Hi everyone,

How are you?

I just wanted to let you know that tomorrows Back to Nature Bootcamp session is being rescheduled - Robyn our lead is poorly! Feel better Robyn!

Excitingly we are re-scheduling for after Christmas...

Work of the holiday season with us!  On Saturday 6 January join us in a brand new Back to Nature Bootcamp session! Come along to these taster sessions to see what it’s all about – getting…

With the recent snow and rain fall the reserve is starting to once again look like a winter marsh with water starting to appear and puddle up in all the right places. We have some new special pumps in place too but more of that in a future posting.

Centre in the snow -Nick Smith

The snowfall of Sunday 10th not only complimented our Christmas fair but prompted the Bittern that we did not know we had to make an appearance…

Christmas Fair Indoors at RSPB Rainham Marshes Sunday 10 December

Missing the final present or two?
Drop into our mini Christmas Fair where we will have a variety of crafts and gifts including: jewellery, cards, decorations, bags, dough craft, cosmetics, craft gin, wildlife art and photography, face painting, scrummy muffins, fossils, RSPB Shop (including optics) TuiNa massage tasters and more! The cafe will also have…

Hi everyone,

I wanted to let you know something that is coming soon!

As of Saturday 9 December 2017 you have the chance to hire out the brand new photographers hide!

We have a purpose built hide allowing close views of feeding woodland birds. There is a feeding station in the area to attract birds and a number of natural perches so you can get some lovely shots!

John Humble has taken these pictures of a great…

The ongoing work to re-profile the various scrapes and rills has also presented Ian the digger driver to clear out and improve the view from the Ken Barrett Hide once again.

This was carried out on Friday the 17th and by that afternoon it was already attracting in the birds to the newly exposed muddy margins and islands. It has become the place to spend time in the last ten days and has afforded visitors the opportunity…

On the 10th December we are launching our first challenge in The Steps Series. Join us to walk the equivalent of a Water Pipit's migration route from the Alps! Can you help RSPB Rainham Marshes keep up with this magnificent species?

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…

Christmas Fair Indoors at RSPB Rainham Marshes Sunday 10 December

Missing the final present or two?
Drop into our mini Christmas Fair where we will have a variety of crafts and gifts including: jewellery, cards, decorations, bags, dough craft, cosmetics, craft gin, wildlife art and photography, face painting, scrummy muffins, fossils, RSPB Shop (including optics) TuiNa massage tasters and more! The cafe will also have…

The last two weeks has seen us still stuck in the westerly doldrums but despite the lack of easterly airflow we have still seen quite a bit of interesting mainly passerine movement through the reserve.

The Firecrests have settled down and now look set to winter with at least three performing circuits through the Cordite woodland and surrounding environs (which include the car park!) and there are still good numbers of…

And so today we tackled the final hedge in our car park. The younger hedge in front of the shop may have looked smaller but it was still a full day’s work to turn this tangle of seriously spiky Hawthorn and yellowing Field Maple into a curvaceous thing of practical beauty.

The same principles were used as on the large hedge and we got incredibly lucky and had another fine and sunny early winter’s day in which to…

Hello everyone,

How are you?

I wanted to tell you about the RSPB's Wild Challenge - it's a free, fun family activity that you can do outside (a home or at Rainham Marshes!) and get close to nature.

There are loads of different challenges for you and your whole family to take part in - what you choose is up to you! Wild Challenge is your chance to answer that call. Help wildlife, explore nature, and work towards…

As you enter the car park tomorrow morning you may be in for a bit of a shock... the view has changed... well in fact you now have a view where there was not one before as the hedgelaying party returned today to complete the last 28 yards of the main strip.

It took all day but the end result is magnificent and will continue to provide an ever improving habitat for our reserve wildlife.

And so like last week we shall…

The quest to rejuvenate the area around the visitors centre and provide a better vista for you, the visitors to look out onto continued apace today with myself and the crew of volunteers tackling the taller sallows in the dip behind the bird feeder hedge that were blocking out the view of the currently still very dry Purfleet Scrape...

In theory if we have done things properly, what we have actually done today should…

Our run of big white birds just keeps on going!  On Thursday a Cattle Egret spent the day moving between our herds of cows and eventually gave good views as it poked around among bovine legs in search of tasty morsels.  This species has had a bumper breeding year in the country and we were hoping that we would get one on the reserve.

Andy Tweed...

Sallie Jackson

Unfortunately it has not been seen since but we did…

Morning all... just a little reminder to keep on collecting those postage stamps for the Save the Albatross appeal. Christmas seems to be the only time many of us get mail with stamps on any more so please put them in an envelope and drop them into our tub near reception. Spread the word and tell your friends. This is a never ending campaign and the monies raised have already gone a long way to helping to reduce bird…

Last winter we layed one of the car park hedges which was a great success and has already put on plenty of new healthy growth and so with the leaves largely off the trees we set about phase two...

This hedge of largely Hawthorn and Sloe with a few scraggly wild Privet had required a lot of preparation work before hand and Jamie, Phil, Bertha, the work party and I had spent several days cutting back the bramble and reed…

Just a quick heads up about tomorrow...

The shop will be closed on Friday 3 November while work is carried out to upgrade our till systems. We will then be open as usual on Saturday 4 November.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused...

Hi everyone,

How are you?

I just wanted to remind you of the winter opening times at Rainham Marshes nature reserve.

The reserve, visitor centre, car park and main exit road will be open from 9.30 am-4.30 pm between November and January.

The cafe opens at 10 am, food is served until 3pm, and closes half an hour before the reserve closes (so at this time of year 4pm).

The reserve will be closing early on Christmas…

Our run of interesting big white birds continued today with our 18th (and my 17th) Great White Egret of the year.  How fortunes have changed for this colonising species.

This fine orange billed beauty was out feeding for a couple of hours on the Target Pools before drifting back over onto the more distant pools on Wennington but not before nearly everyone on site had had their fill.

Urbanised Egret - HTV

Great White…

Hi everyone,

How are you?

We are working with some RSPB HQ collegues looking into the health and wellbeing benefits of RSPB reserves and the outdoors, and are looking for some personal experiences.

Has the outdoors helped you? Could you send me (Louise) your stories/ quotes/ experiences that we could feedback as examples of how important the outdoors and Rainham has been to you.

If you send me something (either reply…

This morning was cool and very breezy and the wind had swung to the north west and so we were suitably delighted when three fine snowy white adult Whooper Swans touched down on the Butts Scrape. Whether they had come direct from Iceland or via a stop over in the north west somewhere, they were now paddling around to an appreciative crowd of mainly Midlands birders visiting us also from a north westerly direction for the…

Gone was yesterday's drizzle and super low cloud that brought in more finches and thrushes and hello Mr Blue Sky and his best buddy Little Ray of Sunshine... mmm... however unlike yesterday when I was working (yes I know) in the car park all day, I was indoors all day on reception but somehow still managed a very respectible tally that basically focused around raptors with six species seen and in fact at one stage all…

The last two days have seen a slowing of passage after the excitement of the Pigeon and Thrush day of Monday but there have still been some good sightings.  The Spoonbill finally left us this morning at 0915 after nine days of parading around and circled up into the grey and four Marsh Harriers have still been keeping things in their toes while a female Merlin once again terrorised the finches today.

Our colour ringed…

This morning saw another early amble out along the river wall and by 0800 it was apparent that the first big Woodpigeon day was underway with hundreds of birds streaming south on their traditional route aiming for somewhere between the chimney of Littlebrook Power Station of the Twin Sisters pylons that straddle the Thames at Grays.

By 0915 I had counted 3250 heading purposefully south. Occasionally a small party would…