Another Walk on the Swale Side

by Geoffrey Burton

When Mike Gould and I had entered the Great Kent Bird Race in 1998 we were the first to do so on foot only. There had been regular non-motorised teams and indeed the Cycle Listers were out on the same day. We posted a total of 109 species on our walk from Church Wood to Oare Marshes. There was no benchmark to compare that total with but others seemed to think we had done well and the Cycle Listers' total was only five more. So we had provided a total for others to aim at.

There was no great rush! However, on 12 May 2002, Don Taylor teamed up with Dave Wilson, Bob Davison and Trevor Manship as the Cliffe Strollers and walked the Hoo Peninsula. They scored a frustrating, for them at least, 108! The following year two teams slugged it out on the Hoo Peninsula. The Cliffe Strollers were joined by “HP Sauce” led by Chris Barker with Hoo Peninsula veterans, Murray Orchard and Jonathan Martin. On the day, detailed local knowledge told with HP Sauce scoring 107 to the Cliffe Strollers 104.

The Hoo teams felt that higher scores were possible and that was how Mike and I had felt too. I said of our first attempt that “the greatest evidence of passage was the steady trickle of twitchers ticking off the Terek on the other side of the Swale”. The conditions were fine for birding but too good for the birds.

It seemed incredible six years later that we hadn't been able to try again but this year I was keen to have another go. Unfortunately, Mike was unavailable but Andy Taylor, who only moved to Kent in February, was keen to take his place. I had an untested theory that the traditional second weekend in May was not the best time for a bird race, not in southerly Kent at any rate. Firstly, resident woodland birds are settling down to nest, many will have young to feed, and they are becoming increasingly less vocal and, therefore, harder to find. Secondly, down on the coast the number of winter ducks and waders is steadily falling. I also felt that in terms of general passage the last week in April is hard to beat. On the other hand, if you race a couple of weeks earlier you are giving up 45 minutes of daylight, the chance of Spotted Flycatcher and Nightjar, whilst generally greater numbers of the summer visitors will have arrived.

I set aside the last week in April with the aim of deciding as late as possible on the exact date. This time we would walk from Clowes Wood down to Swalecliffe and then along the coast to Oare Marshes. That way we would get to the coast sooner and it was hoped that my own local patch might add something to the day. The tides suggested that Thursday 29 th might be optimum but the weather forecast would have the last say. At the weekend, a deteriorating forecast made us opt for Monday 26 th before the winds turned to the north.

And so we arrived at the car park at Clowes Wood at 4.21 a.m. It was a clear still night. Nightingales could be heard immediately, two Woodcock flew overhead their ghostly shapes showing up against a lighter sky and Tawny Owls were calling in the distance. Unusually a Woodpigeon was heard a full hour before dawn and a cock Pheasant cleared its throat. The first tinkling of the dawn chorus came with a Robin and 4.40 a.m. followed by a Song Thrush ten minutes later and then in quick succession Blackbird , Wren , Dunnock and Chiffchaff . At 5 a.m. we were up to 11 species and it was getting lighter now. However, we were still relying on sound and in the next 20 minutes heard Carrion Crow , Chaffinch , Coal Tit , Bullfinch , Willow Warbler and Great Tit . A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew across the area at 5.20 a.m. Next came Blue Tit , Goldcrests singing in the dense conifers, Herring Gulls overhead and then a Jay was heard.

We left Clowes Wood car park at 5.38 a.m. (at sunrise). A Blackcap was singing by the side of the road as we crossed into Thornden Wood and Jackdaws flew overhead. The next bird did not appear for over half an hour but it was a welcome Treecreeper which we were by no means confident of finding. Alarm calls from a Carrion Crow revealed not the expected raptor but a Grey Heron flying low over the trees. We were in an area where I had seen a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker the day before. Alas, like Treecreeper, they are difficult to locate these days although they have yet to disappear completely as Nuthatch and Marsh Tit have. We arrived at an open area of young trees and scrub. Whitethroats were singing, a Green Woodpecker called loudly, what turned out to be the only Long-tailed Tits of the day slurped in the bushes, a Mistle Thrush sang and, eventually we heard Tree Pipit and Garden Warbler . It was now 7 a.m. We were on 32 species and it was time to push on through the remainder of the wood and head down to the coast. Magpie , Stock Dove and Moorhen were added before we emerged from the wood at Broomfield Gate and Collared Dove , Starling and Greenfinch as we walked down the lane.

