22/11/2014 A Red Letter Day on Sheppey with Raptors All Over the Place

Saturday 22nd November 2014
Isle of Sheppey - Shellness and Capel Fleet
Paul and Group

This was the first time our group had been on Sheppey - amazing really when you think this would be my 3rd visit this month!  The weather forecast was gloomy with cloud all day and a strong possibility of showers.  Nevertheless, nine of us made the trip and expectations were high.  My only constraint was having to be back home by 17.15 in time to watch a live screening of "The Barber of Seville" from the New York Met. at our local cinema.

• First stop, at 09.30, was Shellness and the walk along the raised banks to the hide.  On the way, Andrew spotted the male Hen Harrier off to our left as it hunted over the marsh.  After good views of this, our primary target for the day, we soon saw the first of many Marsh Harriers of the day.  Paul picked out a flock of White-fronted Geese flying away to our right and soon after we enjoyed excellent ground views of the same birds after they returned.  Birds were coming thick and fast by now and just before we arrived at the hide we were given a real treat when 14 + Bearded Tits were spotted flying over the reed bed to relocate nearby.  Soon after we saw a Ring-tailed Hen Harrier, a Merlin flew by, a Peregrine was spotted and the Kestrel/s were with us all day. 

In barely 90 minutes we had seen almost all of our target birds for the day - truly amazing!

• Next stop was the concrete bunker, by the River Swale, where we looked for waders on the spit at high tide - the pick of the bunch being the Golden Plovers.  As we headed back to the car a Short-eared Owl was spotted hunting over the marsh just to our left, by the raised bank we had walked along to the hide earlier.  We were ecstatic as we watched this magnificent spectacle unfold in front of our very eyes.  Lo and behold a second one soon appeared, for a short while, before it was chased off by the other.  At the car park we disturbed the male Hen Harrier so we enjoyed further spectacular close range views of this lovely Raptor.

This was turning out to be one  the richest birding experience we have ever had with Raptors everywhere we turned!

• Our final stop was Capel Fleet, a short drive away on the return route.  This was now, in effect, a bonus as we had already achieved our aims for the day.  We enjoyed views of our third Short-eared Owl, many more Marsh Harriers, a Buzzard and yet another view of the male Hen Harrier Hunting over the fields to our right.  We did manage to add to our sightings list when we viewed Corn Buntings perches near the top of a nearby bush. 

What an amazing day - I even managed to leave early, listen to the Albion game at Norwich on the car radio and get home in good time to watch the opera at the cinema!





Today's species list: 
Bar-tailed Godwit
Bearded Tit
Black-headed Gull
Blackbird
Brent Goose
Buzzard
Carrion Crow
Cetti's Warbler (heard)
Common Gull
Cormorant   (10)
Corn Bunting
Curlew
Dunlin
Dunnock
Golden Plover
Great Black-backed Gull
Grey Heron
Grey Plover
Greylag Goose
Hen Harrier   (20)
Herring Gull
House Sparrow
Kestrel
Lapwing
Little Egret
Little Grebe
Magpie
Mallard
Marsh Harrier
Meadow Pipit    (30)
Merlin  
Moorhen
Mute Swan
Oystercatcher
Peregrine Falcon
Pheasant
Pied Wagtail
Redshank
Reed Bunting
Robin   (40)
Rock Pipit  
Shelduck
Short-eared Owl
Skylark
Snipe
Starling
Stonechat
Turnstone
White-fronted Goose
Woodpigeon   (50)