At the moment we have had quite a few Whinchats passing through the marsh and sometimes they can be quite approachable as they perch up on wires to look for an insect snack. In these pictures youo will see the big pale supercillium (the stripe above the eye) and the white patches at the tail sides that separate this species from the Stonchats that will arrive in October for the winter.

Matthew Foakes

Brenda …

Yesterday was a beautiful day with a light easterly wind, high cloud and lots of blue!  Perfect for raptor watching and the crew watched the skies from 11am-3.30pm and managed to find an impressive 14 Common Buzzards and five juvenile Marsh Harriers on their way south as well as numerous sightings of Hobby, Kestrel, Peregrine and Sparrowhawk.  Visitors along the river wall part of the reserve were amazed to see these big…

Somehow the rain held off till the very end yesterday and we enjoyed a great session out bugging in the woodland. Some great stuff was found including countless Garden Orb Weavers, two Wasp Spiders, a Pine Ladybird, some Heineken flies, Noon Day Fly, Dock Leatherbugs, Common Darters, Crab Spiders, a tiny weevil, an even tinier Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner Moth, both Hedge Snails and dashing Migrant Hawkers.

Everyone had a…

Spent yesterday evening after work down on RSPB West Canvey Marshes where the team were holding a screening of Avatar out on the marsh! Just had to post to say that it was a truly fantastic event with 400 people, a huge inflatable screen, great sound, magnificent atmosphere with the sun setting, a full moon rising and cold rain clearing to starry skies.

Awesome... and well done to the whole South Essex Team (staff and…

Another good day on the reserve with over 50 Yellow Wagtails still around and others moving over along with nearly 50 Siskins and a few Meadow Pipits. Our second Osprey in two days livened things up as it headed across the reserve and down river at aboy 1.30pm and an adult Hobby obliged on a post on Purfleet Scrape. Fifteen Arctic Terns were seen including a flock of 13 that came in high from the North.

Jonathan Wasse…

Found this beauty today!  Still out there and making noise....

Another great evening was had by all. It was warm and sultry with lots of flying critters and as such more bat encounters than you could throw the proverbial stick at although being in the centre meant that I had to be content with hearing everyone else having a good time over the radios with a plethera of chips and plips over the airwaves! The same species were picked as as last week with the three big ones (Leislers…

A good visible passage day with lots of Yellow Wagtails, 8 Wheatear, 2 Whinchat, and quite a few finches on the move including our first Siskins and Lesser Redpoll of the season.  However the highlight was undoubtedly the Osprey that headed down river at about 2pm!

Brenda got some shots as it circled over the river.

With the wind still howling, it was good to find a quiet spot out of the gale. The local Red Admirals had also found it and over 30 were seen in a 200 yard stretch where they were feeding on Field Scabious, Bristly Ox Tongue and Wall Rocket. A few Whites and a Comma were also seen along with good numbers of the rare Shrill Carder Bee at at least five species of Hoverfly including the wondrous Heineken Fly with it long…

After yesterday's ragingstorm in the south west brought literally 1000's of seabirds close in shore, it was not that surprising that something unexpected should appear on the river today. At anout 1145 Kev Jarvis on the south side of the Thames picked up a Manx Shearwater on the river as it drifted out with six Great Black-backed Gulls in eager attendance. Everyone on the reserve got great views as it bobbed down…

Just a quick plug for other stuff on the reserve this Friday...

Be a better photographer walk - Digital SLR Users at 12pm and

Optics and digi-scoping day-TRY and BUY

The latter will run all day and is an excellent opportunity for your to try our the latest Viking and RSPB optics from the comfort of the visitor centre.

Last friday saw our first Bat & Moth Night of September and it was up to its usual high standards with lots of contact and some sightings of Common and Soprano Pipistrelle, Leisler's, Serotine, Noctule and Daubenton's!

There are still places available on the walks on the next three Fridays so please give us a ring on 01708 899 850 to book your place!

They also caught some good moths and as we have no photos…

And Ron Weasel once again proves that he is a show off by appearing in front of Andrew Campbell on the 31st, allowing him to get this superb shot!

Who you looking at??

The wardening team and some of the volunteers have been out on Aveley Pools and The Shooting Butts Scrape this week attacking the bristly ox tongue and thistles with the brush cutters in preparation of the coming autumn. Hopefully this will start to attract in some more waders and wildfowl!  Will keep you posted!

Thanks to John Ainsworth for the shot of Jamie in action!

Pretty close by the looks of things!

A family moment - David Bradnum

Matthew Foakes getting the low down again...

And pretending to be a Komodo Dragon! - Mark Hart

Well, Barry Jackson managed to capture this beauty stalking mega-tadpoles on Thursday and watched it catch, subdue and swallow it prey!  There is also some video which I will load soon which is even more amazing!

What a gorgeous day with warm sun and no wind. Thirteen Buzzards were our reward for skywatching and the Hobbies performed very well indeed!

Fred Roll got some great shots!

In for the kill... NB: the insect is in the bottom left hand corner!

Tasty!

'ave you got a problem??'  Up close and personal with one of our enigmatic Lizards!

(Matthew Foakes)

Alex Blackman managed these wonderful shots of a Painted Lady. Pretty sure that she (not Alex) had just come out of the cosmetics department of Boots to look as fabulous as that!

It has been a good month for Ruby Tail Wasps on the marsh and these tiny glowing jewels can be found anywhere but are seemingly best looked for near walls and such like so the entrance to the Cordite Store of the Brick Building with John Chandler's mural on it are good places to look. But, remember they are tiny and hyperactive so good luck!

Brenda Clayton

Mark Hart