Great news from our catering team! I will hand you over to Caroline Drewitt our Catering Manager...

Our Café has been awarded a Silver Award from the Soil Association.  We have progressed from the Bronze level in the Food For Life scheme by continuing to increase the amount  of freshly prepared meals on site to over 75% while moving towards a more environmentally sustainable ethically sourced menu.

We have been…

Art in the Purfleet Hide:

Do you fancy exhibiting your art or photography in the hide for a week this year? There are still plenty of spaces left so ask at reception for more details or email Howard at howard.vaughan@rspb.org.uk 

There is no cost or commission but if you have a good week and would like to make a donation that would be great!

And as for topic... it's up to you... it does not have to be reserve or even…

Frampton Marsh nature resesrve is the next stop in out latest Step Series: black-tailed godwit.

To get from Rainham Marshes to Frampton it's 530,200 steps or 241 miles.

RSPB Frampton Marsh nature reserve is in Boston, Lincolnshire.

Blessed with a variety of freshwater habitats, Frampton Marsh provides close views of the abundant birdlife of The Wash, one of Europe's most special places for wildlife. Avocets,…

We are part way through the second challenge in The Steps Series.

The Steps Series is a set of challenges – everyone can help us walk or run the same distance as a migratory route of one of Rainham’s wildlife visitors, or even distances to places - all your steps can count.

At the moment  we are walking the black-tailed godwit challenge - we have to get a black-tailed godwit back to Iceland - 1369 miles…

We are walking through our second challenge in The Steps Series.

The Steps Series is a set of challenges – everyone can help us walk or run the same distance as a migratory route of one of Rainham’s wildlife visitors, or even distances to places - all your steps can count.

At the moment  we are walking the black-tailed godwit challenge - we have to get a black-tailed godwit back to Iceland! It's over double…

Good morning,

I just wanted to share some of the recent wildlife highlights over the last couple of days:

There has been a few wader species: black-tailed godwit, ruff, avocet, dunlin, ringed plover, common sandpiper, golden plover, and lapwing.

Wildfowl have been showing well: wigeon, teal, pintail, shoveler, pochard, shoveler, mallard and gadwall.

There have been a few bird of prey sightings too: red kite (flying…

Paul is one of our amazing running leaders - this week we welcomed a new group of runners along to our Learn to Run course. Paul is here to tell you a little about how the course is going:

Our run leaders Robyn and Paul after their Christmas Eve run

I am delighted to announce that last Sunday, on a cold and windy, although gloriously bright morning, 7 Rainham harrier chicks (our running group is called the Rainham…

Site Manager, Andrew Gouldstone, is here to tell you about the water onsite!

The reserve gets wetter…

At last, recent rain (and some nearly festive snow) has started to make the reserve look like a marsh again.

I’m sure you’ll recall how dry the Purfleet scrape was back in October, and also how dry the previous two winters have been.

The effect of this has been reduced wintering bird numbers, and a…

I thought  I would do a little update about some of the wildlife that has been seen onsite over the last couple of days!

Over the past few days we have had very high tides - and it has been a bit breezy...

Tony O'Brien took these fantastic shots of the wild looking River Thames on Thursday and Friday:

The weekend wasn't quite as blowy so we had quite a few different wildlife highlights...

The wil…

Back in November Robyn posted a guest blog about the foreshore clearance event arranged by Gray's Beachcombers and Thames21. To read about that event click here.

The next clearance has been announced and we wanted to let you know more details, take it away Robyn:

On 25 November we went over to the concrete barges to clean up the area of foreshore - this area gets a lot of rubbish washed up from the capital. 38 volunteers…

Please find below a guest blog from Bill Gush, Regional Director, Land and Water Services Ltd.

An update on recent developments and future plans for the Rainham Silt Lagoons.

The silt lagoons at Rainham have long been a draw for wildlife, and due to their attraction to wetland birds and other wildlife, they were included in the Inner Thames Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

The silt beds were formed…

Robyn, our Active in Nature officer has been planning away and getting ready for a new event - here she is to tell you all about it!

Hi everyone!

Have you committed to your New Years resolutions yet? We have a few spaces remaining on our Learn to Run Course and only a few more days to confirm your spot so don't delay and give us a call!