After more than three hours in the woods, it was a relief to see the wideopen spaces of Chestfield Golf Course as it fell away down towards the sea. A Cormorant flew high overhead and a Lesser Whitethroat rattled in the hedge. Two Pied Wagtails flew over and a pair of Yellowhammers were in a bush in the middle of the fairway. Linnet and Mallard were added before we entered residential Chestfield but House Sparrow was the only other addition by the time we arrived at Swalecliffe at 8.35 a.m. with a total of 45 species.

A new habitat and new birds. Lesser Black-backed Gull and Black-headed Gull were added as we walked through the housing estate and, as we emerged into the open grass and scubland, Skylark and Meadow Pipit . Sandwich Terns could be seen patrolling offshore, the local cock Reed Bunting was in what I imagine he thinks is good voice and a migrant Swallow zipped through. We arrived at the beach with 52 species to our credit. We had sacrificed an ideal tide for expected better weather. The tide was already three and a half hours down and although Turnstone , Oystercatcher , Dunlin and Ringed Plover were added in quick succession, that was it. No hoped for Sanderling (better the higher the tide) or anything else of that ilk. A Goldfinch flew through, Shelduck was added and there were three Yellow Wagtails on the beach. So too late for the best tide and little evidence of visual migration. The mood was dropping and then we hit a wall! We checked the trees and bushes around the sewage works and the upper brook and we checked the churchyard where, two days earlier we had found a Wood Warbler. Nothing to add. A lone House Martin flew west at 10.20 a.m.; our 60 th species. The last species had been at 9.10 a.m. A group of Gannets flew east and then it was quiet again. We left Swalelciffe at 10.35. Our two hours at Swalecliffe provided three species we did not get elsewhere; Dunlin, House Martin and Gannet. We now set out on the long coastal trek that would lead eventually to Oare Marshes.

As we walked along the Tankerton slopes we noted Feral Pigeons on the seafront buildings and Common Terns offshore. But that was it. We ploughed on through a melee of French schoolchildren. They must have wondered what these "rosbifs" were up to! At 12.30 p.m. as we walked along the front at Whitstable we were still on 63 species. Three hours earlier we had been on 59! You must appreciate that our route implies a slow start (unlike the Hoo Boys with the woods of Northward Hill and the marshes adjacent to each other) but, nevertheless, this was so depressing. It was a warm sunny day, the tide was now well out and the light conditions were difficult. We had not chosen a good day but if the forecast was to be believed there was worse to come. Surely, like the tide, our luck must turn? A crack in the wall appeared with the sighting of a few large waders in the heat haze on the edge of the mud. These turned out to be both Curlew and Whimbrel . Shortly after Andy glimpsed a Sparrowhawk working the gardens behind the shore which, for my benefit, then cruised passed at close quarters. Well that was nice and three species in the space of ten minutes but it needed more than that to lift the gloom. Our next stop would be the Seasalter Levels. Wet grazing marsh criss-crossed by wide dykes. I spoke to Mike Gould and there were a number of possibilities there and quite a lot if you counted the last few days. In a bizarre twist, Mike phoned to warn us to alter our route to the levels as a dead body had been found on the footpath and the police had cordoned this off.

We arrived at the levels just before 1 p.m. A Kestrel was hovering over the fields and, on arriving at the main drain, we added Mute Swan , Greenshank , Teal and Lapwing in quick succession. As we moved to the other end of Seasalter Lane, we added Sedge Warbler and, stopping at a strategic site for lunch, a Peregrine atop a pylon and Reed and Cetti's Warblers . Retracing our steps, we added Grey Partridge , a distant Marsh Harrier and a Green Sandpiper had now appeared in the main drain. This was more like it. 11 species added in less than an hour and we were now on 78. To temper this, I now began to worry that we had taken too long to get to this point. The worst scenario would be to fall behind schedule and have little or no time at the crucial Oare Marshes.

A Swift hawking over Lucerne Drive was welcome as it was perhaps too early to have been able to rely on seeing one. We arrive again at the sea by the Blue Anchor Caravan Park at about 2.10 p.m. We soon added Redshank and the only Common Gull of the day. As we progressed towards the Sportsman a Great Crested Grebe flew out from the Swale, there were Rooks along the sea wall and a pair of Red-legged Partridges in the field opposite the pub. Wheatear, which we expected in the sandy rabbit-warrened area between the chalets and the resumption of the sea wall eventually revealed itself and "pinging" Bearded Tits could be heard from the reedbed behind. As we arrived at the seawall at the beginning of the South Swale reserve, we spotted two Little Terns fishing along the water's edge and beyond them on the water there were three drake Wigeon and, amongst a squabble of immature gulls, two Great Black-backed Gulls . As we left the area covered by the old Whitstable Urban District Council and entered the Borough of Swale, it was 3.10 p.m. and we were now on 89 species. Better than we could have dreamed three hours earlier but still a lot to do and a long way to walk. We needed to push on.

