It has to be said that unlike the weather for the school
Easter holidays generally, Good Friday thro' Easter Monday has been a tad tish. That said, so maybe over the four days of Easter hasn't been quite as hoped, there were still things to excite the senses. A kestrel hunter-hovered overhead, being mobbed by of all things.....Swallows, never seen that before!!!
Along the path to Sweeney viewpoint a bee landed in the grass, it was a Tawny mining bee. (Andrena fulva) They are common flying from March to May, foraging on Spring flowers, especially Hawthorn and are an important pollinator of fruit trees, nesting in lawns forming a soil mound.
Onto Gordons' and there were plenty of ducks and wader to hold ones' attention on the scrapes, including Shoveller, Mallard, Tufties, Shelduck, Gadwall, Teal and Widgeon. Lapwing, Avocet, Godwit, Oystercatchers, Redshanks, Moorhen and Coot also vied for for space. A little further out Grey Lag and Canada Geese grazed, but it seemed all had one thing on their minds......breeding.
Male Shovelers and Mallards were pursuing females aerially, also in the air were a dozen or so Swallows, for want of a better phrase, bickering and wittering skywards, whether that was love or war? Who knows! I don't!
Common Whitethroat were beginning to sing and show occasionally, but no displays yet.
There were a lot of visitors to Northward Hill today, at mid affernoon the car park was full to capacity, down at the dip I shared a couple of moments with a couple listening to the nightingales limbering up!
Just before the Orchard Bridge a small spider lurked in the greenery, centre of a delicate and almost imperceivable web, a Long-jawed Orb Web Spider.
Thanks to Dean Evans and David Saunders for the images.
The North Kent Marshes are a very special area and worth preserving at all cost.