The Bexley Group have been volunteering on the reserve for many years and we thought it a nice idea to give them a thank you and a bit of recognition on the blog, not least of which as one of them has just recently had his 90th, yes that's right 90th!!! birthday. Incredible. To this end I contacted Bob who organises the parties and asked him for some details for the blog. He sent me the attached which did my job for…

The huge pleasure of this reserve is how much you can see in a relatively short time. I remember writing a blog last Spring, '45 species in 45 minutes', absolutely amazing. How many reserves can boast that, in fact I challenge other bloggers to beat it!!

Today I spent a little time here, having connected with the bird ringers briefly I went to the car-park feeders, I'd like to remind visitors they were donated…

1 Great Crested Grebe on Alpha Pool, 1 Slavonian Grebe on Alpha Pool, 1 Black-necked Grebe also on Alpha Pool, 2 Redshank on the Cliffe Creek area, 1 Great Black-backed Gull, 1 Green Woodpecker, calling from the car park, 1 Great Tit, calling,, 2 Chaffinch, 2 Goldfinch, also seen:-

20 Bewick's Swan, 15 Goldeneye, 1 Slavonian Grebe, 3 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Marsh Harrier, 2 Buzzard, 1 Barn Owl, 1 Rock Pipit (Cliffe Creek…

A reminder from the RSPB Gravesend Local Group.

Big Garden Birdwatch

Thanks to Murray Orchard for these recent sightings:-

Visit to Timber and Alpha Lakes.

9 Bewick's Swan (adults, flew in to Timber Lake at 16.20 - from direction of Flamingo Pool), 196 Greylag Goose (on Timber Lake), 43 Canada Goose (on Timber Lake), 6 Barnacle Goose (on Timber Lake initially, then on Higham Marshes ), 180 Wigeon (on Timber Lake), 18 Gadwall (on Timber Lake), 355 Pochard (275 on Timber Lake including…

Media release 19 January 2017

Inclusion of Lodge Hill in Medway's housing plans threatens important wildlife habitats across the country. An alliance of national and local conservation groups, including the RSPB and Kent Wildlife Trust, is campaigning to save the best site for nightingales in the UK ̶ Lodge Hill, Medway ̶ from being allocated for new housing developments

The draft plans unveiled by Medway Council…

The TV presenter and nature writer David Lindo gave a talk to the RSPB Medway local group on Tuesday at their usual venue, Parkwood, Community Centre in Rainham. David, as ever is knowledgeable, entertaining, a tad controversial and ever so slightly cheeky. This is the second talk he has given in 5 years to this group, ranging from his experiences as growing up in London. The names he called the sparrows, starlings and…

Yesterday was a WeBS count day, this is done on a specific date every month at a great many marsh, river, lake and estuary around the country. Results are co-ordinated by the British Trust for Ornithology and allows them to compile an annual report. All this is done in association the RSPB, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. Murray Orchard is the counter for Cliffe reserve and…

Slightly belatedly is a welcome to the new administrator to the Northward Hill office, Katie Thatcher she replaces Marie who left some weeks back, she says she is a little daunted by all the new faces and new tasks, but I'm sure she will be fine, so welcome aboard.

Moving out onto the reserve, today it is predicted to snow, but up until mid afternoon it's still only drizzle. From the upper view point at least…

Witth the miserable weather this weekend, I thought it might be a good idea to re post one of Rolf Williams from a couple of years ago. 

Our neighbours at Buckland Lake Reserve have worked hard to restore the old chalk quarry for public use.

The lakes have been a venue for fishing for some years now - including access for the disabled.

Tamsin, Gina and Doug have now realised the next step in their vision for the site…

This morning was bright, sunny and very little breeze. A perfect winters day for a couple of hours at Northward Hill RSPB reserve. I walke uo to the upper veiwpoint and met a small group scanning the outstreted marshlands across to the River Thames and beyond, I couldn't resist stating that I never tired of the veiw.

A beautiful female Kestrel perched on an uppermost impossibly thin twig over to our left, demonstrating…

Some brilliant photos have been taken by three photographers over the last few days, some I've posted before, some are new, so I thought we could put all seven onto one blog, for compsrison. I think there are three different female birds here, but if you think differently let me know!

