Our Big Garden Birdwatch takes place this weekend and we’re working hard to make it the biggest and best we’ve ever had in the South East.

Please do spare sixty minutes over 28, 29 or 30 of January to check out the birds you see at home*. You can share photos too, just tag them #BigGardenBirdwatch and post to any of the following RSPB social media pages:

Twitter.co.uk/RSPBUrban

Twitter.co.uk/RSPB_S…

Thursday dawned gloomy and grey but there was no frost but the wind more than made up for it keeping temperatures below freezing today for anyone brave enough to linger outside. Just how the boardwalk work party stuck at their task today is beyond me... hats off.

My first job this morning was to top up the feeders and water and put out the 14 apples I had brought in. I have found over the years that birds are more likely…

It has been a good morning and I have barely set foot outside the visitors centre.  It was very cold again with a thick frost and no hope of the ice melting across the pools and the Common Snipe were all initially huddling along the edges although most have now woken up and are now probing the margins which appear to have defrosted slightly.  I could not find a Jack Snipe but fortunately on flew in off the saltmarsh and…

The big old Crack Willow adjacent to the Ken Barrett Hide finally gave up the ghost last week in the rain, wind and snow and one of the huge limbs broke away from the main trunk and almost came over the path.

On Wednesday a team of guys from Keith Archer's Tree Care descended upon it in an effort to tidy things up, make it safe and hopefully give it a chance to regrow from the base in the spring.

Before

After

The team have been working at a great pace at replacing the worn out boardwalk alongside the Dragonfly Pool and Rifle Butts and are actually ahead of schedule with the generally kind weather helping them to lay more plastic boards per day than they anticipated.

Doug lining up the kick rails...

They team have not been alone down there and the Robins and Stonechats have been following their every move before flying…

Hi everyone,

Just to update you - you can now walk the whole loop of the reserve.

The tree surgeon has finished - although don't forget about the temporary footpath by the Dragonfly Pools!

 The black line shows the section of boardwalk that will be closed, the red line shows the temporary footpath.

We have created a temporary footpath so that you can still enjoy a nice walk around the whole reserve.

The footpath…

Monring everyone,

how are you today?

I just wanted to let you know about access onsite.

A section of the Northern Boardwalk will be closed for part of the day - we have a tree surgeon onsite looking at a tree near the Ken Barrett hide. For a short while (we'll keep you up to date) you won't be able to do the complete loop - you can get to the Ken Barrett hide, and to the northern boardwalk platforms but not in…

Sorry for the lengthy absence but I was called up for Jury Service from the 3^rd and have only just made it back to work... anyway, having performed my civic duty I am glad to be back and have even managed some mini walks to reacquaint myself with my patch.

The marsh is looking great but we are still woefully short on water although the recent pathetic excuse for ‘snow’ and some rainy days have wetted up some areas where…

Morning all... Just a quick plug for a very special talk this evening in Hornchurch... For those of us of a certain age, Peter Holden, as the man in charge of the YOC, was the figurehead of what we aspired to be as budding Young Ornithologists, And so here I sit 37 years after I first became a member, typing a piece to enthuse you to go and listen to Peter still singing the virtues of everything the RSPB gives to the…

And so a new year begins... I got in at about six and dropped the drawbridge at seven and despite the darkness and cool breeze and imminent rain, there were still birds to be had.

Robins were singing when I arrived and were joined shortly afterwards by Carrion Crow, Wigeon, Lapwing, Curlew, Redshank and rather strangely in the dark - Collared Dove.

The other 'normal' ducks were added soon afterwards along with both…