RSPB Cliffe Pools

[Stargazer]

Spent yesterday at this fairly new RSPB reserve which is not far from Rochester in Kent. Much of it is the site of a former brickworks which seems to have gone wild and on one side it runs along the bank of the Thames. So far the RSPB input seems to be minimal; no hides, no signage and no visitor centre - and no toilets!

I didn't really know what to expect. The day was mild, about 16c, but overcast and murky. There was almost no air moving at ground level which probably accounted for the almost complete lack of raptors. I had hoped for a few harriers at least, and both Hobby and Peregrine have been reported recently. Some of our group did see a kestrel but even that eluded me.

At first there seemed to be little of interest. Almost no passerines, and the pools showed lapwing, tufted duck, mallard, great crested and little grebes. On the mudbank lapwing were interspersed with golden plover and a solitary dunlin - the high point here was a male goldeneye. Things improved when my scope found a snipe showing nicely on the opposite bank.

I did say an almost complete lack of raptors, didn't I? We got as far as the river bank and I got out a sandwich; looking back from whence we had come I saw a moth-like form hawking over the low scrub and I was able to point it out to my companion, a relative newbie who was ecstatic when I ID'd it as a short-eared owl - the first owl of any sort she had seen. The bird was having no better luck with passerines than I was and I assume the lack of wind is what induced it to land on a fence post about 50m distant where it perched for about 15 minutes, searching for signs of prey in the grass and taking long but unconcerned looks in our direction. Brilliant - that alone made the day for me.

It got better; high tide on the river meant flocks of waders coming onto the pools; curlews, black-tailed godwits and dunlin arrived in their hundreds, and the absence of any background noise meant that the rushing sound of a flock of dunlin coming in overhead was awesome. We found a kingfisher on one small pool diving and returning to perch on the remnant of a concrete wall, and almost back at our starting point spotted a common scoter amongst some little grebes, which despite it's name is very far from common. I think the final species for the day was a group of three greenshank on a small mudbank.

40 species isn't a great haul, but the snipe, the shortie and the scoter made it a good day. I remain convinced that the weather conditions meant that we didn't see the place at anything like its full potenial so I'll give it another try in a few months time.

[Twitcheruth]

A nice report of your birding day.....glad to hear that it slowly improved and that in the end you saw some good birds! I always love to watch SEO's,they are a magical bird to see!

[subbysmith]

Thank you for the report. Sounds like a good day to me! I'm originally from that area (Gillingham) and didn't know that the RSPB were opening a new reserve. It's really exciting news.

I will be down at Christmas so will have to make sure I get there at some point. My father in law has been desperate to see a kingfisher so hopefully I can take him down there and we'll get lucky and spot one.

[Stargazer]

Subby, it turns out that the reserve isn't that 'new'. Although I haven't been there before and only recently became aware of it's existence, the RSPB website shows that the society has owned it since 2001.

You wouldn't know it's an RSPB reserve if you just walked onto it; no signage that I saw, none of the usual 'branding'. And I can imagine if the weather turned nasty it would be very bleak indeed! But it's well worth a visit - as I said, I'll go again!