Evening all... sorry - been away on a not very sunny Shetland for a couple of weeks but the birding was great and the scenery epic...
Back at the reality of Rainham Marshes the predominating westerly winds have kept autumn slightly at bay but today there was a noticable visible movement of small birds into the breeze from the east and by the end of the day we had county nearly 300 Chaffinches with Gold and Green mixed in along with a 17 Lesser Redpolls and 11 Siskin. Meadow Pipits, Reed Buntings and Skylarks were also on the move and there were now six Rock Pipits on the foreshore. A single Tree Sparrow was also seen coasting and 37 Redwing headed high in the same direction.
Ruff and LIttle Stints were seen again along with Grey Plover, Avocet and Black-tailed Godwits while Redshank numbers are defnitely up as birds arrive from Iceland.
However the highlight of the day was the Dartford Warbler found just outside the centre in the few bushes on the foreshore where he showed well if you gave it a little while. Stonechats increased to at least 12 today so I would imagine that his arrival is linked to theirs.
Who knows what tomorrow will hold?
John Humble...
Ian Plume
Tom Bell
Howard Vaughan, Information Officer