This Saturday don't miss Canvey Island Wildlife day!

This fab event run by Canvey Island Town Council and RSPB will have community and craft stalls, pond dipping, bug hunting and den building. Mike Dilger from the BBCs one show will be running two wildlife walks around the marsh and will then be judging the winners of 2017 Essex Wildlife Photography Competition!

11am-4 pm, free entry.

Welcome to another guest blog!

This blog is all about one of our amazing local schools, and their very special walk for wildlife...

Take it away Hannah and Velda:

Hello,

Our names are Hannah and Velda, and we are part of the Learning Team here at Rainham Marshes.

Here at Rainham Marshes we provide excellent school trips for all age groups (from Early Years to Key Stage 5). These curriculum linked course can be…

Our spring is still giving us little treats and the last few days have been no exception.... more to come later but suffice to say that the Comon Crane found by our Site Manager, Andrew Gouldstone (he is on a roll at the moment) yesterday was a much anticipated and appreciated find.

I made it from my home to the bird in record time and thankfully it stayed all day, feeding out in the lush meadows out on Wennington Marsh…

Welcome watchers of illusion...

Maurice once again speaks about all things cultural and natural in the RSPB Rainham Marshes area. Following the advice of my mentor Sir John Mandeville I did sojourn into serpent infested hinterlands. This time my journeying took me to the cultural phenomenon which is High House Production Park and in particular the Royal Opera House therein. If you find yourself in the Purfleet area,…

As many of you will be aware our summer visiting Turtle Doves are in big trouble and not just from the guns of the Meditteranean basin but here at home where habitat loss and a shortage of spring food amongst other factors is contributing to a catastrophic decline.

A singing male at the only site in south-west Essex - Trevor Oakley

As such we are making a concerted effort to record and monitor the epscies over the…

Last Friday Dave Smith found a stunning drake Garganey just outside the Butts Hide where it was so close that Dave was able to record its weird croaking rattle of a call. This is our only summer visiting duck and it is always a treat to encounter one. Since then it has been a wee bit elusive and when it does show it is usually out shovelling around in the middle of the Target Pools...

However, yesterday afternoon it…

It has been another interesting few days with more waders moving through and the species total for May now stands at a very impressive 25.

These two Sanderling were popular in the bay...

www.youtube.com/watch

The Whimbrel have been very popular with one group roosting on Purfleet Scrape and up to ten feeding on the capped part of the landfill.

Whimbrel - Dave McGough

A Quail sang up there for a few days from last…

The turn to chillier weather of the past week has seen the blustery north-easterly winds holding up wader migration and those birds that would normally have snuck past our inland reserve have had their journey to their high Arctic breeding grounds interrupted.

As such there has been a smorgasbord of species to choose from as the birds pause for a breather on their migration.

15 Grey Plover, Turnstone, 2 Ringed Plover…

The Volunteer Spotlight...

So, introduce yourself... Who are you and what did you do before Rainham!

I am Jim Archer and I am retired now but I used to work for a drug company and later at the Royal London Hospital as an immunologist – first attempting to improve people’s chances after transplants and then, looking at the same molecules, trying to understand arthritis. As a teenager in Edinburgh, I was interested in…