Birdwatching expedition

[diamondlil]

I thought I knew the local stretch of the River Medway fairly well, but got a tip-off about a heronry that I'd never heard of fairly local to me. I've never visited a heronry before, so I got directions on how to get there and took the opportunity to plan a visit for Saturday. A short train ride and I set off confidently down the river in totally the wrong direction. (In my defence, I'd met some hikers who knew the area and they insisted there were no herons nesting in the direction I was suposed to go)
Where I joined the path along the river, there were factories and it wasn't very picturesque, I saw gulls and a couple of moorhens. I found a freshwater mussel's shell on the path, a lovely spider and clouds of damselflies

 

[diamondlil]

About a mile further on I was into nicer countryside, and saw mallards and some more moorhen. As I walked towards the little village ahead there was a commotion as a male swan chased all the ducks and moorhen off of that stretch of river

 

[diamondlil]

The reason for his aggressive behaviour turned out to be his mate sitting on a nest near the bridge. I found out from villagers that she's sittng on 4 eggs, she laid 5 but lost one to rats. None of the locals I asked knew anything about a heronyry, but I carried on for another mile or so, until I decided to retrace my steps. I saw but didn't get good shots of, a pair of cormorants flying along the river. By now my legs were covered in nettle stings and insect bites, so I was getting disheartened.

 

[diamondlil]

So, back I went all the way to my original starting point, and there, in the shallows, I saw my first heron of the day!

 

[diamondlil]

Obligingly, off he flapped in what I now knew was the right direction, so I followed along the river bank, seeing more herons either fishing or flapping along in the same direction.

 

[diamondlil]

And then I could hear what sounded like dinosaurs! The heronry was hard to get to and in my excitement I managed to twist my bad ankle and fall in a nettle patch, but after some quite disgusting language I followed all the noise to see the magical sight of the herons wheeling around their nesting area. I managed to get some photos that are ok, but now I know the right way to go I intend to go back again to spend longer and hopefully get better shots. I saw the cormorants again but didn't get a good shot of them yet.

 

[Marcel Poots]

Awesome! Looks like perfect grass snake habitat aswel.

 

[diamondlil]

Awesome! Looks like perfect grass snake habitat aswel.

Thanks Marcel! I did hear something slither out from almost under my feet at one point, Marcel, so I was wondering what the herping would be like there. I do intend to pay more visits and spend more time carefully waiting and watching rather than tramping along for miles!

 

[wax32]

Looks like a nice walk! Interesting variety of birds you got to see also.

 

[diamondlil]

Looks like a nice walk! Interesting variety of birds you got to see also.

Thanks Dave. I did hear quite a few warblers (reed and garden), got scolded by wrens, heard a cuckoo calling, saw chaffinches, goldfinched, whitethroats, heard a nightingale, saw bluetits, long-tailed tits. At this time of year there's too much cover to get decent photos of the smaller birds though, so recognising their songs is the easiest way to ID them.