Halloween antics aside it has been a good couple of days on the reserve with the Short-eared Owls obviously stealing the limelight and up to eight have been seen quartering the riverwall,enclosed bay and main areas of Aveley Marsh (especially around the cattle corral). They are fairly tolerant of people (they have to be on the wall) and witha bit of patience excellent views have been had by most people and beaming faces have returned to the centre to tell of their encounters...
About sums things up really - magic.... nice shot by Chamara Sugathsiri
Paul Hutchison
Tim Evershed
Both by Bob Cooper...
On top of all this owl action there have been great views of the increasing flocks of Golden Plover and Lapwing and even the Dunlin numbers are slowly on the way up...
Goldies - Mark Vale
And last but not least we now have two Dartford Warblers (at least) including one out of bounds on Wennington but Chris Norwood got some good shots of a bird near the Ken Barrett on Friday and interestingly it looked more like a male than the dull juvenile type bird we saw on Tuesday...
Dartford Warbler within sight of Dartford.... (Chris Norwood)
Fingers crossed for a few more days of autumn yet...
31-10-15