ACROSS THE SWALE

Hadn`t been to Elmley for a while so on Monday I stretched my legs andwalked down to the Spitend Hide, its a long walk and is not always worth the effort and this was no exception,but  from the hide I witnessed a strange event....I had been watching a red necked grebe swimming out in mid channel it was not diving just floating about on the ebb tide,then it went under and didn`t resurface,this in itself is not so unusual but a minute or so later a little further up tide a big seal surfaced on the same line.I have no proof that the seal took the grebe but it never showed again.
The approach road to Elmley reserve is great for photography,using the car as a hide the resident birds take little notice and Lapwings in particular are very confiding.

GREEN PLOVER

PEEWIT

LAPWING

TAKE YOUR PICK

SKYLARK

REED BUNTING

BRENT GEESE About a 1000 flew right over me ,luckily they missed.

They will soon be thinking of returning to their Arctic breeding grounds.

DRAKE SHELDUCK,The large red knob above the bill is found only on the male.

SHELDRAKE OR DRAKE SHELDUCK?
As the mud exposed, Redshank ,Oystercatcher,and Curlew came to feed but were too distant for the camera.
Leaving the hide for the long trek back I noted a single brent goose on the dyke,why was it alone I wonder when a 1000 of its mates were on the field just half a mile away?

"There once was an ugly duckling "sprang to mind not that this bird is aesthetically challenged  just all alone, abandoned by his mates, an outcast,goosed you might say,shut up Phil you`re rambling.
By this time I was de-hydrated and becoming delerious under the hot Elmley sun,by the way the old Swale hide the one on stilts has gone, either blown away, torched or removed for safety reasons,I digress,almost back to the farm I turned just in time to see a Short Eared Owl hunting near the sea wall,then a second bird joined it and a few minutes later a third,three in the air together,brilliant.

SHORT EARED  OWL,on the ground you can just make out the short ear tufts.
So that was that a good day out,a long walk and in a month to six weeks it will be worth another trip.