Elmley, early March 2023

A friend was kind enough to gift us a stay in a Shephard’s hut at Elmley Nature Reserve on Sheppey. Despite the 3°C NE wind, the hut was warm and cosy thanks to an electric radiator. The reserve is off grid but generates its own electricity. The outside bath was a nice touch, but hardly useful on 1st of March!

 


The highlight was watching 2 Barn owls quarter back and forth in front of the hut for about an hour in the morning, starting in the pre-dawn gloom.  

 


It was too cold for fair-weather birders like ourselves to walk the 2.5 miles to the hides and back, due to the cold wind however we drove up and down the 1 mile+ entrance tract many times.  There were at least three Short-eared owls in their usual place in the reserve but we did not catch any of them hunting.


Lapwing and Coots everywhere and the resident marsh harriers put on a good show.  Far less Redshank that last year, possibly due to the dry weather at the end of last year?


The is not an experience we would have bought ourselves, but now we have been, we may well go back! A highly enjoyable experience.

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