July has been a busy month for the South Essex Wildlife Garden volunteers with weeding galore as the plants begin to shoot up and create a wild jungle for us to try and tame. At least a little anyway.

The bird feeders have been well visited as always despite there being ample natural food sources available at this time of the year. Around 13 species are regular visitors including Jay, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Goldfinch…

The reserves have been pulling in some good birds recently; a female summer plumage red-necked phalarope stayed a morning on Vange Marsh, and a male white-spotted bluethroat was seen briefly from the hide overlooking Pitsea Scrape.

Red-necked Phalarope by Chris Gormesall (rspb-images.com)

Other highlights across the reserves include both a little gull and a yellow-legged gull which have been seen regularly on Vange…