This week we have a couple of boardwalk closures this week, so I wanted to let you know.

Tuesday 11 June - we will be closing a section of boardwalk on the northern trails so you will not be able to complete a whole circuit. The fantastic wardening team will be fixing the sub-frame of the boardwalk around the northern boardwalk. You will be able to go clockwise to the Shooting Butts hide, or anti-clockwise to the Ken…

Treat Dad this Fathers Day!

Enjoy a lunch special in our café (keep reading for details!), Dad’s go free on the reserve, join the Wildlife Walk to discover nature at  Rainham Marshes, and buy a special gift from our shop!

Delight Dad to a new pair of binoculars (our optics experts will be around to help you), or pick up a fabulous book, or buy something for his garden. Dads get half price bike hire, and you…

I think that we have five pair of Bearded Tits around the trail at the moment and their first broods are already out of the nest and roaming the reedbeds. Sometimes they can be very accommodating!

Just out the nest. How cute is that? - Maddy Howard

This one is a you male with the black on the lores and the already pale eyes - Steve Knox

Bill Moss

having a scratch - Tom Bell

The adults ares still very active and have…

Two new offers to tempt you in ....

50% OFF our Suet Gift Punnets, all of that suet for just £8.99!

and our RSPB Bronze and Green Bird Baths have 20% OFF making them now only £13.59... Bargain!

Both offers end on the the 18th June...

Our Grey Herons have been caught on camera a few times in recent days adeptly catching fish out on the pools.  Rudd is the only regular 'big' fish that we get on the reserve (although the odd Tench and Perch have been seen over the years along with sinuous Eels) and it isn't until you see one impaled by a hungry Heron that you get to see just how deep keeled and beautiful this fish is as they look grey and torpedo like…

Today is the 3rd June and yet it feels like it is several weeks later out on the marsh which is alive with young birds amongst the lush vegetation.  The cows are doing a great job at helping keep the mosaic of habitat suitable for the young waders to both feed and hide but it is getting increasingly difficult to keep track on them. 

Some of the Lapwings have even fledged already and Redshank chicks are not far behind.

Our rare #LetNatureSing pin badges have been sighted at #RSPBRainham Marshes! We don’t expect them to be around long, so why not visit the reserve this weekend and give one a home?

Each £2 badge purchased helps us create more homes for wildlife too!

Share your pin pictures on social media with us using the hashtags #LetNatureSing #RSPBPins #RSPBRainham and feel free to tag @Natures_Voice and @RSPBUrban

Apologies but it is late I thought I would just quickly share today's sightings before I turn in...

Bit of a wader and tern day...

This week has been pretty changeable, weather wise, but it has been busy wildlife wise.

There has been lots of waders around including bar-tailed godwit, black-tailed godwit, knot, dunlin, grey plover, whimbrel, lapwing, and redshank.

Bar-tailed godwits and a whimbrel by Ian Plume. The bar-tailed gowits have been spending their time on Aveley Bay and the Purfleet Scrape so it's worth keeping an eye out!

Avocet…

I returned from my extended sojourn on Lesvos to be greeted by a very chilly Rainham river wall on Bank Holiday Monday morning but I was instantly warmed by the plethora of new birds for my year list that had arrived in my absence.

There were Whitethroats singing all around and performing bouncing song flights, Reed Warblers gurked and Sedge Warblers scratched and the Grasshopper warbler briefly reeled too.  Three male…

During the week our fantastic wardening team were fixing the boardwalk between the Purfleet and Marshland Discovery Zone - just a quick message to say that is is all open as normal again!

The wardening team have done  a brilliant job - thank you all!

Here are some of today's highlights: greenshank (Target Pools), ruff (Target Pools), ringed plover (Target Pools), grey plover (near the MDZ and then it flew to Aveley…

Here are some of the wildlife highlights from the week so far:

Whimbrel have been seen every day - either on Aveley Bay or flying over.

A cattle egret has been around for about three days - around the Purfleet scrape following the cattle. There are a few little egrets around as well - keep an eye out for the yellow bill of the cattle egret. On Thursday 2 May we also had a great white egret over on the Target Pools.

Buy before midnight!
 
Let Nature Sing is your opportunity to put the birds you care about on the main stage. We're currently perched at #11 in the charts, help us make history and get into the top 10.

56% of UK wildlife is in decline and time’s running out to protect what’s left. Spread the word – don’t let nature’s music stop.

On Monday 29 April-Friday 3 May we will be closing a section of boardwalk between the Purfleet hide and Marshland Discovery Zone to do some repairs. 

This means that if you would like to do a complete loop you will have to go anticlockwise through the woodland and exit through the turnstile and walk back to the centre along the river. All hides will be open.

You will still be able to visit the Purfleet hide, but will…

RSPB Rainham Marshes Optics Event  4^th. 5^th. And 6^th MAY 2019

Are going away on holiday the summer ?  Planning a birdwatching trip?

Need a light weight travel scope to fit into your luggage.

Come along over the Bank Holiday event and get hands on experience of our range of Light weight travels scopes.

Keep a close eye on what's hiding in the long grass.

Check out our range of  Opticron, Kowa, Viking and RSPB light weight…

Site Manager Andrew has written this for you:

We’ve had a few early reports of swift seen over the reserve over the last week or so, but today we have been seeing little parties going though, first 3, then another (or maybe not !) 3, then a dozen and then 8 – it feels like they are really starting to return.

These amazing masters of the skies are one of the last migrants to return, and of course one of the…

Just a quick update after yesterday - the woodland is now open again as usual!

These are some of the wildlife highlights from this week:

Waders shave been showing well - including wood sandpiper (Target Pools on 26 April),  spotted redshank (Target Pools on 25 April), redshank, greenshank (Target Pools on 26 April), ruff, avocet, lapwing, whimbrel, water rail, little ringed plover, bar tailed godwit, and oystercatcher.

Redshank by Tony O'Brien

A ring ouzel was seen on the river wall on 25 April…

Please note a section of the woodland (including the Cordite Store) is closed today, although you can still complete a whole loop if you use the adventure playground and outer loop of the woodland (on the map below the green path). 

You got a great offer on bird see last week!

Now you can top up on tasty suet too!

Happy birds for the lead up to a Bank Holiday!

Happy Easter everyone!

Just to let you know we are open everyday (9.30 am-5pm) if you fancied a walk (but the toilets half way around the reserve are closed).

Heather Stuckey (rspb-images.com)

There's been a cattle egret wandering around with the cattle this morning!

There has been lots of singing birds - it's lovely to hear! The cettis, sedge and reed warblers are singing away, with blackcap and white…

More special shop offers!

Click to see more detail!

Happy Easter for your birds!

Wednesday was a complete contrast to the delightfully dire, gloomy, drizzly murk of Tuesday with blue skies and a stiff northerly breeze that brought the temperatures back down once again and although a couple of Scoter and a single Little Gull were seen it was another white winged gull that stole the show. 

Mediterranean Gulls are quite frequently encountered in the spring as birds return to their North Kent colonies…