4, 9 and 10/3/10: Marshes amalgam - more on flooded field birds

After each of the Riverkeeper sessions I took the opportunity to check out the flooded fields by Bob Dunn Way (they're actually just over the London border in the Borough of Dartford, which is in the county of Kent).

Flooded fields looking north to the Thames. Darent Flood Barrier in left distance. (About half of the total flooded area is pictured here).

The Duck species present were largely the same on all three days, but there were masses of gulls on the latter two dates.

The bigger counts were made on the 10th when I ventured part way up Bob Dunn Way, as well as along the Cray embankment, and was therefore able to survey the whole site.

On this last date there were:

17 Lapwing
circa 32 Teal
15 Gadwall
7 or 8 Shoveler
4 Shelduck

There were also two squat, shortish-billed waders, and a couple of longer-legged ones which had a white belly, a white tail showing in flight, and may have been some kind of Sandpiper (this is where my birding skills start to fall apart).

22 Starlings flew over Bob Dunn Way and a solitary Little Egret was foraging in the large shallow pond south of this highway, before it crosses Dartford Creek and near the end of Sandpit Rd.