Evan Atkinson
Always finding a way to go off topic...
It's been a while since I have done one of these. Currently I am a volunteer warden at Elmley NNR on the Isle of Sheppey, and have been since early November 2022. On my first day ever wardening at the reserve, I found 2 dartford warblers in the brickfield reedbed, which were a local rarity and had only turned up a few times in the past. A few days later the pair were joined by a third. What really drew me to Elmley were, like most other people who visit, the owls; but another big thing that really made me fall in love with Elmley was the insane views of a red footed falcon in September of 2022. Couple that with vast open fields and wetlands with 70,000 plus wildfowl in the winter and it is truly absolute heaven. After not visiting the reserve for coming up to 3 months due to circumstances, I was able to visit the reserve yesterday. The day held a few tours which I had planned on assisting the head warden with. Coming up the entrance track there was a close buzzard on the ground as well as yellow wagtails and marsh harriers. The first tour was essentially a mini guide around the reserve, which we hoped would show the guests some reptiles and maybe some owls. There were plenty of metal sheets to check under and we were buzzed constantly by Southern Migrant Hawkers. As we got round the bend, one of the tour leaders found a grass snake in amongst the reeds, but unfortunately it quickly disappeared away. It was at this time that I turned around and saw an enormous raptor appear over the top of the trees above the old schoolhouse. I quickly focused on it through my bins and to my shock there was a distinct lack of any carpal markings on the underwing which immediately ruled out a buzzard. The bird was moving quite quickly and was flying rather strangely. It came rather close and it was certainly not a sparrowhawk or a marsh harrier, which led to the only raptor left being a goshawk. Annoyingly it banked and flew directly away from us in a straight line, not banking at all. This whole encounter lasted about 20 seconds, and I had not got a picture. Thankfully I was able to pick up the bird again circling quite distantly over the brickfield reedbed. Our head warden got it in his scope and was able to confirm it as a juvenile male goshawk! I do not know the amount of records here but goshawk has not been seen at all according to eBird on entirety of Sheppey, so it is likely that this bird is one of or if not the first record for the reserve. I was absolutely buzzing with that result and everyone on the tour was able to connect with this beast of a bird. Now here is where things get really good. It was about 3pm and I was in the wellmarsh hide trying to count the amount of snipe on the islands. It was rather frustrating because they would disappear and I would not know if they were the same bird that kept reappearing or if they were different birds. In my peripheral, I noticed a falcon coming directly over the snipe, really quite close. It burst over the reeds chasing a pied wagtail and I immediately noticed the entirely white head as it shot over the hide. I knew this was an intriguing bird and I went outside to see the bird powering away, heading towards the car park. It did the same thing as the goshawk and I could only make out the shape of the bird, and no underwing which I knew was crucial when it comes to the seperation of hobby and red footed falcon. Thankfully the bird u turned briefly and I got some very bad record shots that looked extremely promising for a red footed falcon (RFF). I sent out the news as a probable red footed falcon and I was getting lots of messages from friends and people from BirdGuides saying it looked promising for a RFF. I went outside the hide again and I could not see the bird at all. Again this was a frustratingly brief encounter with a bird that is still quite scarce but increasing in the Kent area and I had no way of completely confirming it. About 40 minutes later I was watching some juvenile redshanks and I just so happened to look up (as I had been doing since the initial sighting) and I picked up a bird going over with a hobby. To my astonishment, the bird did the briefest of banks, but it was enough to see the black trailing edge along the wing and some hints of rusty orange appearing in the underwing. I had no time to react to the bird at all, but it was close and I could see the detail with the naked eye, and enough to confirm it as a red footed falcon! I quickly put out the news and waited in the hide in the hopes that it would return but sadly it didn't. For context, these birds were fresh in, and there had been hints of migration occurring such as the flock of 7 herons that flew over on the first tour, and the 200 or so swallows that had constantly been making there way over the hides. The goshawk most likely came over from the oare marshes direction and had gone unnoticed, but I last saw it heading high inland, perpendicular to the bridge that joins Sheppey to the UK. All in all an absolutely amazing day, and to self find those 2 raptors is truly unforgettable, especially the RFF, the bird that first drew me to Elmley. Some dodgy back of camera pics of the RFF below.
Thank you for reading,
Evan
Thank you for reading,
Evan
