Sunday 10 August 2014

A little of everything at Elmley

Another glorious morning - which may be the last for a while according to the forecasts - so I headed over to Elmley NNR.

It was quiet along the track up to the barn, but there was a Kestrel hovering. It seemed to have a jess - or maybe just some vegetation caught on its leg?



I also saw three Little Grebes (one on its own near the track and two together up nearer the hides), but they were doing their usual trick of diving and vanishing, so I only got a quick snap of one, festooned with pond weed :


There was much activity up at the yard, with adult and juvenile Swallows on the buildings, wires, and swooping around.


Shortly after the gate a Stoat rushed across the track, gone in a flash. Approaching the first hides, a small flock of Lapwings came into view - but they did not settle at the scrapes - just carried on into the distance. By no means the numbers seen earlier in the year (and difficult to capture in a pic), but still great to see.


The scrapes were quite quiet, but there were a few dragonflies and butterflies around the hides, and close to the reeds, a young Avocet feeding.


On the way back some Coot chicks emerged from the reeds alongside the track.



Throughout the morning there had been raptors visible in the distance, but on the track back to the entrance two Marsh Harriers suddenly appeared and circled for a minute or two above the car :




It was a 'typical' morning at Elmley - wonderful as ever.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Sue another great mornings nature watching and great pic's to , looking at your Marsh Harrier pics both of these birds are female , when i looked on twitter the bird i thought was juv looked like it had an all dark head but in this pic i can see the head clearer ( if it's the same bird as on twitter ? ) :-)

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    1. Thanks Rob :-) Same pics as on Twitter, but clearer I think. There is no hope for me whatsoever if even you find it tricky from my pics!

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