STEVE ASHTON'S WILDLIFE GALLERY

My Diary

The Harrier and the Frog.

I was intending to go to Grove ferry this morning, in particular the Marsh Hide, as yesterday I watched a pair of Marsh Harriers over the fields to the left of the hide, with the Male on numerous occasions flying within 20 metres of the hide, giving some close Harrier photo opportunities. On arrival, very early for me, at 6 o clock, there was a blanket of fog over the Stour valley, so I carried on to Sandwich Bay, and walked along the beach to Princes golf course and back. Skylark, Meadow Pipits and Corn Buntings were plentiful, as were Starlings and Linnets. A few photos of Corn Buntings and Meadow Pipits were taken, as they were surprisingly very tolerant of my presence, and allowed me to gradually walk to within a few feet of them. I called back at the Elms, hoping for a Firecrest, but only found Allan Ashdown, whom had been down to the Back sand scrape. A pair of Kestrels were on the fence posts where we parked our cars, and after a ten minute chat, I said goodbye and returned to the nature reserve at Stodmarsh. I stopped in the village of Stodmarsh, giving way to 3 Swallows, whom had decided to park them selves in the middle of the road, obviously new arrivals and Knackered. Still, I had only come from Sandwich, these had travelled from Africa so needed the rest more than I. Chiffs and Blackcaps could not be missed, in full song as I passed the Alder wood, and Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker were both noted. After the Winter cold snap, there was some worry as to whether the smaller birds had survived, but I recorded umpteen Wrens and Cetti’s Warblers on the way to the Marsh hide and back, so these two species seemed to off fared pretty well. The two Marsh Harriers were again busy, and the Male at one time landed in front of the hide, pouncing on a Marsh Frog, and taking it back to the Female, whom was somewhere deep in the reed bed, allowing some photos in the process. I thought that the Male was collecting nesting material, but after looking at the photos I took, I realised that it was Marsh Frogs that he was after, and sucessfully caught two during the hour I spent in the hide. A great spectacle of how nature works. The Female was seen once whilst I was in the hide, flew a circiut of the area before returning back to where she came from. 3 Little Egrets, 3 Yellow Wagtails, probably more, and 30 plus Common Snipe present. There were 4 Redshank, and the nesting Lapwings were always ready to fend off the Marsh Harriers when they flew into there territory. A Grey Heron dropped in, reminding me of last year as we watched them clean up with the Moorhen and Coot chicks that were taken with ease from their nest, the futile protest from the parent birds completely ignored. A pair of Bearded Tits were seen on the way back, my first this year at Stodmarsh/Grove. I met with Robin Blythe and Richard Bartlet back in the Alder wood, where Robin had found a pair of Tree creepers, giving another chance for some photos, which as I explained to Richard, was a lot more exciting than taking snaps of a castle, his aborted project for today.