• Snakes & Dragons

    Highlight of the last few days has been up to five Garganey on Pitsea Scrape. These small attractive ducks can be difficult to see as they like to hide amongst the reeds, but they do come out from time to time so keep your eyes peeled! Vange Marsh is still attracting excellent numbers of waders with peaks of over 200 Black-tailed Godwit. There are also regularly double figures of Redshank, Spotted Redshank and Greenshank…

  • Skipper Challenge

    You can find them right across South Essex Marshes. They look like tiny orange moths fluttering in and out of the grass but they are in fact energetic and fiercely territorial butterflies with attitude.  Hopefully this little guide will help you out!

    Thanks to Howard Vaughan for this excellent image.

  • A Rare Dragon!

    Dropping water levels on Vange Marsh has attracted an array of feeding waders, with peaks of over 75 Black-tailed Godwit, 85 Lapwing, 35 Redshank, 13 Spotted Redshank, 15 Greenshank, along with smaller numbers of Whimbrel, Curlew, Ruff, Snipe, Green and Common Sandpipers. There was also a very brief visit from a Curlew Sandpiper which unfortunately didn’t stay for very long.

    The warm sunshine means there’s a great…

  • It's Big and It's green, any ideas?

    Lots of these Great Green Bush Crickets currently on our Bowers Marsh reserve, why not join tomorrow's 'Sneak Preview' guided walk which starts at 10.30 am. Call 01268 498621 to book a place.

    The Great Green Bush Cricket is the largest insect found in England and can only be found in limited areas in the south around July to October. It prefers to live on rough grassland and on uncut fields which have long…