STRANGE WONDERS

Sheppey can be a strange world. Being an island, there are some oddities here. There are no moles and no badgers, for example, but most peculiar of all there is a colony of thousands of yellow-tailed scorpions in a south-facing wall at Sheerness Docks, once a Royal Navy Dockyard. The 5cm long scorpions, which are believed to have arrived on ships in the 19th century, will only sting if goaded, but are regarded as no more venomous than bees, though they can be dangerous for people who are young, elderly or frail.

For Steve, though, the jewel in the crown of Sheppey is the birds. “It’s not so much that I don’t go looking for other kinds of wildlife, it’s just that you can birdwatch anywhere, pretty much while you’re doing anything.”

A favourite spot is the Capel Fleet Raptor Viewpoint in the east of the island. A vantage point on the road to Harty Ferry, Capel Fleet is a great place to get out your long lens, telescope or binoculars and scan