Thank you to Colin, Dean and Jim for their photos. 

After the drizzle and gloom of yesterday it was nice to see a brighter sky overhead.

First stop this morning was to see if the kingfishers were still showing in front of Gordon's Hide. There are a male and a female and maybe a third, yes at least one was using the perch to survey the water below, but as the breeze picked up the surface rippled too much for even a keen kingfisher eye to spot a fishy meal, but out on the…

To raise awareness of the great work that the RSPB do we will have a stand at our local Homebase store in Sittingbourne (ME10 2XD) on Sunday 15th January 2017 to promote the forthcoming Big Garden Bird Watch (28 - 30 January 2017).You'll be able to meet some of our committee members, chat about our exciting events calendar which includes free guided walks throughout Kent, and monthly indoor…

On a telegraph pole at the entrance to the reserve a buzzard roosted,  keeping sentry over his domain in search of an easy meal, driving down to the car-park a female sparrow hawk spooked by my presence abandoned her viewpoint and flew straight as an arrow along the road in front keeping just ahead of my car, at times she was a mere 6 inches off the ground.

At the last moment of my visit today as I walked back to the…

The following have been recorded at Cliffe in the last few days by Murray Orchard:- 

Visit to Timber & Alpha Lakes and dusk visit to RSPB reserve.
9 Bewick's Swan (inc 1 juv; present on Timber Lake and at dusk on Flamingo Pool), 200 Wigeon (on Timber Lake), 352 Pochard (162 on Timber/Alpha and 190 on RSPB reserve), 5 Scaup (juv/f; 4 on Alpha Pool and 1 on Radar Pool), 1 Goldeneye (duck on Alpha Pool; no count for RSPB…

With such gloomy and foggy weather around I thought it would be nice to see a bit of colour photographed in various locations around the marsh.

From all here at Northward Hill RSPB have a Prosperous and Happy New Year.

Thanks to Rob Budgen, Carol Felix, David Saunders, Faith Cairns and Lesley Saunders for the images.

Of all the birds on the reserve today it would be hard to argue the two kingfishers showing well in front of Gordons' Hide most of the day could be bettered.

At only a handful of metres from the portal, photographers had an excellent opportunity to capture some stunnining images, this one was taken by Dean Evans earlier on today.

There is a poem which perfectly encapsulates the magic of this winged jewel that…

INTERESTED IN NATURE AND WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE?

COME AND JOIN OUR FRIENDLY GROUP FOR THE FOLLOWING

EVENTS IN JANUARY

(For outdoor meetings bring binoculars if you have them and a packed lunch)

(For indoor meetings admission including refreshments is £3.50 for group members, and £4.50 for non members.  Free parking is available at both venues)

Sunday 1 January  10am - 4pm

SHELLNESS & CAPEL FLEET…

So what exactly is the Winter solstice all about? I never believed the Summer Solstice was anything to get excited about. Surely the light, abeit dimly lit, at the end of the tunnel leading to Spring and eventually summer would be something more to celebrate.

The months of October/November though to February/March must have been extremely difficult and harsh for our forebears as they are for wildlife.

Llittle food,…

Last weekend it was a pleasure to meet the Gravesend group in the carpark. It was as you will see from their report a fairly murky day as seen by my last posting regarding the WeBS count on the reserve.

Here is the groups' report.

Today is a Wetland Bird Survey day, known as a WeBS count. This a nationally co-ordinated count of waders, ducks and the like. Up and down the country thousands of people attend rivers, estuaries and lakes to record the various species on that one day.

Today it was obviously going to be problematic as mist and fog shrouded the marsh, making finding species more that a quarter of a mile away difficult, even so a flock…

It's good to report that the Bewick's are still at Cliffe Pools, so I thought that maybe a piece about this amazing bird would not go amiss.

We have not seen this beautiful swan at Cliffe since last January, since then they have made an incredible journey to Siberia and back, leaving in early September to fly the huge distance back to the UK. The purpose of this epic flight is to nest and breed. In fact this…