A March Visit to Elmley Marshes Part 2 - Car Park and School House Track

16th March 2025

After a most successful morning at the entrance track and the hides, time for a walk down the track to the school house to try our luck with the owls. I used to photograph the Little Owl that lives in the old school house every visit, but over the last couple of years it has been more difficult as it frequently disappears into the cavity wall. However today I was lucky and it was on show for just 20 seconds before disappearing.

Now time to get into position for the Short-eared Owls as they leave their roost in the plantation, and what better way to be entertained by a Brown Hare feeding right in front of you

On my last visit on the 1st February there were 25 owls present and gave a reasonable flying display. Now they are down to 10-12 birds and tonight only six birds emerged, one flying straight down to the saltmarsh and the other five flying straight over the track and woodland and out on to the grazing land by the entrance track, never to be seen again.

Luckily I was in the right position and managed to get some shots as they came past.

But the star of the show today was the Long-eared Owl by the car park, the first I have managed to photograph for a few years now. It was about 10 yards away and well hidden behind a forest of twigs and branches, but I did manage to find a small tunnel through the clutter for a shot. That will do nicely.

Also nice to meet up with Roy Balne after four years.

A March Visit to Elmley Marshes Part 1 - Entrance Track and Hides

16th March 2025

It won't be long now before the Short-eared Owls depart for their breeding grounds so time for a last visit of the winter. It was a lovely sunny morning so a leisurely drive up the entrance track to see what was about. The first bird to show was a lone Redshank feeding along one of the many ditches. There were others around but all distant.

Lapwings were plentiful but this one had obviously been feeding all night and was catching up on some sleep.

And just look at the colours on this bird.

But the stars today were the Curlews that were feeding closer to the track than I have ever seen before.

And this one had just caught a worm.

After a brief stop in the car park for breakfast, time for a stroll down the track to the hides. Not unusual to see a Heron on the track here but its behaviour suggested something odd was going on. It was struggling with a Grass Snake and didn't seem to know what to do with it now that it had caught it!!!

A little further along a male Kestrel was hovering over the rough grass at the side of the track and was so engrossed in what it was doing seemed totally oblivious to my presence.

The Wellmarsh Hide was quiet as the water levels were very high although there were two Turnstones feeding on one of the islands.

No sign yet of any breeding plumage on these birds.

Still plenty of Brent Geese around with quite a lot of movement to and from the reserve and The Swale.

There was only a handful of Avocets present when I arrived but soon their numbers were building up as birding were pushed off the Swale mud by the rising tide.

In the end there must have been 100+ present which provided an amazing spectacle as they wheeled around in the sunshine.

Elmley has always provided superb grazing conditions for Wigeon and today large flocks were flying in to feed accompanied by that wonderful whistling sound.

And then heads down.

There were also Shoveler and Shelduck present and a female Shoveler provided a wing-flap.

For some reason there seemed to be a lot of Marsh Harrier activity around the South Fleet Hide. There were up to five birds in the area, all females, and kept on disappearing into a particular spot in the reeds. 

It occured to me after a while they were taking it in turns to feed on a carcass in the reeds. This was confirmed when a Buzzard entered the reeds and came out carrying the carcass which is took away and fed on for a while.

Then, when it had had its fill, a harrier picked up the carcass and returned it to the reed bed.

Looking at the carcass more closely it is a duck with a blue bill and a black tip and therefore almost certainly a Wigeon.

Well that was an action-packed couple of hours so now off to look for some owls.

Watch this space.