The sun is shining (again!) and the frogs are croaking. Yesterday saw the arrival of hundreds of Sand Martins and several flocks of Swifts. Two Hobbies were seen zooming around and three Marsh Harriers were noted. Today the Whimbrel flock has reached 13 with birds sitting on their regular high tide posts just out from the Purfleet Visitor Centre and a Spotted Redshank dropped in in his sooty summer finery. Whitethroats

Feels like I have been up forever! Yes I know it is my weekend off but I could not resist an early morning visit (0430) to the edges of the reserve. Several reeling Grasshopper Warblers have been heard this week. Unfortunately most are in restricted areas (sorry folks!) but a couple are audible from public areas. The area of marsh adjacent to the reserve, just south of Rainham C2C station (Rainham North) is currently…

that a pair of Rainham Lapwings have hatched their first chick...

Big smiles all round ;o)

No, I am not at Rainham today but that has not stopped the phone from ringing about all the exciting birds that have been seen on the marsh today. Garganey, Whimbrel, Greenshank and Spotted Redshank have all been discovered along with a flyover Goshawk and the first singing Nightingale for two years.  A Large Red Damselfly was seen on Thursday and the Marsh Frogs are definitely in full croak mode now.  Nine species of butterfly…

The last week has been quite strange at Rainham with clear blue skies and no evidence of non-feathered air travel anywhere to be seen. It made trying to point out passing buzzards and the odd peregrine difficult with no reference points to get visitors onto. A hobby has been seen today over the Silt Lagoons.

We are now back to normal with a ski full of crisscrossing vapour trails and white fluffy clouds. At least there…

The last few days have remained cold and windy but by lunchtime today that pesky northerly had been replaced by a slightly warmer easterly. Hopefully this will continue to swing round so that we can have a southerly over the weekend, allowing all this summer's migrants tied up on the continent to make it across the sea. Today has seen a few more Sand Martins and Swallows on the move and a Yellow Wagtail was with our…

With the wind swinging round to the north east we have lost that little touch of spring time that we had in the middle of last week. A Whimbrel was new in on the foreshore today and a single Grey Plover called mournfully over the marsh at high tide. Two Sand Martins and a Swallow were the only sign of onward migrant movement. Unsurprisingly no butterflies today!

Two nice days on the trot!  No sign of yesterdays Black-winged Stilt but more Whitethroats, Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs singing. The Great Spotted Woodpeckers are still  excavating their hole in the chestnuts and a Buzzard drifted north. A Grasshopper Warbler was heard reeling early this morning. Hopefully it will attract a mate.

Today saw the arrival of yet another amazing bird with a ridiculouly leggy Black-winged Stilt elegantly strutting around on the pools infront of the centre all day. This rare visitor from the Med certainly brightened up our day. It had spent the previous day on the Isle of Wight before touching down with us. This is the second time that this species has been seen here with the last being as long ago 1997. I have posted…

Sunshine!  A glorious morning with some warmth in the air!

A fine drake garganey and a female ring ouzel have got the day off to a fine start!

Morning all

A busy weekend on the reserve with some good birds and lots of visitors. A Hoopoe paid a brief visit for a few hours on Sunday evening and we managed to arrange access for everyone on the site as it was in an area normally off limits.

Hoopoe by Barry Jackson

Unfortunately it was not around on Monday despite searching. Migrants were still very thin on the ground although the first House Martins were blown…

sorry, forgot to add that we have several up and coming soring time events:

• Meet The Voles guided walk  - Sunday 11 April 11am - 2pm
• Be a Better Photographer guided walks - Saturday 24 10am-1pm and Friday 14 May 1pm-4pm.  There are only 10 places available on each of these new walks so please book early if you are interested. Dawn Chorus Sunday 16 and Sunday 23 May -  4am start!
• Dusk Walk Thursday 27 7pm- 10pm
• Insect…

Morning all on Easter Sunday.

A better day weather wise yeaterday but still migrants are thin on the ground. A Sedge Warbler thought about singing but decided to stay in the reeds but our resident Cetti's Warblers were making lots of noise and several visitors got excellent views. A flock of 33 Golden Plover came in at high tide along with 17 Curlews and a few Redshank and four Short-eared Owls were seen at the west…

Happy Easter everyone. We have been pretty busy today with lots of visitors turning up for the Easter Eggstavaganza treasure hunt. This will be running every day until 18th April. No need to book. Just turn up and join in £1.50 for Wildlife Explorers and £3 for non-members.

A few birds on the move today with five Swallows and two Sand Martins hedaing north and four Wheatears on the river wall. The pair of…