Flowers Around The Swale

 Whilst wandering around the reserve this morning enjoying the sunshine, I thought I'd take a few photos of the wild flowers that were out, courtesy of my humble Fuji camera. (Double click on the first one and they all come up much better).
Above we have Salsify and below, Scentless Mayweed.

 I couldn't resist adding this impressive display of Red Campion, with a border of Rape, that is along the Leysdown Road.

 Back to the reserve and the Comfrey below is attracting many bees and it is followed by Water Forget-me-not.

A colourful addition along the ditches is the Yellow Water Iris.

Red-flowered Houndstongue is beginning to flower, one to leave alone this is, as it smells of mouse urine.

 Along some of the grazed banks by the seawall there are now large carpets of Sheep's Sorrel.

 Prickly Sowthistle.

 One of my favourites, the simple but pretty Dog Rose.

 Hawthorn, or aptly named May blossom.

 The yellow cousin of Salsify - Goatsbeard.

 And on the saltings, large clumps of Thrift.

This Small Copper was having a rest on a dry cow pat on the grazing marsh and stayed just long enough for me to quickly snap it.

 And finally, Celery-leaved Buttercup in one of the ditches.

A Backward Glance

Back in my childhood in the 1950's, and especially the late 1950's, one of my favourite memories is of the annual blackberrying day. I only recall that it was a once only day each year, no doubt due to the trek that we had to make in order to pick the blackberries, but that in a way was what made it so special. Until I was twelve and we moved to a large, semi-detached council house with a proper garden and views across the Sheerness marshes, my world was far from salubrious. It was one of small terraced houses, narrow streets and dirty alleys as playgrounds, a place where the sun rarely shone into the bottom half of the houses and the only lighting was one gas light in the back room, with just a cold water tap in the scullery. OK, I did manage to escape to explore the marshes just outside the town sometimes, but that was just fields and ditches, the real countryside of trees and hedges and grassy fields was something that only existed in books such as the Wind in the Willows and the Famous Five, except for our annual blackberrying day!

So, one Saturday each year in late summer, my mother would announce that the next day was going to be blackberrying day! and my younger sister and I would rush to the cupboard where the tins were kept. The blackberrying tins were three, square biscuit tins that we would line with greaseproof paper and take with us to hopefully fill with blackberries. We were to go to Minster, around three miles and a long walk away but another planet to us backstreet children, who wrongly thought that only posh people lived there and that poverty was only found in Sheerness.

So the next day dawned warm and sunny, it never seemed to be cold and wet in childhood days, and eventually we would set off, my mother, my younger sister and me. In those days cars didn't exist and we had no spare money for buses and so we walked, and the most direct route was to follow the seafront from Sheerness to the distant Minster cliffs. And in those far off days, even the getting there was in itself a most exciting adventure as I shall try to explain. In those days, the main road out of Sheerness alongside the seawall, abruptly ended just past the "Ship-on-Shore" pub, outside the entrance to a small naval barracks that is now a site of small wooden chalets. From there to the start of Minster cliffs a mile or so away, the route was little more than a pot-holed mud track, first alongside the seawall and then alongside just the beach, there was no access for vehicles. There were also regularly two major hazards to endure. The small naval barracks was home to some large anti-aircraft guns, sitting on top of some underground ammunition stores, and the guns were regularly used for practice firing at a target towed behind an aircraft, across the sky further out to sea. We could watch the puffs of the shells exploding behind the target as we played in our backyard in Sheerness, even saw the plane accidentally shot down one day, and ran to the beach to see the pilot being rescued from the sea!

I do recall however, that when these AA guns were being fired that there used to be a sentry, with a small wooden hut and a red flag flying, on the seawall just before you reached the guns, I think stopping you from going any further until the target plane had made it's fly-past. Exciting stuff for a 10-11 year old boy, but there was more too come. Immediately past the AA guns, some two or three hundred yards along the dirt track, you came to the end of the Boating Lake/Canal and what is now Bartons Point country park. Bartons Point in those days was a large area of marshland that was used as a military firing range for rifles and guns,etc. At various distances out on the marsh there were slightly raised, soil ridges on which the servicemen would lay and fire at large targets raised from behind earth embankments. These earth embankments were inside the firing range, with some other small buildings, not far from the Sheerness to Minster Cliffs track. This meant that when practice firing was taking place that they were firing towards the sea and although the earth banks beneath the targets should of absorbed any stray bullets, this wasn't always the case. As a result, and in order to still allow the public to pass by safely on their way to Minster, a Covered Way had been put in place, just behind the earth sea wall. Therefore when firing was taking place, there was once again a sentry positioned by the end of the Boating Lake/Canal, with a raised red flag, who would direct people to go through the Covered Way, which ran for several hundred yards behind the target butts. It was a simple brick wall with a concrete or metal roof and was certainly effective because I can recall numerous occasions when passing through it and hearing bullets hitting the rear side of the wall. It was also a favourite place for caterpillars to pupate in and I collected many along there on later nature rambles. If you double click on the photo below you can see the remaining stretch of the Covered Way as it is today, with some of the earth banks in the background.

