlegrid the countryside really opens up. It's incredibly open and you can see for miles. There were birds sitting in the road, Lapwings, Meadow Pipits, Skylark and Yellow Wagtails really close. They didn't seem to want to move even when the car was getting almost on top of them. There were oystercatchers pipping around and I had a great view of a Marsh Harrier ( no photo's tho!) I'd advise visitors to take this part of the journey slowly, it's easy to miss what's right under your nose as there's lots of ditches and pools to check out. In the glowing morning sun it was stunning....
There were also fantastic views of Hares and definitely somewhere I'll try again. I grabbed a few images that I'll post later.
The drive down the track is a few miles but don't rush! When you reach the next set of farm buildings you will have reached the main area to park and there are loos and an RSPB office etc. It felt like I'd arrived at someone's farm and shouldn't be there. 6am and not a soul...pheasant in the carpark, swallows twittering as they darted about, sparrows and wagtails all over and hares that could barely be bothered to hide...heaven!
The path to the hides was well signposted but beware, it's quite a walk along open country, still excellent opportunities to see allsorts and I'd say maybe a couple of km to reach the actual reserve.
Inside the reserve was beautiful. Immediately to your left you can see a hide which overlooks a large scrape. There are actually 3 hides on this piece of water and afforded fantastic views of Avocets including tiny chicks taking their first steps in the world. There was a constant chattering from the avocets, something I hadn't experienced before. The 2 closest hides seemed best for these and depending on the sun should allow decent photographs. As it was early we headed to the second hide along a reed / meadow bordered path which was alive with butterflies, dragonflies and other insects.
The birds were reasonable close and there were also Godwits, Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Oystercatchers (doing constant flypasts) , Ringed Plover and Sandpiper. Add to this all the smaller birds flitting about and it's hard to choose where to look. We also had a kestrel hunting close by and a hobby flypast.
After an hour or so we headed back down the path and started the walk along the southern side of the reserve. The insect life along these paths was incredible, literally thousands of butterflies and dragonflies and other insects, a macro dream. Later I even spotted a Hummingbird Hawkmoth, my first in a couple of years.
The third hide wasn't so productive but did produce these spoonbills flying over
and the ditches had quite a few singing Marsh Frogs
Although we knew the next hide was closed, we decided to walk anyway right to the end. To be honest I think we overdid it there! It was a looong way to Spit End which overlooked the Swale area and we timed it wrong, the tide flies up the sand / mud fast and we missed it. It was still good to see it and along the way there was plenty of birds flying in off the sea, especially Shelduck and Oystercatchers and the incredible diversity of insects didn't let up for one step.
I'm a pretty fit guy but admit that walking back was quite a slog. I weighed my gear the next day and realised I'd been carrying 2 and a half stone and walked for 10 hours. No wonder I ached but it was worth it. From the time we arrived up until we returned to the first hides we literally had the place to ourselves. I only saw 3 other people after that, it really was quiet.
I met a guy who was on holiday that pointed out where the Little Owls could be spotted and although we walked past we were so knacked that we decided that was for another day.
Definitely a place to return to and have read about Barn Owls, Long Eared Owls and Stoats amongst the things I'd love to spot.
Highly recommended.
TobyH
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