Friday 5 September 2008

Isle Of Grain

There just had to be some bird migration going on today, south/south easterly winds and rain. I headed of to Grain in the north west of Kent and bordering onto the Thames estuary, in the hope that I might bump into something. The area has changed a bit since I was last there, much more work going on in the power station compounds and they seem to have cleared a lot of the scrub and replaced it with gas towers! Still I headed off to the area where the sand extraction works was only to find it had gone but there was a digger working in the area so I couldn't investigate further. However the north facing beach area still looked good for migrants and this was where I saw 3 wheatears feeding amongst the WWII dragons teeth, tank traps.





There were also a couple of whitethroats in amongst the scrubby areas and 3 blackcaps near where the old sand extraction works used to be. In the past that area has been good for grass snakes but not on a day like today. The tide was well out but there was a pleasing group of 12 black-tailed godwits in-close that seemed content and remained there during my visit. A few showers started and then the rain became heavier so I changed tactics and started to pick some blackberries. Here is hoping for some good crumble over the weekend!



5 comments:

Greenie said...

John ,
You seem to have faired better there than elsewhere for weather .
Don't mention the migrants to Warren - sore point .
If you have any of that crumble left over ---

Steve Gale said...

You know you're getting older when you visit an old stamping ground and find that it has changed...it's happening to me all the time John.

Cheryl said...

HiJohn.....I used to visit the Isle of Grain many years ago now......one day an adder crossed the road right in front of the car....it was large.....

Crumble sounds great....we shall be having some this weekend, can't beat it......

Steve said...

Very nice Wheatear pic John...Grain is under alot of pressure these days isn't it

abbey meadows said...

Wheatears are always photogenic. Looks a good place for scarce migrants in the right conditions. In an earlier post that is a beautiful Ruby tiger moth.