Last Thursday (15th May) I had the pleasure of leading the Not so Dawn Chorus Walk. We had 12 people join us on one of the few opportunities to get onto the reserve early. Before the walk even started, we were treated by a wonderful view of the Spoonbill and Great White Egret both in breeding plumage on Purfleet Scrape. The route then took us along all the woodland paths and Cordite Store where we saw Whitethroats, a Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, and heard Cetti’s Warlbers, a Firecrest and a Song Thrush among many other species.
Doubling back past the visitor centre we stopped at the bridge to watch and hear the Reed (see photo below) and Sedge Warblers, another Lesser Whitethroat, Linnets, Reed Buntings and Dunnocks.
We hopped off the reserve briefly at the turnstile to see what was on the bay - the usual Avocet, Shelduck and Redshank were joined by a pair of Grey Plovers one of which was in breeding plumage. Quite a treat this time of year. (I must confess Angela picked up Black-bellied Plovers on her Merlin App earlier in the woods which I poo-poo'd at the time; but that’s the US name for our Grey Plover, so she must have picked up the flyover.)
Back into the reserve to try our luck at the Beaded Tits. Just a couple of pings. Hopefully, we’ll get to see them more once the young fledge.
The grand total for species seen/heard was a pretty reasonable 73 in just 3.5 hours. A big thank you to everyone who came along, Angela for rounding up the stragglers at the back and Jamie for unlocking the reserve early.
Reed Warbler
See you on the 29th May Warbler walk .
Richard