Oare Creek and Oare Marshes  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 Jetty at low tide
The path alongside Oare Creek is part of the Saxon Shore Way, which runs from Gravesend in Kent to Hastings in East Sussex (163 miles) and traces the coast as it was in Roman times, so is sometimes well inland in areas of reclaimed land like the Romney Marsh. The path was muddy in places, but frozen just below the surface so we didn’t have too many problems staying upright – we didn’t need our Microspikes today.
There are lots of yachts and other small craft moored along the creek, and we saw a few people taking their yachts out for a quick trip to the Swale (the channel separating the Isle of Sheppey from the rest of Kent) at high tide. There are also some sad-looking wrecks abandoned in the creek, and these offer some nice photo opportunities. The only birds we saw in any numbers were Redshanks, most of which were heading off to roost on the reserve as the rising water levels covered their feeding areas on the banks of the creek. When we came to a line of electricity pylons Nigel scanned them for Peregrine Falcons, which often perch on the pylons before setting off to hunt, but all we saw was a rather beautiful female Kestrel.
 Greylag Goose  Shoveler
When we reached the nature reserve we had our big decision – clockwise or anti-clockwise? We decided to head clockwise around the reserve to have an early look at the East Flood, which normally has its maximum number of birds at high tide, when the waders in particular don’t have exposed mudflats to feed upon. Unfortunately the water level in the scrape was very high and there wasn’t much to be seen from the hide. We could see, however, that there were a lot of ducks and coots on the water (and standing on the ice) near the road, and a few photographers too, so we headed across there straight away.
The bright sun was good for showing the beautiful plumage of ducks like Wigeon, Shoveler and Pintail so I spent a while taking some photographs. Unfortunately the opportunities for clear shots were limited because many of the ducks were roosting with their heads tucked under their wings. Then it was time to carry on our walk round the reserve to the sea wall hide, where we stopped for lunch. After warming up with some home made soup and trying in vain to identify birds on the Sheppey side of the Swale, we packed up and headed back along Oare Creek to the car.
 Salt marsh panorama
The photographs in this album include some from previous visits to Oare Marshes nature reserve. I’ve tried to capture the magic of the place – flat marshland next to the sea means the potential for dramatic skies, like we’d seen on a previous visit when we’d sheltered in the sea wall hide from a heavy rain shower and were rewarded with a beautiful rainbow. The other magic comes, of course, from the wildlife, and just after enjoying the rainbow we were treated to wonderful views of a Barn Owl hunting at dusk.
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Just enjoyed your Oare Marshes and your Snowy Sandwich albums ,,, thought you had dropped your buttie at first!!! It was lovely to see your local area again, especially covered in snow which is something of a rarity for you! Hope everything goes well next week. Will be thinking about you. Jill