Elmley revisited 30th September

It’s been a while since we last visited Elmley and it looks like the rain that we have had lately has started to put some water back into the depleted water reserves. These Coots certainly seemed to be enjoying it


The wet ground has spawned clusters of little toadstools, growing in little crops like magical fairy houses all over the marshland. What a pretty sight they make with their shiny tops glinting in the sunlight


The grasslands is kept closely cropped by the herds of cows that roam the area. As we approached, a young bull galloped over to proudly show off his latest curly top hair style before running back to woo some of the young heifers.


As we slowly drove along the reserve a little Wheatear landed on a nearby gatepost to watch us. We just had to stop and look. What a lovely pastel colour these birds are, so pretty. The Wheatear sang us a cheery little song in greeting before flying off across the marshland to look for his dinner.


There was not many birds about today so we stopped in the main car park and went for a walked in the grounds around the RSPB house. Today we decided we would try and get some shots of some smaller insects, so it was on with the flash guns and off for some quiet stalking.


However, brother Mick spotted a Kestrel flying about near some trees, so he patiently waited for him to come back so that he could take his picture.


After waiting for ages, Mick finally noticed that the Kestrel was actually sitting in a far off tree all that time just watching him. So admitting defeat he went after some dragon flies instead.


And what a variety of them there were. We came across an area where the sky was full of them. Why they were attracted here we do not know as there was no water or stream nearby, but it looked like they were having a great time flitting all over the place. We watched them for an hour or so until the rain clouds started to form. Then it was time to go back home for a nice cup of tea.

We hope that you enjoyed our trip to Elmley. More pictures from Elmley can be found in our nature galleries at www.voinapics.co.uk

Steve & Mick

September 9th

It was another nice sunny Day at Oare today but the winds were quite strong and there was a definite slight chill to the air. As soon as we arrived a Coot swam past to greet us.


I don’t know if you have ever looked closely, but a Coot has the most amazing feet. Their toes are encased in a lobed membrane that aids swimming. The membrane folds inwards on the forward movement of the foot and splays outwards for thrust on the backward movement. The result is, that they have enormous feet. If you click on his pic, you will be able to see what I mean


As there was not too much about today, we decided to walk a ways around the lake to see what we could find


As you walk around the lake, you need to cross over a dyke by way of a small metal bridge. As we approached the bridge, we spotted a trio of Pied Wagtails playing hide and seek between the spars of the bridge


Making our way back to the front of the lake we stopped to watch some Lapwings flying overhead. Espying us watching them, the Lapwings circled back to perform an amazing acrobatic dance in the air for our entertainment. What superb fliers these little creatures are, it was a simply dazzling display.



The Mute Swan was not in his normal place today. We found him walking along the bank raising his long graceful neck to keep a wary eye on the nearby Graylag Gees.


The Geese were not to be intimidated, and they too stood at full height to stare back at the swan, standing their ground until honour was settled on both sides. Once Settled, they all got down to the serious business of giving themselves a good preening


There were not many other birds within range of our cameras so we just enjoyed the sights and sounds of the countryside, before making our way back home

We hope that you enjoyed our little trip. Further pictures from this and other trips can be found in the galleries at www.voinapics.co.uk please stop by and have a look.

Oare Marshes and a visit to the Military Oddysey

It was pretty changeable weather down at Oare this Bank Holiday Monday. When we started off the sun was shining, but when we arrived there, the thunderclouds had gathered and it teemed down, so waiting patiently, we sat in the car until it stopped before quickly stepping out of the car to take few pics.


Waddling down the bank to greet us was our old friend the Bar-Headed Goose, stopping to pose and show off the lovely markings on her head. We are still not sure of the sex of the Goose but have decided that “she” defiantly looks female.



A little further up an Egret was fishing. The lake level was down a fair bit but the Egret still seemed to find lots of little fishes that were quickly swallowed with great gusto as it waded back and forth on those long legs.



Tiring of fishing in that spot, the Little Egret walked back and forth a few times before taking off and soaring past us with slow flaps of those graceful wings before flying off into the distance.



