A pinch of saltmarsh

My sons are both 'Kentish Men', born in the Garden of England west of the Medway, but since we left the county in 2007, visits back there have been a bit few and far between. The recent birthday of a former neighbour provided one such opportunity, and Sunday morning offered a chance to reacquaint myself with an old favourite, the Elmley Marshes Natural Nature Reserve on the Isle of Sheppey.

A breeding plumage Yellow Wagtail always brightens the day 



Yellow Wagtails are very leggy enabling them to stalk through the long grass of the grazing marsh

This unusually bold bird was strutting up the entrance track calling constantly

A wider angle view perched on thistle

Although it was a brief encounter, after my last few visits when breeding birds seemed a bit thin on the ground, it felt a bit like the 'old days' at the turn of the century when I first started going there: breeding waders like Lapwing and Redshank appeared to be doing well, as were the ground-nesting passerines - Yellow Wagtail, Corn Bunting, Meadow Pipit and Skylark.

Wonderful close-up views of Redshank from the car window

Juvenile Redshank

Marsh Harriers were very much in evidence...

...much to the chagrin of the breeding Lapwings

All the photographs in this post were taken using the car as a hide on the 2 mile entrance track to the reserve centre. Since the reserve management reverted from the RSPB to the private owner a few years ago, the area around the farm complex has undergone some reconfiguration, with more provision for paying guests and conversion of farm buildings. But if that's helping to pay for the conservation work, I'm certainly not complaining.

This adult male Lapwing was sporting a spectacular crest

Increased Lapwing chick productivity is one of the key management aims on the reserve: here's one they prepared earlier

Stunning iridescence on this roosting bird

My car's reflection can be seen in the eye of this Lapwing photographed at close range

I rediscovered an interest in the natural world relatively late in life, and it was a visit to Elmley back in the late 1990s which re-ignited a childhood fascination with birds which had been dormant while I was studying and working in London in my 20s. One of my earliest memories of the reserve was a Corn Bunting singing from a trackside bush - so I was touched to see another singing from the same bush on Sunday. The children haven't yet learned to share my pleasure at being on the grazing marshes and saltmarshes of Sheppey. Thankfully, for as long as good conservation management continues, there is still time.

Meadow Pipit

A flock of Stock Dove was nice to see

Skylark

Corn Bunting

Banished to the fens

Another family camping trip over the Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend saw me, again, surplus to requirements, opening up the possibility of a few days away at a destination of my choice. I have not seen Swallowtail butterflies in some time or photographed them since investing in some decent camera gear, so heading for the Broads and Fens of Norfolk seemed like an attractive option.

Avocet, Frampton Marsh

The reserve holds a healthy breeding population

Avocet feeding on the muddy scrapes

Not too difficult to photograph in flight due to its highly contrasting plumage making it easier for autofocus to lock on

Checking the forecast before departure, my first morning away didn't look like great butterfly weather so I started my road trip with an early start at Frampton Marsh, over the border and the from Norfolk in the Lincolnshire section of the Wash. A group of Ruff had been lekking on the reserve viewable from the car park and having only seen this spectacle once before the opportunity to do so again was not to be missed.

 A few Avocet chicks had hatched at Frampton Marsh

Avocet

Lapwing chicks were also on the reserve

The adult Lapwing was nearby

A Little Stint was another wader of note on the reserve

As a Schedule 1 breeding bird, Ruffs can't be photographed at or near the nest without a licence, but as these birds were viewable from a safe distance the RSPB has been encouraging visitors to the reserve to enjoy the spectacle. On arrival I parked near the reserve centre and walked to the old car park near the sea wall from where the lek could be viewed. Avocet chicks had recently hatched in the scrapes by the roadside and the adults were alert to danger, calling loudly and mobbing any passing traffic on the road.

Two of the three males present in the Ruff lek

The female can be seen skulking on the water's edge - looking a bit disinterested here

The male Ruff's headgear looks very Elizabethan

This male appeared to be bowing to the female

The battles between males were brief but fierce

Much has been written in natural history literature about the sexually charged nature of the Ruff lek but for an unconventional take on it, check out this Guardian article about 'Ruff Sex'. I would have borrowed 'Let's talk about leks, baby' from this piece as the title for this post but for the intellectual copyright theft it would have represented.

A distant Glossy Ibis was at Frampton Marsh

Several Little Gull were feeding over the water

Swift feeding over the neighbouring farmland

Tree Sparrows were around the nearby farm buildings

Spring was certainly in full swing at Frampton, and with so many farmland birds seemingly in trouble and numbers of migrants apparently down, it was a tonic to see Tree Sparrows and good numbers of singing Sedge Warblers alongside the breeding waders. Unfortunately I could not locate the Turtle Doves which were present on my last visit to the reserve but I was reassured that one of their favourite 'purring' trees had blown down in winter storms and that they were still in the wider area.

Sedge Warbler

An energetic singer

Sedge Warbler

White-wingers in Weymouth

I have often wondered whether the island outside the Radipole Lake visitor centre has hosted more rare birds per square metre than any other piece of real estate in the country. If it didn't before today it took a step in the right direction when an exquisite adult Ross's Gull, present in the area since Wednesday, paid a visit. This high arctic species is a great favourite amongst British birders, making very occasional appearances on these shores. The last one I saw was in neighbouring Devon, a tatty juvenile bird, a contrast to today's dapper adult.

Ross's Gull as it flew from Radipole Lake towards Weymouth Bay

Ross's Gull breeds in Siberia, Greenland and northern Canada

Only the 3rd occurrence in Dorset and the first since 1974

Son George and I had been dropped off in Weymouth by his mum and had planned to get the train home so thanks are due to the Mitchells for getting us back to Wareham, and to the kind chap from London who gave us a lift from Lodmoor to Radipole when the Ross's Gull was relocated there in the early afternoon. George is not a huge fan of birding, but he enjoyed the people watching. Desperate twitchers screeched to a halt in the Radipole Car Park wild-eyed and breathless, muscling their way to a good view like sharp-elbowed parents getting their kids into the best schools. Within minutes of seeing the bird, he observed, they were transformed into grinning idiots, generously offering new arrivals a look through their telescopes and slapping the backs of their travelling companions.

Wing-stretching in the harsh light of mid-afternoon...

...followed by a yawn revealing a Black Guillemot style gape

Note the short red legs

Earlier at Lodmoor, while we had been jogging on the spot to keep the cold at bay, hoping the Ross's Gull would drop in there, a couple of rather more substantial white-winged gulls had provided some good practice for finding the right exposure with the camera: not that I'm complaining, it was lovely crisp weather, but white birds in dark landscapes in the midday sun? Not easy.

The whiter of the two Glaucous Gulls at Lodmoor - note the pale iris

This is the more mottled of the two Glaucous Gulls - note the beadier dark eye

And here both Glaucous Gulls together - the one on the left a particularly fine specimen

With Thayer's, Ring-billed, Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls all being seen at Blashford Lakes just over the border into Hampshire, intrepid birders who left Weymouth in the early afternoon could have clocked up double figures in gull species in a single day. We were quite happy though to stick around Weymouth, enjoying a major Dorset rarity and a handsome selection of waders on display at Lodmoor.

Lapwing, Lodmoor

Common Snipe, Lodmoor

Spoonbills, including a Dutch-ringed Bird, Lodmoor

Ross's Gull, Radipole Lake