I took this from Martin Harper's (the RSPB's Conservation Director) blog - it says it all!

This weekend, the Prime Minister and his counterparts in the devolved administrations will make decisions that will have huge consequences for the UK countryside.

The RSPB's Chief Executive, Dr Mike Clarke, has written to Mr Cameron outlining the choice he faces and urges him to make the right decision for the future of…

Deep in our reedbeds there live more Water Rails tat you caould posibly imagine... Dave Mo has 12 the other morning on an early circuit but I wonder how many more of this largely crepuscular Moorehen cousin there are out there?

The same number of Cetti's Warblers were also encountered although seeing them is even more troublesome and more often than not all you get is an explosive burst of shouty song or a series of…

The lingering fog of the last few days has certainly given us some amazing Turneresque skies of an evening

And it has also made seeing the White-fronted Geese a little tricky. They were up at Belhus Woods CP today for a while but headed back onto the reserve in the afternoon. Russ Sherriff got some good shots infront of the Butts Hide on Tuesday.

A single Woodcock was seen by Jerry H on his opening up circuit…

I have had to learn to enunciate quite carefully in recent days, especially to those without a huge amount of birding knowledge.

'Oh... the White Fronts are showing again on the Butts Scrape' says I

'Excuse me young man but is there someone on the marsh in his underwear?'  says a first time visitor popping in for tea and cake with her friend...

Thanks to Bob Cooper for the shot of the duo with the…

An old country name for the Mistle Thrush that was reputed to sing portentously at the brewing of bad weather... here at Rainham they are actually quite scarce with a couple of pairs around the periphery where the can sometimes be found singing from the pylons. I saw a pair on Purfleet Scrape a few days ago and Jim Willett got this evocative shot yesterday morning.

11-12-13

The Marsh Harriers were magnificent today with some interesting sparring going on bewteen the pair. Looks like the bonding process is well underway and tumbling and talon grappling is a good sign...

Nicely captured by Bob Cooper.. You can see how much bigger than he she is!

Tom Bell saw a Buzzard being harrassed by the Crows but despite searching Dave Morrison could not find the dropped green ring bearing leg…

A relatively quiet month but no real winter movement in mild westerly conditions but a Merlin that arrived on the 6^th was seen well on several dates while the Arctic Skua reappeared on the 1^st. The 6^th also saw a Barnacle Goose arrive and spend a couple of weeks with the Canadas. Wader numbers stayed static with about 180 Black-tailed Godwits, two  Avocet, Spotted Redshank and a single Ruff among the Lapwing, Golden Plover…

Our various obliging Kestrels have been doing what they do best  in recent days and Les Harrison and Rachael Webb have got some great shots...

Les got very close to Kes One-Eye the young male who seems to be coping very well indeed

and this is one of the females ... with two eyes!

Meanwhile Rachael got this atmospheic shot of her hovering with the Lapwings behind

and a slightly more undignified shot as…

I know I keep going on about them but everynight we get a good one it seem more epic than the last.... tonight was no exception...

and the last one by James of me talking about Rainham Sunsets with two first time visitors....

8-12-13

Had a nice walk out yesterday with the Kids Birdwatching Club. Plenty of aerial action with the Peregrines giving the Lapwing and Golden Plover flock real grief out over the pools. Cetti's Warblers and Water Rails were vocal but we failed to see the pair of Bearded Tits seen by Ruth and the boys.... 

Wendy Marks got some fabulous shots the other day including one of our thickly furred foxes on the prowl as he looked…

Back home at last after a very very long day. I am beaming though. Just a quick but huge thanks to all the staff, volunteers and stall holders in helping make our mini fayre this evening a relaxed festive occasion and although the visitors did not come flooding in as we had hoped, those that did went away with Christmas gifts, smiles and the sound of Laurie Bigg's Organ and all of us singing along to Bill's Twelve Days…

Morning all,

I hope you are well today.

I just thought I would let you know that the reserve is open as usual - we are lucky with our sea walls which protects the reserve. Occasionally the water levels may get over the old Victorian Wall, it does this several times a year, however, the main river wall is considerable higher... We hope that everyone round the coast had a safe night!

We are also getting ready…

Hopefully by the time you are reading this tomorrow I will have posted to say that the reserve is still intact and that the impregnable river defences have withstood the early hours storm surge. It certainly got very wild late this afternoon and the very building shook and wobbled as the gusts intensified. No damage to report but 14 very cold and glowy visitors and one very wet but smiling volunteer... Jerry H not only…

Hi everyone!

How are you all today?

Just wanted to let you all know about some exciting work starting tomorrow...

Starting tomorrow there may be some disturbance just past the Marshland Discovery Zone - we will be making a new visitor feature on the reserve, access around there will be unaffected.

 

 The lovely Ian from Pearls (our contractor that has been completing other work onsite like the ditch work that…

As you may have noticed in several other posts, I love the sound of whistling Wigeon on a winter marsh. If you listen closely you can hear the soft but gruff calls of the females as they respond to the amourous males.  You may even see lots of display and even mating this time of year, especialy on sunny days. All ducks are in their best freshest plumage this time of year and being in such close quarters with so many …

The newly exposed mud in front of the Ken Barrett Hide is still proving attractive to our Snipe.

And you may not have seen it before but, like many waders, Snipe are excellent swimmers and will often paddle across deep water to a new feeding area.

Great shots by Dave McGough

and one from Tony Orwell too

3-12-13

Our Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits are roosting on the Stone Barges at the moment. Most counts seem to suggest that we have about 180 of these well travelled birds, We have not seen any colour-ringed birds yet so if you do see one please can you note the combination and let me know.

As you will see in these shots by Les Harrison there are also Dunlin, Lapwing, Redshank and Teal roosting with the Godwits.

3-12-1…

My first walk all the way round in five weeks this evening. Locking up was a real pleasure and I understand why my volunteers do the job... Also my first opportunity to see the wonderful work that Pearls have done on our scrapes overseen by our Wardening Team. Magnificent. .. No wind this evening at all. Cetti's scolding me as I pass, Water Rails feeding unconcerned in the newly cut channels, lapwings tumbling as the…

Hello everyone,

I hope you are well.

It's nearly here - Rainham's Christmas Fair! Come along on Friday 6 December 3-9 pm, and pick up some fabulous christmas gifts, listen to music, the kids can do some crafts and get a free glass of fizz!

Stallholders inside the Visitor Centre will have cards, jewellery, textiles (bags and more!) and wooden crafts for sale while Barry Jackson, Dawn Cowen and Sam Shippey will…

I love this simple shot by Tony Orwell of three Reed Buntings all perched up on the fence wires. But don't they all look different?

Two are female / immature types while the top right bird is a winter male with a ghosting of the black summer head. But look at the head shapes.... all three look different due to how the crown feathers are being held and give each bird a different feel.

Just goes to show that the…

Despite the large influx nationwide in mid-October, there has been a dearth of Redwings and Fieldfares in the south-east. We have been getting quite excited when a visitor sees one of either!

So where are the massed flocks of berry munchers? I suspect that many are still languishing on the continent and the prevailing westerly winds are keeping them firmly on the other side of the North Sea where the mild weather is…

With the Woodland Feeding Station up and running again for the winter it is no surprise that the Great Spotted Woodpeckers have become regular visitors. They both like any loose peanuts and retrieving the fat balls that have been jammed in the log holes!

A superb shot by Val Callen of the male with his little bit of red on the nape...

1-12-13