A Day on the North Kent Marshes

8th February 2020

Time for a visit to the North Kent Marshes and the first stop was Oare Marshes. The target species here was the Bearded Tit which had been showing very well over the last couple of days around the sluice but today, despite it being virtually flat calm and grit on the trays, there was not sight nor sound of any beardies. We therefore had to content ourselves with some shots of Avocets and Pintail from the road.

Next stop was Elmley Marshes where one of the best spots for photography is the long haul up the entrance track to the car park. Here it is possible to use the car as a metal hide and get very close to the birds feeding next to the track like this Sky Lark.

A little further along a group of Curlews were feeding and then taking a break for a well-earned bath.

There were plenty of Common Buzzards and Marsh Harriers around but this extremely pale buzzard must have caused a few hearts to miss a beat

This female Kestrel was particularly confiding and is probably one of the most photographed Kestrels in the whole of Kent if not the south-east of England.

Lapwings are always a favourite showing down to just 12 feet and showing off their amazing selection of colours which change depending on the direction of the sun.

Up at the car park one of the roosting Long-eared Owls was on show but, as is often the case, was partially obscured by branches or leaves. Therefore the challenge was to try and find a line-of-sight with minimal obscuration. Luckily, unlike about 20 years ago, they are now protected by a fence to stop over-eager birders and photographers from getting too close and breaking up the roost as used to be the case.

At Elmley Marshes there used to be a small settlement of some 200 people in the late 19th century based around a cement works on the River Swale. The village had a school, a church, a pub and 30 dwellings. The cement works closed in 1902 causing the settlement to reduce in size, with the school closing in the 1920s. St James Church next to the school was demolished in the 1960s. The only surviving buildings now are the Kingshill Farmhouse, Kingshill Farmhouse Barn and the ruin of the school which is now home to a pair of Little Owls.