In those times above, the seawall in front of the Covered Way was the one that you see below, with white blocks on one side and grassed over earth on the other. What was different was the fact that the Shingle Bank to the right and the road, didn't exist and the area where the road is was just the dirt track I've mentioned, open to ravages by high tides. Its hard to believe now that to get that shortish distance between Sheerness and Minster Cliffs by vehicle, that you had drive a circular route of around 6 miles through Halfway and Minster.

After all that excitement for a young lad, we would emerge from the Covered Way and back up onto the old seawall, a few hundred yards short of the Whitehouse and Minster Cliffs. I can recall being fascinated here by being able to look out across a sparkling summer sea to where in the distance, the old army forts rose up like mushrooms from the water and to wondering what wide world there was behind that horizon. You have to remember that we had no television in those days, just an old radio, and so just books and imagination played a great part in a young child's day. But, being woken out of such daydreams by shouts from my mother and sister, it was off to catch up and round the corner by the Whitehouse and into Minster Broadway, that ran all the way from the beach to Minster Road, a mile and a half away. Past the Warners holiday camp, whose ex-chalets have now become small homes, and past the scrublands of lower Wards Hill Road, which were cleared in the mid-1960's and where my bungalow now sits.
At the time that we were blackberrying, these dense hawthorn thickets were spread for some way along the under-developed Broadway, spreading inwards almost all the way back to what is now The Glen village green. The only way through these thickets was by following wide, grassy tracks that ran from the Broadway inwards, and along a couple of these tracks were one or two bungalows tucked away. Today those tracks are roads with housing down each side and names that reflect their former past, such as Clovelly Drive and Woodland Drive and its hard to believe what they were like when we picked blackberries there.

And to me, a 10-11 year old boy from the alleys of Sheerness, this was indeed a paradise, another planet, a place where wide tracks of knee-high grass and wild flowers ran through hawthorn and blackberry thickets. Here so many butterflies I'd never seen before, skipped across the grass and fed from the flowers and likewise birds, coloured so brightly after the drabness of the sparrows back home, seemed to sing from every bush. Here, under a hot summer sun as we picked, ate and then picked more blackberries and filled our tins, I also fed upon the wonders of wildlife and nature and the seed that stayed with me through the rest of my life was sown.

Sunshine Snaps

 Very early this morning on the reserve was one of those times when it was a real privelige to be able to be out on the reserve in such weather. There was a slight frost in places but with no wind it very quick warmed up in the strong sun. There's not too much dialogue in this posting, just views of the reserve how they appeared to the eye as I walked round, and at last, water dominates a lot of them, something that hasn't been the case for the last year. Double click on them to bring them up a bit better.

 Looking west across the grazing marsh above, and to the reserve barn, below.

 These shots below are of the Flood Scrape with some Avocets in attendance. OK they're not close ups, but you're seeing them how they actually were, not through a long lens.

 The shot below is looking south across the Flood towards the sea wall and its now closed hide.

 Below, The Flood from a distance.

 Below, looking across the reserve with Muswell Manor and Leysdown in the distance.

 Below, looking west across the grazing marsh with, to the left, the "S Bend Ditch" as it begins to snake away.

 Below, looking south across the "S Bend Ditch" with The Swale and the mainland in the distance.

 Ellie was also enjoying the sunshine.

 The reserve barn behind the willows.

 And the view onto the grazing marsh from the barn, over the 5-bar gate.

