Our swathe of lilac Opium Poppies in the Wildlife Garden are only open so briefly before they quickly get pollinated, the petals drop and the seed ripens. Tony Houston timed it just right to capture them at their very best.

17-6-12

Now, most people associate moths with the night and those in the know have perhaps heard about day flying species such as Tiger, Burnet and Cinnabar Moths but we also have several species of beautiful day flying long horn moths, so named for their incredibly long antennae. All are tiny and have a metallic sheen to their scales which allows them to shine as they dance in the dappled light of woodland glades and clearings…

With floating nests, our Little Grebes seem to have been faring better than most with the wet conditions and we are now entering the time of year when baby grebes start to appear in every ditch! Jerry got these amazingly inimate shots on Thursday and must have been lying down on the boardwalk to get them!

Mum and young family

Stripy Humbugs...

In recent weeks we have seen a Barn Owl in the late afternoon or evening hunting the river wall area before heading back past the car park carrying prey.  Not sure where they nesting but it looks like there is a pair in addition to our traditional 100% notcurnal Owl box pair using the reserve! Great news!

(Brenda Clayton)

16-6-12

 

Despite the inclement forecast for the weekend it is now looking possible that the sun may shine tomorrow afternoon and we may actually be able to get out on the Insect Afternoon Walk at 1pm.  Hopefully it will be warm enough to encourage all the critters to show themselves.  If you have not booked, no worries, just turn up as there are still about ten places left!   Not sure about the Dragons and Damsels walk on Sunday yet…

This male Pied Wagtail was having a break between collecting food for what I would suspect would be a second brood.  Starting to lose some of his 'piedness' now but still a smart little bird.  I liked the composition with all the angles and lines on the fences.

15-6-12

 

Just noticed how bad my spelling was and have made appropriate corrections!

Not really that surprising but with days of full on rain, water levels across the site we have once again risen quickly. On a plus point the Flowering Rush that caused so many problems last year has been kurbed somewhat by the higher levels although we are keeping an eye on it incase it makes a dash for it once again!

We shall be tweaking water levels in the coming days to make sure that there are still muddy areas and…

Pleased to say that both families of Mute Swans still have their full broods of six and seven and the white Polish youngster is doing well with his grey siblings.  The third pair are stil on their second attempt nest and another brood of six has been found out on Wennington.

14-6-12

On Sunday a new brood of Lapwing chicks was discovered infront of the Butts Hide. Thankfully and despite the appalling rain of the last two days all four are still alive and well and judging from the week they have had with cow near misses and rising waters they are just lucky to have hatched when they did!

Mike Hughes took these wonderful images yesterday

13-6-12

With the soil hopefully arriving later this week it was imperative that the clearance of the pond continued. Terry and Mark Hart both came in today and did a sterling job and pond dipping the remaining waters so that as much live as possible can be transfered to the perimeter ditch. Amongst the critters ccaught today were.....

Smooth Newt

Water Scorpion

Damsefly nymph

Soldier Fly larvae... species unknown…

The first in a series of posts highlighting some of the rarer birds that have graced Rainham Marshes over the year.....

Keith Noble was a young birder out on Rainham Marshes in the 1970's (before he became an RSPB member of staff)  and very kindly sent me a scan of his sketch of one of the rarest birds ever to have been seen in the UK. The bird in question was a Western Sandpiper and to this date there have still only…

Not sure where they went when the waters rose but our Little Ringed Plovers are back in front of the Butts Hide and there is even a chance that they may make a second breeding attempt. I do hope so.

(Denis Tuck)

Following on from our 'Things in the Pond' images the other day, Jerry Hoare sent me some cracking shots of another huge Horse Leech actually feasting on a snail that it attacked on the top of the floating Azola bed in the ditch by the Troll Bridge. Never seen one actually doing something before!

 

Great Pond Snail having a really bad day....

10-6-12

A brief interlude of sunshine this morning saw me outside taking some arty flower shots!

Field Poppies

Yellow Flag

Thrift

Unripe Strawberry

Opium Poppy

Scabious

Foxglove

Borage

In H&S terms this is a reportable incident of something that could have been nasty if disaster had not been averted and the Fates intervened...

So here is Mrs Lapwing once again sitting tight outside the Butts Hide, protecting her eggs from the cold damp June weather...

(Denis Tuck)

and here she is moments later desparetly and successfully making sure that the cow did not make scrambled eggs out of her nest!

…

The RSPB are also about to embark on the next phase of the study into London’s House Sparrows and we need your help. Follow the links below for more information and links to forms.

Help London’s house sparrows and take part in the RSPB Cockney Sparrow Count 18 June to 12 July! In the summer of 2002 the GLA and RSPB launched the ‘Where have all the sparrows gone’ survey, which asked residents of London to tell us…

Another windy day but at least no rain but alas no sight or sound of the Marsh Warbler today.  I still have hope that the bird is still there though!

One more ship today with the rear-end paddle steamer motoring east over the high tide.

(Janet Cassell)

9-6-12

With the wind and rain howling around us we made a salvage attempt on the pond which had dropped even further over night. With help from Tel and Mark Hart we managed to remove and bag up the once beautiful waterlillies, water soldier and literally sacks of pond weed. This will all be collected today and re homed in other local garden ponds as well as at the new reserve at Stow Maries Aerodrome . I also took the decision…

Horray! A Tall Ship in the rain to brighten any day....

7-6-12

 

Who would have thought that there was anymore rain left to fall on England this Spring and Summer? But the early spots this morning have turned into a steady heavy downpour yet again and you can almost feel the waters rising once more.

Apart from lots of birds having baths and a couple of Starling-murdering Magpies it has been a fairly uneventful day with not even a nice boat to talk about!

On the plus side the Marsh…

Ok.... early start this morning to erect some fencing by the Marsh Warbler.  Hopefully this will deter any further incursions and quite simply the Police will be informed if anyone does so.... enough said.

Again everyone impeccably well behaved today and the bird even showed well on a couple of occasions. Was singing very well again and has added some more to the repertoire since the weekend....

The list now stands…

Thought it was safer to call them that rather than calling them ships when they are boats and boats when they are ships!

Anyway, lots of the flotilla emerging from up City over the last two days.  Shame the weather has not revealed them in their full glory but at least the Wherries and Thames Barges have largely been under sail. Great stuff! the race between the two Tall Ships was fantastic with the larger blue one rapidly…

Apologies for my rant a little while ago... needed to be said.

Anyway.... a nice cock Linnet in his breeding finery to make me (and you hopefully!) smile!

Nice one Basil!