As promised here are some of my flowers from my walk yesterday evening...

Enjoy!

Bindweed

Bramble

Chicory

Dog Rose

Great Willowherb

Common Knapweed

Perforate St John's Wort

Red Clover

White Clover

6-7-12

One of the disadvantages of living in the Medway Towns and working at Rainham Marshes is having to negotiate the QEII Bridge and Tunnel every day. As such getting back south of the river last night was tricky and I aborted mission and headed back to the reserve. I have not got out in a few weeks now and so an hour spent walking the trails was most revitalising!  There had obviously been a mass emergence of Ruddy Darte…

On 28th June this Lancaster Bomber flew over the reserve. Dawn Cowan took these great shots of what is apparently the last one in the air.  Shame I was in Cornwall!

Our Lapwing brood around by the Butts Hide are almost feldged now and Pat Hart got some footage of them last week on his new toy!

Nice to have some success in a season when so many birds lost their nest to flooding..

www.youtube.com/watch

6-7-12

With waders returning earlier that we expected with an surprising 18 species in June, we have already begun lowering the water levels in preparation for passage birds dropping in for a refuel. Nicole and Dhruti pumped out the back section of Purfleet Scrape yesterday and flooded the adjacent meadow leaving a wonderfully shallow, muddy lagoon that four Little Egrets and two Grey Herons had already discovered by the time…

A nice early morning present with a supurb adult Spoonbill complete with yellow on the throat and bill tip and a big shaggy crest on the head.  Needlesstoday it spent most of its time asleep but ocasionally put its head up for a preen. Seventeen Lapwings and a the large Great Crested Grebe chick were also seen along with the brood of Tufted Ducks and four Common Terns.

Images by Andy Tweed

Still present at 1110…

Ever looked at a Woodpigeon real close?  Apart from being fantastic looking birds with more colours than you would give them credit for, they also often (but not always) have very peculiar eyes...

(Stunning shot by Basil Thornton)

They often seem to have a distorted lower section to the pupil almost like the yoke of a black egg has been pierced. 

So this is the bit where I tell you why? 

Want to bet! 

I honestly do…

A break in the rain allowed a few butterflies to emerge as the atcual air temperture has been quite good...at least in the sheltered Cordite Store Woodland.

Large Skipper (Brenda Clayton)

Large Skipper (Jonathan Wasse)

Large Skipper (Mark Hart)

Speckled Wood (Jonathan Wasse)

Comma (Dawn Cowan)

Ringlet (Mark Hart)

One or two Meadow Browns and Small Heaths have been seen andRed Admiral, Small Skippers…

Basil Thornton captured the best shots yet of our semi-resident immature male Marsh Harrier. He has been seen quartering most days recently with frogs being high on list of easy catches. There are still signs of immaturity in his wings and tail with the odd barred primary still present, patchy grey secondaries and a similar mix of old and new feathers in the tail. Nice yellow eyes though now.

4-7-12

With wader breeding season over for another year we have let the cattle back onto Purfleet Scrape to help curb the now rampant vegetation. They look like they are having fun and have been joined by hoards of noisy young Starlings eager to find juicy insects in the tall grass.

 3-7-12

Lots of caterpillars out on the trails now with many large Drinker and Oak Eggar cats on the move and as mentioned the other day look our for the ever growing Emperorcats in the brambles. They are still black and orange at the moment but it will not be long before they shed into glorious green and pink.  Check out the verbascum in the wildlife garden and the wild mullein along the woodland trail for the equally striking…

(Pete Jackson)

This little chap must have read the sign!

Although not overly unexpected it was good to add White-letter Hairstreak to the Rainham Marshes butterfly list. This largely arboreal species is doing well locally and we have often hoped that our small patch of remnant Elm scrub would eventually drag one in from the surrounding countryside. Hopefully this will be the start of a small colony here as as happened with Green Hairstreak over the last three years.

Chris…

If you go down in the woods today.... keep a look out for Nursery Web Spiders basking on flat leaves.  They lay in wait for passing prey and then leap forward and grab it. You may be forgiven for thinking that they have only got six legs but this species habitually rests with the front two pairs of legs alongside each other. They get their name from the habit of creating a cocoon in which the eggs are laid that is then…