Am staying In North Kent with friends for the first bit of half-term.  With the weather at its autumnal best it seemed like a good idea to offer to take a selection of the kids (there are rather a lot of them) to Elmley Marshes.  Alas, these trips are never as straightforward as they seem.

Leaving the little ones (5, 4 and 3) behind, I packed the big kids (11, 9 and 7) into the courtesy car (thanks to that muntjac) and drove onto the Isle of Sheppey.  The sun was low in the sky but warm - the perfect day to see what was hanging around the Thames estuary.

The girl (9) seemed up for her safari, spotting herons, curlew and lapwing on the way down the estate road and demonstrating genuine enthusiasm.  Alas the boys were still distracted by my Godson's DS.  It was only when they were bundled out of the car that they looked up.  Fortunately there were large flocks of starling, ducks, geese and swans to keep them amused as we walked down to the hides.  It is quite a walk for their little legs and it was hard to keep them motivated by a rather distant sighting of a little egret let alone dunlin and other waders that flitted by on the horizon.

I always have a slight feeling of dread when taking my (or other people's) kids into a hide, so it was a relief to find an unoccupied hide.  And with the sun behind us, the visibility was perfect.   I worked out that organising a Harry Potter quiz bought me a bit of time to see what was out and about, but the peace was broken when a marsh harrier flushed a large flock of lapwing, assorted ducks and waders.   "Wow! What was that?" cried the enthusiastic girl and they all ran to the far end of the hide to follow the marsh harrier's langurous flight.  The kids were enthralled by the spectacle and this meant that I could store up a few of my tougher questions (name all the defence against the dark arts teachers etc) for the journey home.

And on the walk back, the girl (again) was the one to spot a hedgehog on the side of the track.  A chance to get up close and personal with a familiar but increasingly less common bit of biodiversity.  So, for a short while discussion turned away from Potter, away from the next game on the DS and onto the life history of Mrs Tiggy Winkle.  And this meant the walk back the car flew by.  Am sure it had nothing to do with the 20p per new species that I bribed them with on the way.

Maybe we'll nip across to Cliffe tomorrow.  Or perhaps I'll ask for a special parental derogation and go on my own...