Today is a lovely sunny day. You may wonder why I keep talking about the weather everyday. It's because here in UK we seldom have glorious weather! Back home in Japan, conversation opener is also weather, but it's quite different. More often than not, something like 'Isn't it so hot today?' or 'It's very humid, isn't it?' So if you live somewhere weather is often nice, you would not share this appreciation of the Sun with us. And You are Lucky!
I am going to write about bird watching Mike and I went on Friday. It is often true that you can see much more activities if you go before your breakfast, but we ignore that; we set off after 8:30.
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| A view from car parking |
We used to go to bird watching more often, once a week, at least. After adding Pearl, the whippet, to our family, we stopped going as she used to pine when she was left behind. Luckily she has grown out of it. We start our dog-free trips again.( you don;t want dogs when you want to see birds, even though you love your doggies so much!)
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| English Nature renamed themselves to NNR (National Nature Reserve) |
Among local bird watchers, Grove Ferry is know as 'Grove'. It was one of our haunts. It is connected to Stodmarsh at the back. But from our house, we could go without crossing busy Canterbury city traffic. Now Grove Ferry is also called Stodmarsh under NNR.
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| A view from a mound. |
In comparison with Stodmarsh, there are definitely less insects, which is a big selling point to me! On this day, we saw Marsh harriers, lots of reed buntings, warblers, tufted ducks, Mute Swans, swifts and swallows. We heard loads of Cetti's warblers, Reed warblers and Sedge warblers. We also enjoy frogs' chorus or competition, too! In the past, we saw bitterns, bearded reedlings, marsh harriers, osprey and many species of wintering waterfowls.
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| A view from a hide |
If you come to Canterbury for a holiday, and love wildlife, why don't you visit Stodmarsh? It is only about 10 minutes from the City centre. Parking is £1 for the day. There is a picnic area too.
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| a path to the river bank |
You can make a short loop walk or go for three hours long loop.
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| Comfrey is towering the river bank |
NNR site - Stodmarsh
NNR site - wildlife at Stodmarsh
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