' Alway's a Pleasure '

 My intention today was a  flying visit to Rainham RSBP to search again for the Firecrest, but a twenty six minute delay to get through the Dartford Tunnel found me heading in the opposite direction, can't do traffic jams any more ! Stodmarsh and Grove Ferry was now my destination, Have'nt been down there for a long time now, so it was nice to reaquaint myself with this lovely nature reserve.

It was bitterly cold, and at every hide the opening shutters seem to face into the eyewatering wind.
Just a short visit to each hide as I needed to keep moving in case I froze to death, my first stop was the Reedbed Hide, huge numbers of very skittish Teal, noisey Greylags Heron, Cormorant, Black Headed Gulls, Mallard and a single Great Crested Grebe which occassionally entered the pool in front of the hide for a fishing session. no sign of a Kingfisher here.

Teal at the Reedbed Hide

Winter plummaged Great Crested Grebe

Around the main lake and the Riverside trees along the River Stour, good numbers of Fieldfare were seen, these seem to take flight the instant they catch sight of you, a small Tit flock held Long-Tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit and a single Goldcrest,

I had warmed up by the time I reached the Feast Hide at Grove Ferry, the pool in front

of the hide looked good , but just a few pairs of Gadwall, Mallard, Coot, a distant Marsh Harrier floated by, no sign of a Kingfisher on the obligatory ' Kingfisher perch '.

Gadwall

A short walk back towards 'Harrison Drove' hide  in the hope of a Water Pipit or two did not materialise, a distant Great White Egret appeared from the reeds at the top of the pool, before leaving and flying over the River Stour.

Great White Egret

Finally as I began to think of moving on, a beautiful male Kingfisher appeared from nowhere and landed briefly on the strategically placed perch, just managed to get a quick photograph when it flew up from the perch and begun to hover above the water, I thought I was going to be lucky and see a dive for a fish, but no fish, the Kingfisher moved further down the reedbed and hovered again for a few seconds before moving off again, must of done this at least four times before deciding to move off, presumably for a better fishing opportunity. Always a pleasure to see one of these.

Third time lucky, I was feeling really pleased with myself as I walked back across the freezing marshes towards the Marsh Hide, not much to be seen here, a few Konik ponies out on the marsh looked very atmospheric of times gone by.

Konik pony

A few Stonechat flew up from the Reed beds as I passed by, now feeling very cold.

All in all, a very enjoyable day despite the cold weather, and what a pleasure  to see the Kingfisher once again.

Faversham Creek - Redhead !

As the waters of Faversham Creek spilled back into the Swale, the waders began to return to there endless search for food along the freshly exposed margins of the creek. I could see a duck-like bird pulling itself out of the water onto the mud of the far bank, looked very ungainly.

Quickly identified as a Sawbill of sorts, my first thought was a redhead  Red-Breasted Merganser, these are often seen on the Swale here in the winter, nearly all my views of these have been fairly distant through a birding scope, so I was quite excited to see one relatively close, something did not look right with my initial identification, Mergansers have a more wild and wispy looking crest  around the head.

 As it moved back into the water and began fishing it was clearly not a Merganser but a fine looking female Goosander, another duck that I rarely see at close quarters.

This one moved up the creek , ocassionally dipping  its head underwater searching for prey, before it dived.
 I managed to get some relatively close photographs of this Sawbill which I usally only see at Dungeness through the winter months.

I have noticed on the local bird reports, that a second redhead Goosander has also be seen in the last few days on the creek.

 It would be nice to see the Red-Breasted Mergansers this close, you never know.