Spring is here! The temperature is warming up and the birds are starting to sing, listen out for Chiffchaff and Blackcap singing across all our reserves, they are some of the first migrants to arrive back in Britain. Elsewhere, highlights have included a brief visit from a Little Gull on Vange Marsh amongst the Black-headed gulls on the 23^rd March, and on West Canvey Marsh, an Iceland Gull was seen on the 26^th. Avocet…

In recent weeks regular walkers on our Thursday wildlife walk, have been treated to summer like weather and excellent wildlife. Starting at 10.30 am each Thursday and lasting two hours, the walk is FREE, just come along to our visitor centre and take part. John Ainsworth is one of our regular walkers and has kindly shared the images below which he took during recent Thursday walks.

In recent weeks a number of common…

This great snap is of our new willow form, sitting proudly in the South Essex wildlife garden.

Created for us by the wonderful artist Laura Ellen Bacon, it looks good, smells good and is a great place for insects.

A mixture of living and non-living willow, the form will continue to grow, bud and knot together.

Woven at the top of our garden, standing over 6ft tall, it’s a great way of welcoming people into the garden…

Best of the recent sightings has been a Bittern, occasionally seen from the hide overlooking Pitsea Scrape. Best time of the day seems to be about the 4 o’clock mark, it has been seen at around this time on several different days. As a measure of dedication, one staff member spent five and a half hours in the hide on his day off to look for the Bittern, eventually being rewarded with a good flight view! Reserve staff…