Hi All

Just to let you know that we are holding a Dawn Chorus Walk  on Sunday 4th May.

Come along and listen to the reserve wake up on International Dawn Chorus day. The reserve will be resonant with spring migrants establising territories, side by side with our resident birds. And with all the great passage migrants we have had passing through you never know what may turn up!

The walk will run from 4.30 - 6.30 am with…

Just a quick note to say thank you to everyone that helped out with organising, running and clearing away after funday last Monday, and all those who came along to support us on the day. We had a lovely day and even the weather was kind to us! It was nice to welcome so many new faces onto the reserve and I hope you will all come back and see us again soon. The money raised will go towards all the management work we are…

Hello All

The four Konick (Polish for pony) are back on the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust meadow. They have retuned to the ancient flood meadow for the summer to graze. Their grazing helps to create greater biodiversity in this habitat by varying the hight of the vegetation, providing fertiliser and therefore creating more varid micro habitiats. So have a look from the lapwing or warbler hides on your next visit…

Hello All

Wasn't yesterday a beautiful day, we were so lucky as it was our Easter Fun Day. A great day was had by staff, volunteers and visitors alike. It was lovely to see so many of you come along and join us for the day taking part in all the activites we had laid on and as an added bonus we had a Whimbrel join us for the day!!!!!!  Sorry there has been no up date for a while i have been away, but there has still…

The water is back on so we are back to normal.

Caroline

We have no running water due to a burst water main in Harlow.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

Caroline

Hello All

Just a bit of notice that there are some gas pipe works being carried out up Rye Road for the next month or so which means there are lots of holes dotted up and down the road causing single traffic in places and footpath diversions. So if you are visiting Rye Meads please be aware that this work is going ahead and may affect acess but there are  no plans to close the road.

There has been plenty more spring…

Hi All

It has been all go here today!

We have been joined by the St Albans and the Blackwater U3A groups so with all these sets of eyes we were rewarded with some great sightings.

A Kingfisher was seen investigating the new bank!!!!!!! Wow. I really was not expecting any activity until maybe the autumn when birds are moving around. But this morning a kingfisher was sitting on the post we installed outside the bank…

Hi All

The Kingfishers have finished laying their first clutch, hurrah! We have had sightings of change overs today around every hour and a half. So book the 20 - 22 April in your diary as hatching time.

Another lovely spring day on the reserve with the black headed gulls offering a great vocal accompaniment. I did not manage to get out on the reserve much today but did get to record, 2 nipe, green woodpecker, little…

Hi All

Just a quick note to wish you all a Happy first of April and tell you about some recent sightings. How many of you have been caught out by an April fool?

As i write it is another lovely day and the temperature reached alomst 19C. I had my first blackcap of 2014 singing today at the back of the cottages. The return of another of our 9 breeding species of warbler, can you guess them all? Answers at the bottom of…

Hello All

This week there contiued to be signs of spring passage with highlights being a first year male Marsh Harrier on 22 and 23 March. We were hoping this may be the return of the femle that spent the summer with us last year but sadly this was not to be and he did not hang around beyond the weekend.  Toby a member of the Rye Meads Ringing Group (RMRG) also recorded a Stonechat, 13 Chiff chaff and 3 Redshank on the 22…

Hello All

Just a reminder that we are hosting a Stargazing event at Rye Meads this Saturday 22 March from 7pm - 9.30pm.

The Loughton Astronomical Society will be here for an evening of stargazing, showing you all the wonderful sites in the night sky (weather permistting) and answering your questions, so come along and join us.

There is a charge of £3 for members and £5 for non-members (plus parking £3 for non-members…

Hello All

Well what a lovely weekend we had, i hope you managed to get out and enjoy the sunshine. Many of you managed to come down and see us with over 200 visitors on sunday who were rewarded not just with beautiful sunshine but a kingfisher show as well, with the pair mating outside the bank.  This breeding activity continued on Monday with the pair active around the nest bank with things turning more amourous in the…

Hello All

Well the volunteer work parties are still busy working away on the new Kingfisher bank at the Draper hide and the nesting area should be completed next week.

Yesterday we took a break for the kingfisher bank to position 7 of the old style tern rafts on lagoon 2 (tern hide) in a block. This is a continuation of the work we have been carrying out for the last few seasons to try and reach a balance between nesting…

Hello All

Despite the change in the weather today from such a beautiful spring day yesterday there is still plenty happening on site.

The kingfishers are continuing to be very active around the nest bank and are still favouring the left hand hole on the middle row and the female is often perched on the elder at the left hand end of the bank. The Kestrels look to be settling on the top nest box on the pylon at the kingfisher…

Hello All

I hope you have managed to get out and about this afternoon to enjoy the lovely spring sunshine.

It is well worth a visit to Rye Meads if you do get out as there is defiantly a spring feel in the air.  There are beutiful white snow drops and cheery yellow crocus in bloom around the visitor centre, chiff chaff, cettis and reed bunting singing and the BIG news is a pair of KINGFISHERS investingating the nest…

We are hosting a Stargazing event on Saturday 22^nd March at Rye Meads Visitor Centre 7- 9.30pm.

The Loughton Astronomical Society will be running an event here. Come along, there is a small charge of £3 for RSPB members and £5 for non-memebrs (£3 car parking for non-members). If the sky is clear there will be telescopes to show sights such as Jupiter and the moon. If the skies are cloudy there will be talks and demonstrations…

This week (14th - 21st Feb) the RSPB are celebrating National Nestbox Week in association with the BTO http://www.bto.org/about-birds/nnbw.

We have just put up a new nest box in the picnic area as you enter the reserve and we would like to encourage all of you to do the same! Think about placing one in your garden, on your house, at your place of work or anywhere you can think of that might help give nature a home. If you've…

Hello

Yesterdays storm passed through quite quickly round here but it was definatly wild for a time , hence us closing the reserve.  However today is quite calm with only a few drops of rain and we seem to have got through yeserday unscathed so we are open today. As you are probably aware we are expecting some more adverse weather in the next few days so keep an eye on the blog and we will keep you up to date on the state…

It's wild and woolly here at Rye Meads and we are closing the reserve from this point. Please look out for blogs over the next couple of days to check on reserve opening.

Thanks

Joan

Rain, wind and more rain was the main theme this weekend. Outside the Lapwing hide the meadow is so flooded that it has become a fourth lagoon for us! About 500 black-headed gulls were creating a spectacle flying around out there on Saturday, and on Sunday a drake pintail was showing well out there, moving on later to the Gadwall hide. Luckily we managed to avoid being completely underwater on our side of the reserve, and…

Hello All

Surprisingly as i write this the sun is actually shining, lovely! But alas it will not last, more rain is due this evening and over the weekend so thought it was best to give you a heads up on the state of the reserve.

Coming in to the capr park this morning i was surprised to see the little pool that has become a feature near the picninc area for the last few months with all this rain, had flooded right through…

Hi All

Despite the recent deluges we have still been getting some great sightings.  The HMWT meadow is well and truly flooded but the rest of the reserve is clear if a bit muddy. 

A pair of goldeney visited wednesday last week, unfortunatly they were a one day wonder, may be they will pop by again soon.  Lapwing numbers have been high for a few weeks now with six to seven hundred recorded on the laggon.  These have drawn…

To go along with BBC Stargazing LIVE, Rye Meads are holding our own stargazing event this weekend on Sunday evening.

Loughton Astronomical Society will be bringing along telescopes, maps and info for you to learn more about the night sky, and we will be out on the reserve looking at the moon, stars and planets!

Join us for this exciting event and keep your eye out for some nocturnal wildlife while we're out there!…