Join our mission to bring bird song to five million people on 17 October 2019. We want to get bird song everywhere, from workplaces to living rooms, and send a chirruping, chirping message to tell people in power we don’t want bird song to disappear.

What's it all about?
Nature is in crisis, and the signs are everywhere. But there is time to change things. A movement is building and through Let Nature Sing and…

Mental health problems can affect anyone at any time. World Mental Health Day (10 October) is a great opportunity to show your support for better mental health and raise awareness of these issues...

1 in 4 of us will experience mental health problems this year, which is why it is so important that we have the confidence to address these issues, advocate against social stigma, remind ourselves what resources are available…

There is a humpback whale in the Thames.

We have seen it Saturday, Sunday and today (Monday). We first saw the whale on Saturday morning and have been seeing it since. It seems to be following the tides - heading out towards Dartford and the sea as the tides get lower around 11 am, and come back up as the water rises later in the day at about 4 pm. 

 Andy Tweed

 Andy Tweed

 Dave Callahan

 Dave Callahan

 Dave Callahan

 Dave …

At long the last we have Kingfishers making regular visits to the pool at the Marshland Discover Zone and using the perches that Ian Boys and I precariously put out there three years ago. The bank is now pretty redundant and degraded hence why the reed was not removed this year and we hope to create a new one somewhere else on site in the future.

So please take yourself down to the MDZ and enter quietly and you too may…

Wild Families at Halloween Half Term –

Pond Dipping

Tuesday 22 - Thursday 24 October

Wednesday 30 - Thursday 31 October

10.30 am - 12 noon or 1.30-3 pm

Drop in to Rainham Marshes this school holidays to take part in some fabulous family activities.

You can spend the day discovering Rainham Marshes - enjoy our family activities, hire an explorer bag, play in the adventure playground, enjoy lunch or a snack in our…

Monday offered up an opportunity to have a wander around the woodland and so with suitable cover I persuaded Annie to join me for some quality grubbing in the sunshine before the weather closed back in.

What followed was the best insect walk either of us have had this year and harked back to the distant days of Insect Afternoon walks where we discovered, not only a wealth of invertebrate life but gained like minded friends…

Annie and I managed a flywalk around the woodland today while the sun was still shining. There was so much going on. More later in the week once I have sorted my images but here is a rarity to be going on with.

Andy saw one the other day but this was my first Stomorhina lunata - an autumn migrant from Africa that parisitizes Locusts would you believe. Just check out those eyes...

and some other sightings for the day…

I wanted to start a few blogs about getting active this Autumn and telling you what we are doing here at Rainham, but also what you can do in the local area. Earlier this month I talked about cycling (see here)...

Cycling is a great way to get about and get active - as well as saving you money, getting you fit and is better for the environment than driving your automobile. 

We are working with ForwardMotion to encourage…

Back on the 8^th September Yvonne Couch led a superb walk around the trails in search of the myriad of Ladybirds and Shieldbugs that we have on the reserve and with a small band in tow she managed to locate a good variety of both the intended insect groups.

Eight species of Ladybirds were located with 7-spot, 16-spot, 22-spot, 24-spot, Water, Bryony and one of the tiny inconspicuous species Rhyzobius litura while the Shieldbugs…

I have continued with my attempts at a pre-work amble along the riverside path but the rain stymied my Monday morning attempt leaving effectively birding from inside the Centre for the day but it had its rewards with a surprise winter plumaged Guillemot bobbing out with the tide and avoiding the attentions of the larger gulls. Auks are always rare birds this far up river and this was my first for several years.  A glance…

A random installation art piece...

These are all taken from inside the building this evening, looking up inside one of the light cones where the Starlings were sunbathing on the warm plastic top and seemingly having fun picking up and dropping little berry seeds from past evacuations to make little rattling sounds to accompany their scratchy feet!

well it made me chuckle at the end of a long day...

oh and some sightings…

It has been a busy few days on the reserve with a beautiful evening for the last late night opening of the year.

The Bat Talk and Walk was fully booked and Ros was a star at once again captivating her audience of mainly first timers.  As the light dropped they were treated to a full on soundscape of bat noise with Leisler's, Soprano and Common Pipistrelles and Daubenton's echoing across the sonic airways.

Amazingly…

RSPB Rainham Marshes Autumn Craft Fair.

Sunday 1st September  from 9.30am to 5pm so  why not come along and join in...

All welcome including dogs on leads within this part of the reserve. Free entry.  And don’t forget the cafe and shop and wonderful walks!

Please read... A couple of nudges for the coming days and some travel advice.

Friday 30th August: Late Night Opening with some mothing till late. Cafe will be open…

Bank Holiday Monday and the weather forecast was for an even hotter day so I was once again on the river wall by 6.30.  It was cool and pleasant but the promise of some serious heat to come was lurking within an hours or two’s grasp.

The Thames was once again mirror calm as I walked west and like the other mornings I was accompanied by warblers the whole way with Common Whitethroats predominating. Up ahead in Aveley…

I arrived at just after 6.30 this morning for my pre-work amble. It was already warming up fast but was still cool enough to be enjoyable. The river was ternless today but a Golden Plover was the first of the season and five Ringed Plover and three Common Sandpipers were in the Bay with 63 Black-tailed Godwits, a Curlew and a single Avocet.

Godwits...

Curlew, Mallard and Black-headed Gulls

Common Sandpiper

Golden…

The Essex Birdwatching Society is celebrating Seventy Years of bird recording in the county next month and have organised a series of guided walks around the whole county between Friday 20^th and Monday 23rd September.

The RSPB has always worked closely with the EBS (I was the County Bird Recorder for nearly ten years!) and we are more than happy to be involved here at RSPB Rainham Marshes.

And so we are offering two…

Morning all

A pre-work riverside amble proved most productive with two flocks of terns of surprising species with 11 erikking Sandwich Terns being overtaken by an energetic flock of no less than 14 diminutive Little Terns.

Not a great shot but I was pleased to get something.  To put this in perspective, we usually get one or two Little Tern sightings in a whole year so 14 juveniles in one flock for three hours is unprecedented…

We are working with our friends over at National Trust Rainham Hall to give a joint special offer!

Hire a bicycle from the reserve in September and get 10% off entry to National Trust Rainham Hall.

Photo courtesy of the National Trust - Sophia Schorr-Kon

Rainham Hall - is a historic house with a difference. At the moment they are celebrating the life of Anthony Denney: a fashion photographer, interior designer, art connoisseur…

I managed another walk before work this morning and discovered my first dapper little Whinchat of the season flycatching from the dead Hogweed stems in the Enclosed Bay.

Just how she chose a single fly from the dancing masses swirling around the tops of the hawthorns, I do not know!

community.rspb.org.uk/.../MVI_5F00_9130.MP4

Just a quick summary of the day's sightings...

Over the last few years the Lucas family have become weekday regulars at the reserve and we have come to know them very well. Both Ben (11) and Noah (6) are the keenest of the five children and love to share their knowledge about the wildlife that they see.

Capturing these moments on a camera has always been part of the joy that they both get from the experience and they always love showing us what they have seen.  Last…

After seeing (and smelling) some strange colouration in the water in some of our ditches, we have had it confirmed by the Environment Agency, that we do currently have some areas of the reserve with blue-green algae developing.

This organism develops in ditches and water bodies during high temperatures, and it can be toxic, especially to dogs.

As a precaution, please avoid any contact with any water out on the reserve…