The walk along the South Swale to Faversham can be very good for birds in winter but rather quiet at this time of the year and particularly on such a benign day. A Corn Bunting sang in a bush on the edge of the rather prairie like fields and our first Little Egret appeared. Six years ago we did not see this species on the day, how things have changed! A Sand Martin was next. At just after 4, we left the seawall to cut across Nagden Marshes to Faversham Creek. We were at this stage of the walk at about this time in 1998 and now we were four species ahead. Walking around the creek is a massive detour. We could see our ultimate destination, Oare Marshes, across the creek but it would be another two and a half hours before we got there. In the meantime, there would be a lot of walking little relieved by additions to the total. At 4.30, having crossed the fields and now walking by the creek, we spotted a pair of Greylag Geese on Ham Marshes on the other side of the creek. Another species not seen last time; are they on the increase? This was soon followed by a Cuckoo calling unseen in the distance. We now had to find the way across the creek in Faversham itself. The creekside was almost unrecognisable from six years before. Old factories and boatyards had given way, for the most part, to new "desirable" creekside residences.

From the seawall, across the fields along the creek and through Faversham to Ham Road Pits took almost an hour and a half with two species to show for it and a total of 94. Surely, now we would at least reach 100 again. Walking down Ham Road and peering at the first pit through the trees, we soon added Coot and Tufted Duck but other species we might have hoped to see such as Canada Goose, Hobby, Common Sandpiper or Kingfisher could not be found. The pits alongside Oare Creek held three Greenshank but nothing new. A Turtle Dove singing from telegraph wires below Oare village was welcome especially as I had missed one seen by Andy as it zipped westward over Swalecliffe in the company of a Collared Dove (I saw the Collared Dove!). This latest addition had taken 45 minutes. Whether the enterprise would sink or swim now depended on how well Oare Marshes performed. As we approached the marshes it was about 6.30 p.m. We were on 97 species, two less than in 1998 but with a little more time.

A new pit, dug last summer south of the east flood, is the first to be reached coming along Oare Creek. No sooner had we seen it than we heard the call of a Wood Sandpiper . This was a boost as it is quite early for this species. Also on this pit was a pair of Shoveler. Looking beyond to the east flood, our 100 th species timed at 6.40 p.m. was Avocet (we had reached this total at 7.14 p.m. last time but the Cliffe Strollers reached 100 at 4.04 p.m. in 2002) . Pochard , Little Grebe and Gadwall followed quickly and then Common Sandpiper and Spotted Redshank , the first I'd seen of either this year, and Little Ringed Plover . However, there was no sign of the drake Garganey that had been present on the flood for a couple of weeks though it was often tucked away in the reeds. Nevertheless, it was only 7 p.m. and we had raced on to 106!.We now turned our attention to the west flood. A drake Pintail was soon found, a Water Rail squealed and, after a further ten minutes searching, we found a few Snipe feeding at the back of the flood. At that point, Chris Bond joined us saying that the Garganey was now showing on the east flood. This would be our 110 th species and would break our previous record which had stood for six years. We retraced our steps and, at 7.49 p.m., duly added Garganey to the list.

Sunset was about 20 minutes away. We had nowhere else to go but the possibilities included either godwit, Ruff, Barn or Little Owl, Kingfisher or Canada Goose. We added nothing, although a wader that flew across the road in the half-light looked more like a Ruff than anything else!

I was relieved more than anything when we got to 110. But had we proved anything? Was an early date a good idea? I think it might have been. We got the full set of ducks at Oare Marshes which a week later had lost Wigeon and Pintail. However, the woodland proved no better and the general lack of migration probably means that this is a theory that will have to be tested again.

My thanks to Andy Taylor for his company, his unfailing good humour and his sharp eye. Thanks also to Mike Gould for his information on the day (a Greenshank here, a dead body there) to Chris Bond for taking us to the station at the end and to Sue Taylor for reuniting me with my car in Clowes Wood.

Roll on 2005!