Not a Drop of Rain

 Getting up just after 05.00 this morning, as I do every day, I was immediately struck by the fact that it seemed too bright outside, had a light been left on overnight outside, no it wasn't raining! and what's more there were large patches of clear sky showing. It was due to be warmer and sunny all day and so my first priority was going to be catching up on much overdue gardening but an hour or so later, with sunshine flooding across the marsh across the road, clearly a brief visit to the reserve was in order. Sunshine and blue skies had certainly worked their charm on the birds as well as me, because the reserve was ringing from all directions with the sound of bird song. Sedge Warblers in the reed beds, Whitethroats in the scrub, Redshanks, Lapwings and Skylarks on the grazing meadows, all were competing to be the loudest to be heard and through them all would glide the Marsh Harriers and a Short-eared Owl.
Walking through the grazing meadows today there were large numbers of the above fungi dotted all over the place. I have a clue what it's name is - perhaps somebody can enlighten me.

After a brief flurry of butterflies in the warm sunshine of March they have been almost totally absent since, on the reserve and not surprising given the weather, but today I did get one one get up in front of me, a pristine Small Copper, my first of the year and such a beautiful little fella.
I passed the Mute Swan's nest, a harrowing sight with the cob still sitting alongside it waiting for his dead  mate to return, and approached the willows at the rear of the barn (see below). Here I spotted what is possibly a reserve first, I'll have to check the records, a Spotted Flycatcher. It was making repeated flights out over the ditch water to catch insects and I was entranced, it was a rare treat.

 From there I decided to have another look at the Kestrel in the old wine box and today it was sitting in a much better position than the one in my last blog. Today it was properly inside the box with just it's head looking out and although it's a bit far away you can see it (I didn't want to get any closer with my little camera and risk scaring it).

So that was it, back home them to an enjoyable day's gardening, receipt of a phone call about an exciting bird on Harty today and most importantly - no rain all day!

Mute Thoughts

A couple of blogs ago I posted a photo of a Mute Swan atop its nest on the reserve, sadly that is no more as you can see above. When I arrived at the reserve early yesterday morning I found the female (pen) swan freshly dead on the ditch bank, about 80 yds from it's nest and with it's head and neck missing. For it's head and neck to be missing indicates the work of a fox and by this morning it had obviously been back again during the night and stripped all the flesh off of the chest and elsewhere, leaving pretty much just the wings.

Sadly, that now leaves several eggs in a deserted nest and the male swan (cob) below, hanging around it pining for its mate. The incident also leaves two questions - could a fox attack and successfully kill a full grown and powerful swan, especially with it's equally aggressive mate close by - or given that the swan was some way from the nest and a difficult distance for a fox to drag such a heavy bird, did the swan suddenly die on the ditch bank and the fox take advantage. I guess we'll never know the answer to either of those questions but it's a tragic case.

 As you can see from the sky in the photo below, it was yet another grey and cloudy morning on the reserve today, although much warmer, and I couldn't resist taking a photo of one of my favourite Spring-time scenes, rape in flower. As I've mentioned before, I love both the sight and smell of this stuff in flower and a great field of it often gives the impression that the sun is out, on even the gloomiest of days.

 Around ten years ago I knocked up a narrow nest box out of a thin, wooden, wine presentation box. I was hoping to attract a pair of Little Owls onto the reserve to use it to breed in. Unfortunately, all that has used it for several years now has been Stock or Rock Doves and so I was surprised this morning to see that a Kestrel appears to be nesting in it. It's not really big enough for a Kestrel and it seems to be sitting on eggs just inside the entrance. It'll be interesting to see how this develops and next winter I shall make a larger box and put it close by, hopefully it won't take another ten years before it's used by the Kestrels.

We seem to be doing well for raptors on the reserve at the moment, although the nesting Lapwings might not agree. As soon as I pulled up at the barn this morning I spotted my first Hobby sitting on a fence post watching me and straight after, one of a pair of Short-eared Owls came gliding by on silent wings. There are still at least 4-5 pairs of these owls on Sheppey at the moment, dare we hope for a successful event this summer. One or two Buzzards are also visiting regularly now, despite their always being seen fairly commonly on the rest of Harty, they've always been a bit of a rarity on the reserve, perhaps the fact that our rabbits are making a bit of a come-back is attracting them. Lastly we also have the very common Marsh Harriers, it's impossible to walk around Harty without seeing them in every direction and yesterday I even had a late ring-tailed Hen Harrier.

So, we now have lots of water, lots of long, green grass, good numbers of birds, and all we need now is that one magic ingredient, plenty of warm sunshine!

