This week we returned once more to the wonderful Elmley Nature Reserve to spend another night in one of their shepherd huts.

Elmley is a 3,300 acre privately-owned National Nature Reserve and SSSI. The habitat is being managed specifically with breeding lapwing and redshank in mind, although these conditions also favour many other species. Predators such as foxes and stoats are controlled to give a helping hand to ground nesting birds, although they do still have to contend with aerial predators such as corvids and the twelve pairs of marsh harriers that now nest there.

The running of the reserve is funded by sensitive eco tourism – Kingshill farmhouse itself can be rented as a whole and there are also several shepherds huts and glamping tents to stay in on the reserve. It is a very popular wedding venue and there is a wedding booked there every weekend from now until mid October. I’m not at all surprised, it’s a special place indeed.

As creatures of habit, we stayed once more in the Saltbox shepherds hut with its super comfortable king sized bed and a fabulous view out over the marsh:

There are around 350 pairs of breeding lapwing on the reserve..

..and over 400 pairs of redshank..

We also saw a lot of yellow wagtails this time:

And an awful lot of starlings:

This looks like it could be a starling that a marsh harrier is taking here, although it was a pair of lapwing who were valiantly doing what they could to stop it:

Lapwings also view grey herons with extreme suspicion:

We took a walk down to the bird hides. On the way there, we saw this salsify plant which was a new one for us:

The most obvious flowering plant at this moment in time is hemlock:

In fact, there was so much hemlock, it looks like it might have become a bit of a problem:

There were numerous pairs of breeding avocet in front of the Wellmarsh hide, although no young yet as far as we could see:

We don’t often see avocets, certainly not up this close, and hadn’t noticed before that they have distinctly blue legs:

Many pairs of common tern were also nesting on the islands..

But it was only the black-headed gulls that appeared to have chicks in their nests so far:

A pair of shelduck, though, who will have nested in a hole somewhere such as in an old rabbit burrow, had already led their young down to the water. We counted twelve chicks in all.

Swifts were swooping through the skies all over the reserve. Always a bit difficult to photograph though:

Bitterns were booming around us on the way back from the hides – something we had never heard before but had always wanted to. I had ticked something off my bucket list.

Once back at the car park, swallows were collecting mud and sticks for their nests there…

And the car park was also providing house sparrows with an opportunity for long and luxurious dust baths:

The short eared owls that roost up near the car park in winter are long gone by May, but the nearby enclosure where curlew chicks are being head-started is now in its second year:

Having walked down to the nearest hides and returned to the car park, we then set off in another direction, along the path I have marked in green, that goes past the ruined school house and down to the marshes where over a hundred marsh harriers sometimes roost over the winter:

There is a little owl nest box attached behind the old school house and we always see a little owl here. We weren’t disappointed this time either:

The owl was difficult to spot in amongst the brickwork:

The weather was dull and these photos weren’t as pleasing as last May when the sun was out:

We walked down the path as far as the Swale, where we saw cattle egret amongst the cows:

And there was a group of goldfinch eating seeds:

We explored the abandoned wharf that would have been in used in Victorian times when there was an old brick works here on Sheppey:

As we returned to the farm from this second excursion, ominous clouds were gathering and we weren’t quite quick enough to get back to our shepherds hut before torrential rain was hurled at us from the skies:

The next morning dawned grey and windy with unpleasant rain showers gusting through.

We decided to pack up and head for home rather than spending additional time on the reserve. Breakfast is delivered to the huts and, as we ate ours reclining on our bed, we spotted a historic Thames sailing barge, the Repertor, motoring up the Swale, the tidal channel that divides the Isle of Sheppey from mainland Kent:

There is a two mile track between the road and Kingshill Farm at Elmley and you are asked to stay in your car and drive very slowly, treating it as a wildlife safari as you go. We did indeed see many wonders along the track, although, despite our best efforts, we failed to spot the bittern which was apparently up close to the road close by gate 2. Many of the photos I took on this track are already included above but there was also a palatial mute swan nest:

A colour-ringed lapwing, the sighting of which I have now reported to the relevant place:

And this very wet hare, giving itself a groom after the rain:

As usual, and despite the weather, we had had an absolutely fantastic time at Elmley and are definitely planning to return again soon.

If you would like to read more about the things we have seen at Elmley on previous trips, our visit in January this year is covered here: https://walmermeadows.co.uk/2024/01/14/elmley-in-winter/

And our stay in May last year is here : https://walmermeadows.co.uk/2023/05/19/a-return-to-elmley/

I want to finish today with the terrible news of the Gallant. She was launched in 1916 and served as a herring lugger in the North Sea until 1936. In recent times she was refurbished and acted as a training ship for young people as well as a wind-powered cargo ship, delivering produce to Europe in a carbon-free way across from the Caribbean. We saw her sailing past the meadows in October 2019 as she sailed into Deal bring pre-ordered produce to the people of the town:

In July 2020, she dropped anchor alongside the meadows and spent the night here, treating us to some lovely views:

But I’m really sorry to report that the Gallant sank on 21st May after capsizing in a sudden and violent storm in the Bahamas. The ship had departed from Columbia, heading to Europe carrying a cargo of coffee, cocoa and cane sugar. Eight sailors were on board and six were saved from a life raft by rescue services. But, after an extensive and exhaustive search, covering 3,700 square miles with planes, helicopters and ships, the two remaining female crew members couldn’t be found and have now been confirmed lost at sea. What a terrible, sad end to a lovely ship and a worthy endeavour.