On this day in 2006, a White Stork was found on RSPB Rainham Marshes. The local birders/volunteers arrived on site that evening and we watched it wading around on what we now call the Target Pools. Ken Barrett also arrived but never got to see the bird as he suffered a massive heart attack shortly after leaving his car and despite the best efforts of those present, he could not be saved.
Quite where the ensuing ten years have gone, I do not quite know but with the original me...tal container hide being named in his memory, it has meant that he gets a name check every single day. Over the years various work colleagues from his many years in the Met Police and other acquaintances (birding and otherwise) have come up to reception and asked if the hide was named after The Ken Barrett. Tales then inevitably ensued be they of Police Ops or a birding twitch.
We were originally going to meet after work but it was pointed out that this would be in the middle of the England - France Rugby match and Ken, being an avid fan would have been miffed if we interrupted his viewing and prevented his fellow birders and family from watching it too. So this morning at 8o’clock, I gathered together as many of the local birders who knew Ken (most of who were there that fateful day) and with his wife Pat, daughters and grandsons, we congregated near the old Officers Mess near his hide and raised a glass of Presecco in his memory.
Although, he never got to see the reserve open fully to the public, I am very sure that Ken would be very proud about what we have achieved over the ensuing ten years and is undoubtedly still keeping a Policeman Birders eye on proceedings and making notes in his little black notebook...
19-3-16