Despite a weather forecast of rain, rain and then more rain, 10 of us turned out for our first outing of 2023. The thought of Cliffe Pools in the rain probably put some of you off but it shouldn’t have because we had a great day. On arrival the skies were already trying to lighten and the forecast rain was nowhere to be seen. We were prepared however dressed in full waterproofs, well I was anyway. We made our way along the usual route past the pinnacle to the viewing mound overlooking radar pool and the adjacent ones. Here we had our first views of goldeneye, a couple of males in their magnificent finery along with a few females looking more subdued.
These were by no means the only wildfowl on show. There were many tufted duck, pochard, wigeon, teal, shelduck and shoveler to name but some. Putting on a spectacle all by themselves were hundreds of lapwings rising up in great clouds to swirl around, fleeing from some unseen predator perhaps. A lone greenshank did a quick fly past.We made our way back so that we could walk along by the pools, stopping every now and then to scan. We added more ducks to our list, mallard gadwall and some stunning pintail with their elegant long necks and pointed tails. Many great crested grebes and coot were with them as were little grebes. A kestrel greeted us hovering over the path but no kingfisher was to be seen on it’s usual patch.When we reached the creek wall we popped our heads over to see redshank and avocet feeding on the mud and in the water. Retreating back down we scanned over flamingo pool. Yet more to be seen. A group of ringed plovers were to be found close to one end. Many lapwings were lined up along the edges and in among them were a few golden plover hiding in plain sight, whilst some dunlin scurried about between them. A few gulls were present, black-headed mainly but also a few great black-backed and herring.
Lunch beckoned back at the car so we returned, still dry. No rain at all had fallen. Some of us decided to have lunch in the church car park in Cliffe village and then to do a walk towards the black barn and the first viewing mound. Along the way we added long-tailed tit, goldfinch, starling and wren. A heron was seen hunting in a ditch while rooks poked about in the grass nearby for tasty morsels. From the mound there were views of many shoveler ducks along with some teal but the best find was a group of snipe, about 12, very well camouflaged , on a narrow piece of land between two areas of water.We returned to our cars just as the rain was starting. Good timing!Thank you to Trevor for leading and pointing out the early flowering white deadnettle and spurge.
Irene
The North Kent Marshes are a very special area and worth preserving at all cost.