Quickly seizing it’s chance, a Sandpiper flew to the vacated spot and darted about, looking for any little titbits that the Egret had left behind which were quickly gobbled up.



The black clouds were forming again and the wind was picking up, so we decided to call it a day. But before we went, we stopped by to say hello to the Swan that was still sitting in the same place that we saw it last week, preening in the last of the sunshine. He stopped to sneeze a few times, and you can see why!



We also had a trip to the Military Odyssey show at Detling over the weekend. If you enjoy periodic costumes, friendly helpful exhibitors and a general festive air, you will love this show.


There are scenes from all periods of history from cave man up to present day so you really feel like you have travelled through a time warp to the past.



A big handclap to the exhibitors that put on a superb show. There are a lot more pictures from the show in the Shows and Pageants Gallery at www.voinapics.co.uk



We hope that you enjoyed our outings. More pictures can be seen in the Galleries at www.voinapics.co.uk. Please stop by and give them a visit

Steve & Mick

Cliff Pools and Northwood Hill

We had a visit to Cliff Pools RSPB reserve today. This reserve has been under renovation by the RSPB since they purchased it as it was in a sorry state before and what a masterful job they have achieved. It is now so pleasant to either walk or drive along the path through the reserve with the lakes on your left and farmland to your right.



Unfortunately there was not many birds in the lake today so we decided to drive further along and see what we could find in the bushes and farmland instead. We had not travelled far before we came across two sheep that had escaped from the farmers fields and was enjoying some tasty bush leaves growing on the roadside.




A little further was a small tree full of starlings. Although Starlings are an all year bird, a lot of them migrate to Europe and only come back to the UK for Winter. Over the last few weeks, we have noticed lots of starlings visiting our bird feeders at home so it appears that they are making their way back to us. We spotted several more small flocks enjoying our summer fruits and berries


And what an abundances of berries there are. The bushes are simply bursting with tempting treats for the birds, big blue grape like fruits, Shiny red Berries and all manner of wild delights to feast on



Stopping the car we proceeded on foot for a while to better enjoy the sunshine and chirruping of the birds as they flitted amongst the berries, taking their pictures whenever an opportunity arose




The Reserve is not too large, and as we were close to Northward Hill RSPB we decided to pay them a little visit as well. There are a lot of Rabbits living at Northward and the banks alongside the driveway leading to the main car park has been mined out by countless generations of them into a maze of tunnels



We went for a nice long walk following the marked trails, Northward Hill is a very picturesque reserve with many colourful wild plants and flowers. Many of them are now shedding their seeds in the wind ready for next years shoots so the air was thick with the scent of flowers and white fluffy seed pods


There are some small ponds and waterways here, and these are home to the Darters and Dragon flies. And what colourful insects they are , they would flit back and forth in front of us to get out attention, before landing on a nearby leaf to show off their shining red or blue refinery. We just had to stop and admire them


Walking on, we carefully crossed a field dotted with wild mushrooms, carefully treading so as not to disturb the delicate fungi, to look over the farmland and watch a shepherd with his collie dog gathering up a heard of sheep into a tight flock before moving them off to another field. We hope that he counted them as we know where two of them are hiding



A little further and I stopped to investigate a hide that had been built on the reserve. The hide faces several bird feeders and allows you to watch the birds without disturbing them. What a nice thoughtful idea. Unfortunately the birds had emptied the feeders earlier that day and had departed to seek food elsewhere



Time was pressing on so we started to make our way home, but we just had to stop and watch the bees working so hard whilst buzzing merrily to themselves as they gathered all the rich harvest of pollen to take back to their hives.

We hope that you enjoyed your walk with us as much as we did. Further pictures from this and other walks can be found in our galleries at www.voinapics.co.uk Steve & Mick

Rain at last. August 12th

We only had a short trip to Oare this weekend. The skies looked very grey and overcast so we knew that it would not be a long visit. On arriving our friend the Bar headed Goose was back drinking from the stream alongside the lake. We took a few more shots of the Goose to add to our collection. It would be nice to know if it was a him or her but it is very difficult to tell the sexes of these Geese




Scuttling up from the lake and scrambling down the bank to swim in the stream were the baby Coots. How they have grown in the week since we last saw them. They are getting quite sleek now and starting to resemble the adults, although their feathers are still a light grey and have not darkened fully yet.


