Hi all,

Me again.

Just a quick reminder that part 2 of the episode of Silent Witness episode filmed on Rainham Marshes will be showing tonight at 9pm on BBC 1.

If you want to catch up or watch again - you can see part 1 of "Coup de Grace" here.

Can you spot Rainham?

Courtesy of the BBC

With such 'nice' weather the local Coots on Purfleet Scrape were getting firstly frisky and then fighty!  Two pairs were going at it with gusto early on and a third pair even came over to join in the fray. What's the point of watching when you can join in. After much semi-drowning and head stabbing the trio of pairs went their separate ways and moved back beyond their invisible watery boundary lines.

Blue sky, high white clouds, a light frost and crisp air... feels more like a mid-March morning today and the birds think so too. Skylarks are up high bursting with life, Song Thrushes were singing for the first hour after dawn, Robins seem to be singing everywhere and Cetti's Warbler could be heard exploding in the still air.

A wet Purfleet Scrape...

and the Barnacle Goose is still present

A lurking Cetti…

Hello everyone, how are you?

Murder on the marshes - no I don't mean that Howard has tried bumping me off for keep breaking into the blog!

Last year some of you may have noticed the filming that went on on the reserve...

Behind the scenes pictures by Bill Crooks

Well we are exited to tell you what it was all about!

Rainham Marshes is featuring in the latest series of BBC thriller Silent Witness, after part…

We have been checking the boats plying their way up and down the river for more Kittiwakes and other waifs but no joy in recent days. Tony Orwell did however get this shot with a young Kitty a little further down river but heading our way!  Can you find it amongst the Black-headed Gulls and the Common Gull?

8-1-14

Sit back and enjoy two minutes of a sunny Rainham Marshes by Neil Phillips....

www.youtube.com/watch

Magic...

7-1-14

Afternoon all....  A little remiss of us but I thought it about time that we promoted our local RSPB Members Groups and their events...

So here are the upcoming Indoor Meetings for the four local Essex groups.... 

On Saturday a Barnacle Goose appeared with the goose flock out on Wennington and I was pleased to pick it up quite early this morning as it flew in with the two White-fronted Geese which was a nice surprise. All three were around all day and could usually be seen from the visitors centre. Peregrine and Marsh Harrier both performed very well today and the shimmering Lapwing flocks were mesmerising.

Branta Brothers …

 It is so mild out there that there are still some inverts on the move... A couple of Peacock butterflies have been seen on the wing on less windy days and Woolly Bear and Drinker Moth caterpillars have been trundling across the paths!

Drinker moth - Yvonne Crouch

6-1-14

Morning all,

I hope that you are well. Did you have a nice weekend?

Just a quick blog to let you know some of the highlights from the weekend...

The two white fronted geese were showing well still, a barnacle goose appeared as well on Saturday and was showing nicely all weekend.

 The barnacle goose has been with the white fronted, greylag and Canada geese flock... Picture by Tony Orwell

There were lots of waders…

The Kittiwakes are still in our bit of the Thames and today saw at least 16 head up river behind  various boats with most behind the Arco Axe and then at least 12 behind a Cobelfret ferry.

The Arco Axe (Tom Bell)

and a Cobelfret (Dawn Cowan)

These big boats seem to churn up the most in their wake and the gulls just love following them. Kittiwakes seem to love being closest to the boat where their agility gives them…

Bob Cooper was with Tony O when he took his Stonechat shots and strangely enough he also got some corkers and so as not to let Bob feel left out here is one of his too!

How can anyone say that we have only got dull birds in this country?

3-1-14

The tides over the first two days of the year have been huge and today was quite exceptional with most of the Victorian concrete one being covered for almost its entire length.

Paul Samuels got some shots of the extent of the tidal push while the Mardyke floodgates were not far off from being over topped by the tide....

This is the last area of concrete apron before Aveley Bay proper... have only seen it this bad…

'The Day After New Years Day'.

"A winter sun shone, the sky was blue

And there was barely a cloud to spoil the view.

The car park was full, the trails a tad damp

But you guys came out for an post-Christmas tramp!

High tide rushed in and covered Victoria's wall

And the swirling Lapwings and Wigeon held the punters in thrall.

Way up above them the Tiercel stalled and stooped,

Panic ensued and…

It started overcast and grey with no hint of a New Year sunrise with Robins and Song Thrushes singing out with overly optimistic enthusiasm.  To date, 79 species have been recorded today and most of those were seen before the rain settled in at about ten.

The two White-fronts were around early doors and Lee Spence got some great shots on Monday but there was no hope of anything like this today!

Amazingly Tony O heard…

A great shot from Basil Thornton from sunny Sunday, showing that Nelson's eye seems to be opening more...

1-1-14