Could This be Winter

Well, these wintry conditions go on and on. I got up at 05.00 this morning hoping to carry out part of my second Nightingale survey, as I write this at 09.00 it has been raining non-stop for four hours and the outside temperature is just 6 degrees. So the survey has been scrapped again and I still wait to go to the reserve to check on a few things. And if the rain does eventually stop, the visit is hardly likely to be a pleasant experience, much wallowing around in mud, much water and a nagging icy cold wind blowing down my neck - in the winter you expect and prepare yourself for these conditions but not every day in mid-May.
So far this week, in the umpteenth week of a hosepipe ban due to a "drought", I have twice emptied my water butts down the drains because they keep on overflowing. What's more its looks absolutely guaranteed that I shall be doing that for some time, so bad is the forecast for the next few weeks. I keep getting this mental picture of thousand and thousands of people sitting in the Olympic stadium in a few months time, wearing thermal underwear and plastic macs, so great is the risk of planning an outside event in Britain. But, I will be ecstatic if hot and sunny weather eventually proves me wrong.

But to get back to the present and a more serious thought, I wonder how much this wet and wintery weather is affecting breeding wildlife, especially birds. Chicks can presumably suffer the wet but it is the constant cold that is the killer. Imagine those few days old, fluffy Lapwing chicks walking round in waterlogged fields, sodden and cold themselves all day and into the night and with no sun to warm them, it has to be a killer. Likewise, how many nests have been actually washed out by rising floodwaters, the examples go on and on and the prognosis looks like a really poor breeding season. We can only hope that in June the sun comes out for more than one day at a time and many birds have a go at re-breeding.

With light conditions for photos becoming as rare as a sunny day, I have re-posted the above photo in order that people know what I am referring to when I mention the "S Bend Ditch" and the Flood Scrape on the reserve. I took it myself a few years ago and while the "S Bend Ditch" is obvious, the Scrape is to the top LH side. If you double click on it, it comes up a bit better.

Bright Sky Delight

 The two photos above show how some areas of the reserve have now become so much wetter as a result of a combination of the recent rainfall and a bit of borehole pumping, at last its starting to look like a wetland reserve again. As I walked past this area this morning there were Lapwings, Oystercatchers, Redshanks, Whimbrel, Blackwits and a pair of Yellow Wagtails, all enjoying the conditions.

 The above photo shows the scrape in "The Flood" field, we re-dug it last summer and a month ago it was two thirds dry and so has recovered nicely as a result of the rain. We also re-profiled a couple of small islands that Avocets have previously nested on and over recent weeks 3-4 pairs have been showing interest in doing the sasme. Unfortunately however, a dozen or so immature Herring Gulls have now adopted the islands as a roosting site and they do love a nice Avocet egg or chick for breakfast and so the Avocets will probably move on before long.
From the Flood I made my way over to the seawall and, sad to say, I had a brief spell of euphoria as the dark grey skies became much brighter grey skies, a simple pleasure and I dread to think to what heights of orgasmic delight I shall reach if we ever see the sun again!

 Walking along the top of the seawall, unbuttoning the top of my coat due to the brightening sky, I noticed that the first of the St. Mark's Flies have now emerged and were feeding on the flower heads of Alexanders. And below, on the saltings, large clumps of white Scurvy Grass were doing their best to brighten up the grey day.

And below, is my view ahead as I walked west along the seawall. To the left are the saltings that stretch out to the tidal Swale, and to the right, the wide reed beds alongside the Delph, or sea wall fleet.

At the end of the sea wall I turned and looked back east towards Shellness Hamlet in the far distance and took the photograph below to illustrate the Delph fleet that lies alongside and floods into the reed bed. Part of the reserve's grazing marsh lies alongside too the left.

And lastly, for a change, I'll list what birds species that I saw today as I walked round. It was a quiet day birdwise, ( isn't that's what some bloggers say before posting a great long list) but anyway this is what I saw without going to Shellness and the wader roost.
Gt. Crested Grebe - Little Egret - Grey Heron - Mute Swan - Greylag Goose - Brent Goose - Shelduck - Gadwall - Mallard - Shoveler - Pochard - Tufted Duck - Marsh Harrier - Buzzard - Kestrel - Coot - Oystercatcher - Avocet - Grey Plover - Lapwing - Black-tailed Godwit - Whimbrel - Curlew - Redshank - Common Sandpiper - Black-headed Gull - Herring Gull - Woodpigeon - Barn Owl - Short-eared Owl - Swift - Skylark - Swallow - House Martin - Meadow Pipit - Yellow Wagtail - Wren - Wheatear - Blackbird - Sedge Warbler - Reed Warbler - Whitethroat - Long-tailed Tit - Bearded Tit - Carrion Crow - Starling - Linnet - Reed Bunting.