Our Greylag and Canada Goose flocks are increasing as the weeks go by and amongst then there are usually some oddities like the regular returning Greylag with a white facial blaze like a White-fronted Goose, the one with the huge white belly and another with white wings while two hybrids of the two species are also always present. They look more like Canadas than Greylags so you can either call them Canlags or Granadas…

Brian Churches got some great footage of our Ruff on Saturday.  Enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch

Curlews have been increasing in the last few years at RSPB Rainham Marshes and over a big high tide we sometimes get over 30 birds as they get displaced from their local feeding sites. They do not feed in big groups like Dunlin and Redshank and are quite happy all on their tod, probing the mud with their incredibly long bills.

The females have even longer bills than the males allowing them to extract prey that the males…

Last Tuesday the new Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior III headed up the river past the centre in the early morning gloom and murk with the traditional flotilla of inflatable outriders. An imposing vessel at 190 feet long with two enormous A-frame masts. Sorry that the pic is not great but the light was truly appauling!

Now I am not going to get into any emotive discussion about what to do about Ring-necked Parakeets but Brenda took this lovely shot of a female in the wildlife garden last week. We see them every day heading north in the morning to feed and frolic around Upminster, Hornchurch, Aveley and the Stifford Clays area before heading back off to Hither Green Cemetery in Lewisham, south of the Thames, every night. I am pretty…

Could not resist the sky this evening......

The fence posts have now been removed from around the back of of the piece of scrape immediately in front of the Purfleet Hide and today Norman Sills has been out measuring levels in final prepartion for the diggers to start excavating tomorrow morning!

Me again.... I hope than many of you will have mamged to film something today for the great Britain in a Day project.  For more info check out the BBC home page for the links.  I filmed a few bits out on the reserve today including our very busy Kids Birdwatching Club event but can not upload it from work for some reason!  Will try soon and get back to you...

Anyway, we had a great walk and managed to see a pair of Peregrines…

Two Ruffs have been seen over the last two days outside the Ken Barrett Hide. Both are male birds and seem completely unpeturbed by the admirers in the hide! Ringed birds seen at Rainham over the yeasr have prooved that our wintering Ruff all come from Holland and rather than fly to Madagascar (!!) they choose to spend their down time in Blighty!

Shots by Mark Hart

Been trying to get my hands on this photo for a while .....

It speaks volumes for the lengths to which RSPB staff will go to meet famous TV naturalists....

When a visitor shouted 'What's that being chased by the crows?!' at lunchtime I looked up and saw a big raptor with a banded tail and white rump hurtle past the window of the centre. I shouted ringtail Hen Harrier and ran round like a mad thing trying to get everyone onto it. 

Some valuable lessons learnt

1. I should have grabbed some bins and had a closer look!
2. ALWAYS wear bins when at work... no excus…

On Saturday a Wheatear was still to be found feeding along the foreshore. It must like it here! Obviously the charms of a long flight, crossing mountains, seas and deserts does not appeal to this little chat!

www.youtube.com/watch

A nice little film by Brian Churches

Redwings and Fieldfares are dribbling in now in small numbers and Mark Hart got some good shots in the cordite woodland as they fed on the haws.

If you go out side at night at the moment moment you may hear Redwings heading over in the dark. The thin 'tssip' call is quite distintive and you may also hear the similar calls of migrant Song Thrushes and the soft 'chook' of Blackbirds.  I suspect that many…

With water levels now favourable for waders to roost up on Aveley Pools, we have seen a huge increase in the number of Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits over the last week and over 300 have been seen over high tide.

Les Harrison captured these amazing images at the weekend.

Sorry for the few days quiet!  Plenty to be seen out on the marsh with the easterly and northerly winds and waders have still been arriving in good numbers. A Wheatear was still about on Saturday 5th.

• 5^th November: 3 Short-eared Owl, 101 Black-tailed Godwit, 51 Golden Plover, 2 Curlew, 56 Redshank, 258 Dunlin, 12 Dark-bellied Brent Goose, 9 Shelduck, 255 Teal, 69 Shoveler, m Pintail, 4 Gadwall, 134 Stock Dove, Rock…

Many of you may have seen the media coverage of yet another new proposal for a Thames transport hub on the Isle of Grain in N Kent – to include a four runway international airport. This proposal if it ever became a reality would be a disaster for the wildlife and people of N Kent. Mark Reckless MP for Rochester and Strood, is against these plans, and has on line poll on his website. It is quick and easy to do – the …

I was lucky enough to be invited to the Ghosts of Gone Birds preview last night in central London. Now, I am somewhat of a traditionalist when it comes to my appreciation of art but last night my eyes were well and truly opened by this amazing display of interpretative passion for both those birds we have already lost (and there are many) and those who are on the brink that we may still save (Albatrosses and Spoon-billed…

Like it or not we have Foxes on the reserve and they are looking in fine fettle at the moment. Lets hope that we can keep them outside the fence again!

(Mark Hart)