Bowers Marsh

I visited the new Bowers Marsh reserve this afternoon; it reminded me very much of Rainham but without the facilities.

Easily found, after following the directions from the RSPB site, i was lucky enough to bump into a volunteer in the car park who let me copy his map and chatted me through what was on offer. I wandered off in the direction of what's now called the Old Saltings, a fresh water lagoon. Both Greylag & Canada Geese could be seen enroute and again i had no luck after sifting through them for anything but.

Bowers Map (still a work in progress but you get the idea)

The path here had farm land to one side and marsh to the other, i later found out that those particular fields have all been planted up this year with Turtle Dove in mind, so fingers crossed. Skylark took to the skies from the same fields in small groups of c10 whilst large numbers of Fieldfare "chacked" about over the far side and amongst them about 10-12  Redwing. 

Next up on the right was a Corn Bunting, this single bird just doubled the amount of them i had seen... ever. I really shouldn't have got that excited about it as the total number seen in one go ended up being 9, with other pairs dotted about here and there.

Although heading for the Old Saltings i was on my way to the Saline Lagoon viewing platform at East Haven. The platform is a really good vantage point, situated in the corner of the embankments bordering in the lagoon and i presume also as a defence to stop the water spilling into the fresh marsh. I took a quick scan; Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck, Redshank, Little Egret. An assortment of Gulls on the right hand side mud were made up of all the expected's plus a single Med Gull. I watched it for a while as it fed before they all went up, most circled but a few including the Med headed off back towards the main lake.

Back to the car for a warm up coffee and obligatory Snickers and i set off again, this time for the Old Saltings and the full walk around and back to the car. Much of the same all the way round until you start the home bound leg when it becomes more woodland like. with the added bonus of a swooping Peregrine.

Here's a few shots as you progress round.

where would i be lately without a shot of some Geese