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, 2 Sanderling and a Dunlin this morning - HTV
Since Sunday 30th April there have been 22 different waders seen on the reserve, some using the river and occasionally moving to the marsh at high tide and others spending their time out on the pools.
Oystercatcher
Dunlin
Black-tailed Godwit
Little Ringed Plover
Curlew Sandpiper
Bar-tailed Godwit
Ringed Plover
Little Stint
Curlew
Grey Plover
Wood Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Lapwing
Common Sandpiper
Snipe
Knot
Redshank
Ruff
Sanderling
Spotted redshank
22 species of which 20 were seen on the 5th alone!
Turnstone
Greenshank
Only Spotted Redshank (30th) and Little Stint (1st and 4th) were not seen today and we still have the weekend to find a Green Sandpiper, Avocet, Golden Plover or something rare!
Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint - Max Hellicar
Ringed Plovers and single Sanderling and Dunlin - Paul Hawkins
The true numbers are a little tricky to estimate as I suspect birds were actively moving as yesterday I saw 21 Bar-tailed Godwit come in high from the south and just keep going north. The peak count of dapper Grey Plovers was 21 today but there could easily have been more while Wood Sandpipers rose from the three seen briefly yesterday to five today which was great having spent the last week amongst hundreds of them in Lesvos!
Grey Plovers - Paul Hawkins
Grey Plovers - Andy Tweed
Bar-tailed Godwits - Paul Hawkins
If only Wood Sandpipers showed this well at Rainham - I took this one in Lesvos last week
Greenshank - Paul Hawkins
The Whimbrel have even taken to feeding up on Rainham Ridge and I found three on posts yesterday... there were ten up there today and three Corn Buntings singing around them! It really was quite special.
Whimbrel on the tip - HTV
Corn Bunting - HTV
One of the Black-tailed Godwits was colour ringed as a female in 2010 in Iceland where they breed and spends each winter in Chichester Harbour in West Sussex and has also been seen on the Thames and Medway estuaries.
Black-tailed Godwit - Paul Hawkins
There were plenty of other birds to be seen too with the reappearance of the female Ring Ouzel first found on Wednesday and a scattering of long-winged Greenland Wheatears making a journey as long as most of the waders.
Ring Ouzel - Nick Croft
Ring Ouzel - Dante Shepherd
Greenland Wheatear (note the very upright stance, long legs and very long wings with seven primaries visible, brown hue in the back and ear coverts and rich almost salmon coloured throat) - Joh Humble
Swifts descended en masse and as we were shutting up there was a shower of hirundines onto Aveley Pool and we would love to find a Red-rumped Swallow amongst them!
The Grasshopper Warblers have still been reeling in the Enclosed Bay and at least one Short-eared Owl is still patrolling the same area along with two male Cuckoos.
Short-eared Owl watching the male Marsh Harrier - HTV
Cuckoo - Russ Sherriff
The weather is set to remain cool and windy all weekend I believe but it should still be a fine morning for the first of our Dawn Chorus walks on Sunday morning... there are still places if you should wish to come along.
Hopefully this spring still has a few surprises in store for us...
and a list of the best from today....
Friday 5th May 2017
• RSPB Rainham Marshes: Little Tern, Arctic Tern, 6 Oystercatcher, 22 Grey Plover, 110 Lapwing, 5 Little Ringed Plover, 46 Ringed Plover, 16 Whimbrel, Curlew, 11 Bar-tailed Godwit, 17 Black-tailed Godwit, Snipe, Turnstone, Curlew Sandpiper, 4 Sanderling, 44 Dunlin, 2 Knot, 3 Ruff, Greenshank, 70 Redshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 5 Wood Sandpipers, 2 Hobby, 2 Marsh Harrier, Buzzard, 5 Greenland Wheatears, f Ring Ouzel, 3 Pintail, 3m Cuckoo, 45 Swallow, 40 House Martin, 22 Sand Martin, 300 Swift, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, Ring-necked Parakeet, 37 Great Black-backed Gull, 6 Little Egret
Howard Vaughan, Information Officer