On the 11th Buzzard made it onto the Rainham yearlist with this adult bird heading steadily south across the river. Gave everything a fright and cleared all the duck off of Purfleet Scrape! They probably thought that it was the Marsh Harrier who is developing a penchant for Teal at the moment!

Nice shots by Brenda Clayton

Dawn Cowan sent me a couple of images of a 'funny' finch from Sunday. Much to my delight it was a Lesser Redpoll and it was actually coming right down to the 'catapult' feeder in the woodland. Great stuff!

...is the Grey Wagtail.  Just pure magic! Brenda got this shot on Monday. I would normally expect them to be a daily bird this time of year but they have been very scarce so far this winter.

After the frustration of the 11 Tundra Bean Geese flying on by on Sunday morning it was good to hear that six Dark-bellied Brent Geese did make it over the wall yesterday (16th) and spent the afternoon grazing quite contentedly on the short grass around the new pools. Fourteen more were seen heading up river.

A family party - Brenda Clayton

Another fantastic sunset and as promised for the couple from Buckinghamshire some warming shots to finish off the day.

A fabulous day with heaps of visitors and continual sunshine, Two male Goldeneye on the river were a bonus and a single Great Crested Grebe was seen. The male Marsh Harrier decided to go hunting on the south side of the Thames today and the Bearded Tits showed to only a lucky few.

Reed Bunting ... by me

Another wonderful morning on the reserve and already some goodies to report with the Marsh Harrier over Wennington and four Brent Geese on the river. A frantic call from John Archer upriver at Crossness had me scanning outside for the arrival of 11 Tundra Bean Geese. They duly appeared about five minutes later but lost height and did not see the lovely wet marsh and so continued out of the river with a much larger Co…

The Peregrines were due a rest after all their morning exersions and Pete Merchant captured him watching him intently from the pylons earlier today!

Given how erratically our Bearded Tits appear out on the trails it is quite amazing to think that the Kids Birdwatching Club have now seen them four months on the trot!  And today the kids all got superb shots as a pair fed at close range in the reeds.

Stunning shots by Brandon Anderson

Sam Garland

Calvin Garland

Matthew Foakes

This morning's Caspian Gull was photographed by Pete Merchant as it skated around on the first ice of the year. Not a particularly big individual and I suspect that it is a new bird. A little earlier Shetland Wildlife posted on Facebook about a huge influx of Iceland Gulls into the Northern Isles with over 30 around Shetland alone. I reposnded to their post asking if they could send one this way and that I would happily…

At last a truly cold day with a thick frost, ice on the pools, still air and special effect fog thrown in for good measure. Peregrines have been on fine form, using the mist to sneak up on the Lapwings and an adult Caspian Gull has been showing from the Butts Hide this morning so a good start to the Gull ID Day!

I have also just heard that the Bearded Tits have been seen and given the calm conditions they should be quite…

and a taster of Caspian Gulls seen on the landfill site in the last week or so!

The Ukrainian bird. 

The Polish bird. Check out Dominic Mitchell's blog for more info on recent gulling!

The choices this morning were stop and get some breakfast or divert and take some more sunrise shots....

Been up in Norfolk for the weekend visiting our wonderful reserves in the Yare and Bure Valleys.  More of that to come but first a five day round up from the reserve.

Friday 6th: Snow Bunting, 3 Caspian Gull, Green Sandpiper, Chiffchaff, Spotted Redshank, 240 Black-tailed Godwits

Saturday 7th: Kittiwake, Bearded Tits,

Sunday 8th:  Marsh Harrier, 100 Golden Plover, Red Kite, Water Rail, Bearded Tits

Monday 9th: 6 Kittiwakes…

Another dawn sensation...

Glorious day, wonderful sunshine, no wind, no rain!  Jim Smith found a female Snow Bunting along the river wall this morning but it got disturbed by dog walkers and probably moved onto the landfill site. Lots of peregrine activity in and out of the Lapwing flocks and the Golden Plover were cuising around in spangly 'V's. Early this morning there were 240 Black-tailed Godwits feeding along the foreshore at low tide…

Just a quick plug for a non-RSPB Gull ID day on this Saturday. This is being run by Andy Lawson in conjunction with the Kent Ornithological Society. Meet on the river wall outside the visitor centre at 0930 before heading to the west end of the reserve to spend the morning checking through the gulls on the landfill site from the Barges carpark before heading back to the centre for a post lunchtime look at the gulls out…

Once again we got severely battered by the intense winds and driving rain and we focused our attention on the river where there was a constant stream of 1000's of gull moving up the Thames and feeding in the rough waters mid-channel. Amongst them throng of mainly Black-headed Gulls were 100's of Commons, 8 Yellow-legged Gulls and four Kittiwakes. Always a good bird to get on the year list so early! The Peregr…

Was up on the silt lagoons first thing this morning in the hope of seeing a Short-eared Owl but it was a bit windy so I stayed for the amazing sunrise.

Well worth the wait...

Sorry! Meant to post earlier but yes we are open today!  All water back on and centre fully functioning!  Reserve is looking very wet and the wildfowl have spread out today. No great increase but Pintail are up to 12 and the Teal are no feeding in the open with gangs of yellow bums up in the air as they graze on the short grass.

Peregrines were fantastic today with several sightings and some great stooping while the female…

You would not have thought that the weather could have got any worse this morning but a ferocious squall came through at about 12 and literaly shook the building, so much so that the class room partition pinged open... not funny at all!

The sole birder out on site made it back safely and then the rest of theday was taken out of our hands by the Water Board who came in to say that they had to mend a nearby burst main…

I doubt very much that there will be anything in the way of cracking shots from the reserve today so have this gorgeous shot of a Carrion Crow sunning itself in the warm glow of yesterday! Fat chance today!

(Mark Hart)

Just 24 little hours...

Well, yesterday, 2nd January, turned out to be a glorious one with blue skies and little wind to disrupt the day. As such we had a record day in the cafe and with visitors heading out onto the reserve. Makes a change for me to have a day off on one of these!  Birdwise it was fairly quiet though with only a Merlin to add to the 81 from the 1st.

Today on the other hand is mind bogglingly aweful…

Another gloomy day but still mild and my guesstimate on the number of species that could be seen today was 80 and indeed, we are currently on that exact number at 1pm.  Still time for one or two more but quite hard going. The Bearded Tits have been performing admirably and the immature male Marsh Harrier has dropped back in.

Full list to come at the end of the day! 

H ;o)

4.15pm update...........  must have put the mockers…