Across the road in the small lake we spotted a Sandpiper hunting through the mud. Again we are not sure in identifying this bird, it may be a Common Sandpiper or a Green Sandpiper. Probably a juvenile and possibly female. We only took a few quick shots as a few drops of rain were splashing down. If you look closely at the picture, you can see them making patterns in the lake.


A glance up and to the right of us saw the sky turning a thunderous black., the wind had started to pick up and the light dropping fast as huge black clouds were forming for a much needed downpour. We quickly gathered our gear and ran back to the car, just in time. The heavens opened up and the rain pelted down, huge big droplets that made a loud thrumming against the car. We waited a while but the rain continued to fall, so, starting up the car, we made our way back home. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

We hope that you enjoyed our trip. More pictures can be seen in the nature gallery
Here Please drop in and visit us. Steve & Mick



Sunday update. Well we did not go out anymore this weekend, the rain has continued to fall to put some much needed water into our depleted reservoirs. Hopefully next weekend will be a bit better. See you then, Steve & Mick

Oare Marshes 5th August

Greetings from Steve & Mick. We had another trip to Oare Marshes today., what a gorgeous sunny day it was as well. First stop was by the front of the lake near the roadway. Unfortunately the tide was out so there was not many waders up close. We watched a Ruff for a while looking for any tit bits in the silt. Pickings seemed to be poor though so the Ruff did not stay too long

In front of the lake is the small river, here we watched several young Coots playing. They have grown fast since we last saw them. Their little bald heads are now crowned by a gloss of new feathers and the young Coots proudly posed on the river bank to show them off to us.

Brother Mick looked on with a touch of jealousy as his thatch of hair has been shrinking for a long while now!. Still he seemed to be enjoying the sunshine as much as the Coots were and he was also getting a bit of colour to his shiny noodle!




I was not so brave. I just kept my hat on to keep the sun at bay, whilst pretending that I too had a thick thatch of hair under it!




In the small lake behind us, we spotted a swan sleeping in the sunshine. As we crossed the road for a closer look she gave a stretch and raised her elegant neck to see who was approaching. We were far to far away to disturb her, so with a slow rotate of that long neck she checked out her domain before lowering it down and settling back to sleep




In the lake though was a Snipe. He was wading along using that enormous bill to plunge repeatedly into the mud below foraging for food. They say that a Snipe resembles a sewing machine when they eat, and this certainly seems true, his head was bobbing up and down repeatedly, with only a pause now and then to have a quick peek about.



It was such a lovely day that a walk around the lake was just irresistible. So we put away our monopods, slung our cameras across our shoulders and set off. And what a sight greeted us. The wild flowers are still in bloom and the butterflies were out in abundance. We watched them flitting from one flower to another, just dancing with sheer joy at the beauty of each one they land on. And you can see just how eager they are as they settle on to a flower, only to espy another even more tempting one nearby that they just have to flutter off to.


A loud croaking coaxed us to look down into the river bank, a few big Frogs splashed into the water disturbing a grass snake. The Snake slithered around in the cool water for a while before grabbing a tasty looking water fly and disappearing into the reeds to enjoy his meal



We finished the walk and arrived back at the lake front. The Greylag Geese we had seen a few weeks back were back down for a drink and we spotted our old friend the Bar Headed Goose as he sat on the bank preening himself in the sunshine



It had been a good days outing and packing away our gear we started to make to make our way home, but the late sunshine was basking the nearby fields in golden glow turning all the hard work the farmers made in their hay fields into a picturesque masterpiece. We just had to stop and take a few last pictures of them before departing home.

We hope that you enjoyed our excursion. Further pictures can be seen in the nature galleries at www.voinapics.co.uk
Steve & Mick