I am back.. sorry for the protracted absence... Let's do some catching up. October is well and truly upon us although the weather has still largely warm and calm with almost no rain. As such the only water on site at the moment is on Aveley Pool with just a little on the Butts Scrape. Purfleet Scrape is bone dry after the ridiculous temperatures of September and we need some serious rainfall to revitalize them and draw in the incoming wildfowl that are currently largely passing us by. That said there are at least six Pintail amongst the other dabblers but only about 40 Wigeon which is very low for the time of year.
A Spoonbill and Great White Egret have been seen intermittently and the Ravens are now back on the marsh on a near daily basis and it is great to hear those kronking calls even from inside the building!
Raven - Jerry Hoare
Great White Egret - Mick Ladner
Spoonbill - Max Hellicar
And a short video by Pat Hart of some of the waders that we have had in recent days as well as the Spoonbill!
Black-tailed Godwits - John Ferguson
A couple of Ring Ouzels have been hanging around and tantalising us with flash flights on silvery wings and Redwings, Song Thrushes, Fieldfares and a orangey breasted continental Robins have been especially visible around the Cordite and car park area.
Robin - Mark Vale
Redwing - Bill Crooks
Song Thrush - John Ferguson
Fieldfares with two cheeky young Blackcaps... HTV
Marsh Harriers and Buzzards (including our regular hovering bird!) are still to be seen on a daily basis and the first Short-eared Owls of the autumn were seen on Sunday and today so fingers crossed for another amazing season like last year.
Buzzard - Ian Plume
Short-eared Owl - Dominic Mitchell
However, the star performers in recent weeks have to be the Bearded Tits with at least a dozen performing astonishingly well at various points around the trail. There are lots of smart males with them so come on down and give it a go!
Bearded Tit - Basil Thornton
Bearded Tit- Mark Vale
Let's see what the rest of the month has in store...
18-10-16
Howard Vaughan, Information Officer