Please share the event with anyone who might be interested, Rainham Marshes…

On 1 January we launched our second challenge in The Steps Series. We got the water pipit back to the Alps, now we have to get a black-tailed godwit back to Iceland! It's over double the distance at 1369 miles equating to 3,011,800 steps! How long do you think it will take us? The water pipit took 15 days so we are hoping we can reach Iceland in a month.

Can you help RSPB Rainham Marshes keep up with this magnificent…

Happy New Year everyone!

Hope you had a wonderful time over Christmas and all the best for the new year!

How is it 2018 all ready? We've been having lots of conversations today about how time whizzes past, and what we have planned for the year to come. We were also talking about resolution... do you set yourself a resolution for the New Year?

A quick poll of the Rainham Marshes staff and volunteers found that…

On Wednesday 27th December - we finished the water pipit's migration!

It took a total of 15 days for us to walk 536 miles! Incredible. Thanks to all those who contributed steps and got a bit more active in the rainy, cold December and what a fantastic achievement!

The Steps Series is a set of challenges – everyone can help us walk or run the same distance as a migratory route of one of Rainham’s wildlife visitors…

2018 is almost upon us... the last day of the year has been a little inclement at times but the Ravens still stole the show this afternoon..

Anyway... just a heads up that I shall be opening the reserve at 0700 tomorrow morning (Yes, I know it will be dark!) for all you early birders..

So, introduce yourself... Who are you and what did you do before RSPB Rainham Marshes!

My name is Annie Jackson. I am a nature lover through and through and am especially fond of rats, slugs, all insects but particularly flies and all the stuff that people usually dislike. Up until I worked for the RSPB I would not have admitted that!

Hakushika Ginjou Nana - one of my lovely rats

My other passion in life is for…

Evening all...
Some good stuff out there today in glorious winter weather and so pleased that two Short-eared Owls were seen by several visitors along the river wall. This is first confirmed sighting since the 13th November so hopefully they will stick around like previous winters...

Thursday 28th December 2017
• RSPB Rainham Marshes: Woodcock, 2 Short-eared Owls, Barn Owl, 6 Ringed Plover, 5 Yellow-legged Gull, Firecrest…

Just a quick reminder of our opening times over this festive season:

• The reserve is closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
• The reserve will be open as usual (9.30 am-4.30 pm) all other days (including New Years Eve and New Year Day) over the winter holidays.

At this time of year (November-January) the visitor centre, car park and main exit road will be open from 9.30 am-4.30 pm.

The cafe opens at 10 am, food…

Afternoon,

Andrew, our Site Manager, wanted to tell you about some exciting habitat management news. Take it away Andrew:

Breeding wader populations on the reserve have been steadily increasing over the last 6 years, and in 2017, there were 68 pairs of lapwing, and 53 pairs of redshank.

The previous focus for our habitat management has been Aveley Marsh, and this is where the breeding wader populations have been…

I managed a peasant crisp walk around the reserve yesterday morning with Simren in the hope of at last adding Kingfisher to her list. Despite the frozen conditions we got lucky and had a superb fly by at close range near the Reedbed Discovery Zone. She was over the moon at this flashing streak of blue and orange.

The Bearded Tits did not disappoint either and two males and female were seen at the Dragonfly Pool acrobatically…

Afternoon everyone,

How are you today?

On the 10th December launched our first challenge in The Steps Series.

Water Pipit - Russ Sherriff

The Steps Series is a set of challenges – everyone can help us walk or run the same distance as a migratory route of one of Rainham’s wildlife visitors, or even distances to places - all your steps can count!
Rainham Marshes is a great place to explore - being active…

Just a quick note...

• RSPB Rainham Marshes: Firecrest, Water Rail, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 1stw, 1 2ndw Caspian Gull, 8 Yellow-legged Gull, 2 Raven, 9 Jackdaw, 3f2m Marsh Harrier, 2 Buzzard, pr Peregrine, 3 Kestrel, 400 Wigeon, 420 Teal, 22 Pintail, 3 Little Egret, 75 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Bar-tailed Godwit, Golden Plover, 6 Curlew, 2 Grey Plover, 500 Dunlin, 19 Avocet, 21 Snipe, 2 Kingfisher…