Cliffe -January '06

January sees the reserve in the depths of winter with the wintering flocks of waders ducks usually at their peak.

Dabbling duck species such as teal, wigeon, shoveler, mallard, gadwall and pintail can be seen on the lagoons and northern pools with numbers reaching the low thousands in wet winters. The dabblers are joined by hundreds of diving duck, principally pochard, and tufted duck, with smaller numbers of goldeneye plus the occasional scaup.

The lagoons also support good numbers of little egrets & grebes, the resident little and great-crested grebes are regularly joined by red-necked, black-necked and slavonian grebes and the odd diver. Watch out too for kingfishers along the southern edges of the main lagoons.

However, the main winter bird spectacle is provided when birds move off the Thames mud-flats to roost on the pools whilst their feeding grounds are covered. Species like redshank, black-tailed godwit, grey and ringed plover can number in their hundreds with up to 1100 lapwing and 4000 dunlin noted so far this winter (December 05). Seeing these species wheeling over the reserves lagoons in their thousands is arguably the reserves bird spectacle of the year. The western end of the Flamingo Pool (next to Cliffe Creek and north of the Saxon Shoreway footpath that bisects the reserve) is the best place to see the dunlin roost this year. The lapwing are divided between the main lagoons.

A good range of wintering raptors can be seen in the area including hen and marsh harrier, merlin and peregrine plus all 5 owl species.

Finally other wintering birds include a range of passerines including flocks of fieldfares, and redwings, skylarks, meadow pipits and a variety of finches, primarily chaffinch, goldfinch and linnet plus reed and the occasional corn bunting, most of which favour the seed-rich weedy areas of the reserve and surrounding marshes.

Suitable birding high tides (taken from Medway Tide Tables)

Watch from 1 hour either side of high tide.

1/1; 13.28

2/1; 14.16

3/1; 15.05

4/1; 15.55

10/1; 09.04

11/1; 10.13

12/1; 11.14

13/1; 12.07

14/1; 12.51

15/1; 13.31

16/1; 14.07

17/1; 14.40

18/1; 15.13

19/1; 15.46

25/1; 08.01

26/1; 09.21

27/1; 10.33

28/1; 11.36

29/1; 12.30

30/1; 13.20

31/1; 14.07

Recent highlights.

4/1; 1 female marsh harrier, 235 coot, 1230 lapwing, 1 green sandpiper, 40 redshank, 1 knot.

16/1; 11 goldeneye, 770 lapwing, 185 grey plover, 5 curlew, 2 greenshank, 1400 dunlin

19/1; 1 little egret, 60 greylag geese, 168 teal, 56 shoveler, 20 goldeneye (inc. 4 drakes) 252 coot, 85 adult great black-backed gulls, 1 kingfisher, c.80 fieldfare, c.55 corn bunting.

25/1; 165 little grebe, 340 teal, 75 shoveler, 12 pintail, 1 greenshank, 26 corn bunting.