After a pretty routine and straightforward journey, we arrived at the southern end of Sheppey and the substantial Elmley nature reserve. The track to the reserve car park runs right through the reserve and so we were initially able to do quite a bit of birding from the car. This was welcome as the wind chill outside was nothing short of savage!!
Several Marsh Harriers were soon on show, hunting the surrounding Marshes (including a bird with green wing-tags 'P4' and 1-2 males), Lapwings were showing brilliantly at point-blank range, right next to the car and there were also pretty good numbers of Black Tailed Godwit feeding in the wet grassland and roadside pools.
We had a bit of a scan, not too far from the car park seeing a few bits, but nothing outrageous. There were impressive clouds of Wigeon in the distance, as well as further impressive numbers of Black Tailed Godwit and a sizable flock of Golden Plover. A male Peregrine sat out on the marsh pretty much the whole time. I did attempt to point this out to a very stringy so-and-so so next to me only to be treated with a sarcastic response so we left him to it to find it himself!
The distant river held around 10 Avocet and big numbers of Dunlin & Shelduck. We continued to take in several more Marsh Harriers drifting about, as well as a pale Buzzard chilling on a post. We'd pretty much done the place to death and the howling, bitterly wind was also taking it's toll! We had similar fare to before back along the entrance track, with the addition of a Ruff and several Redshank.
We then moved on to the north of Sheppey and to Sheerness / Minister. Not the most aesthetically pleasing place I've ever been to if I'm absolutely honest but thankfully the place did hold one jewel it's rather scabby crown, in the shape of a lovely Shore Lark! The walk along the beach here in fact was pretty nice, with several Sanderling, a Turnstone, several Ringed Plover & Oystercatchers milling about too.
Eventually, we tracked down the cracking little Shore Lark, feeding amongst beach debris sheltered pretty close to the sea wall at the top of the beach. Over the next 20 or so minutes, we enjoyed some fabulous views, possibly my best ever of the species. It just busily went along it's merry way, completely unperturbed by our presence. It eventually decided to try somewhere new and took flight further east along the beach and that was our cue to leave, but what a treat! As Gareth went to get the car from down the road, a nice adult Med Gull cruised overhead, another nice addition to the day.
After a quick-ish loo stop, we ventured on to the far eastern end of the island to Shell Ness for a wander about. Here, I was really, really hoping to catch up the long-staying Richard's Pipit. This big brown sibe has been a serious bogey bird for me for many years, always evading my grasp. Surely not now?! We began walking along the path, atop a large, grassy bank, grilling anything that flew up. After around 150m, a Meadow Pipit flew up followed by a noticeably larger, longer-tailed bird that flew away from us and dropped down a short way further along the path. That had to be it, but wanted better views to be sure. Approaching the area it had previously landed, up it went again, followed by that super distinctive 'shreeep', sparrow-like call...bingo, Richard's Pipit! Over the next 15-20 minutes, we ended up getting some really great views of it on the deck as it moved around the long grass on the side of the bank. Dan also managed to find us a nice Merlin sat on a large pile of spoil in a nearby field. Shell Ness was treating us well!
The marshes further down the path were full of wildfowl and certainly kept us occupied for a little while. We enjoyed several White Fronted Geese, a Barnacle Goose, numerous Wigeon & Dark-Bellied Brent Geese from the path, before moving on to the hide to grill everything in more detail out of the wind!
A few waders gathered as the tide came in on the nearby estuary. All appeared to be either Dunlin & Grey Plovers. There were also a good 15 Pintail, together with numbers of Wigeon, Gadwall and Teal. The numbers of White Fronts was impressive with in excess of 200 birds, as well as ths similar numbers of Brents. A couple of birders entered the hide and we decided to leave to make the raptor roost over at near by Capel Fleet. We got half way down the steps out of the hide, before having to rush back in again as the call went up of a male Hen Harrier heading through, wahhh! I eventually got onto it and we all enjoyed brilliant views as it headed across the marshes and off west, into the distance. Exciting stuff!
The walk back again produced the Richard's Pipit several times, which called nicely heading off over our heads, back east along the path. The Merlin also appeared, sat in the field before vanishing again.
The drive to Capel Fleet produced a couple of roadside Stonechat, while a quick look at the sea revealed a flyby Med Gull and a handful of Knot.
The raptor roost at Capel Fleet was fun, however was a horrifically freezing experience as the wind-chill cranked up a notch! Birds seen included a male Hen Harrier seen only by Dan and a ringtail seen only by me, as well as at least 20 Marsh Harrier (including at least 2 males), 1-2 Merlin and 1-2 Buzzard.
It was then time to defrost and head for home, drawing to a close a brilliant day full of laughs and great winter birding. Thanks again Gareth for driving & guiding!
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