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…

Lurk some pretty cool minibeasts - Sydney the Silver Water Beetle (Above) and Eddy the Emperor dragonfly nymph (below)

We’ve just restocked the aquarium at the South Essex RSPB Visitor Centre and we’ve got some amazing creatures for you to discover.

Sidney, as he is known to some of his friends, swims under the stage name of “Silver Water Beetle” or Hydrus piceus. He’s name is…

There’s a great selection of wintering waders to see across our reserves at the moment. At Vange Marsh, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Snipe, Ruff and Green Sandpiper have all been regularly seen, along with Water Rail skulking in the ditches. A trip down to Timberman’s Creek at Wat Tyler Country Park may reward you with Greenshank, Spotted Redshank and Oystercatcher, while Lapwing and Curlew can be found on all our reserves…

I just had to share these stunning images taken in our wildlife garden this week. These great and blue tits along with the goldfinch are regular visitors to our bird feeding station and were captured beautifully by Neil, you can see more of these images here.

Our 'Big Garden Birdwatch' takes place on Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 January. Pop in to our visitor centre at Wat Tyler Country Park and pick up your survey…

If you’ve indulged over the Christmas period and are now trying to work off the turkey and chocolate, why not take a walk round one of our reserves, the New Year is a great time to get out and see many of our winter birds. There are impressive flocks of Fieldfares on our West Canvey Marsh reserve and at least one of the short-eared owls is still showing well hunting over the fields near the Pantile picnic area. As…

This morning on Vange Marsh a single waxwing was seen in the tree tops to the NW. At Wat Tyler Country Park a peregrine falcon was on one of the scrape islands with its prey, probably a coot, before flying off towards Benfleet Creek with it's prey securely in it's talons. While in Timbermanns Creek four spotted redshanks were seen alongside common redshank and curlew. From the scrape hide a marsh harrier was quartering…

West Canvey Marsh has been the place to be in the last couple of weeks! Stealing the headlines, a juvenile White-rumped Sandpiper was seen on the reservoir on the 18^th November. This small North American wader was blown off course across the Atlantic on its migration down the Eastern USA to arrive here in the UK. Other highlights have included small groups of Pink-footed, White-fronted, and Barnacle Geese, all uncommon…

Hi, I’m Brennan one of the RSPB’s Youth Nature Officers working at the South Essex Marshes.

During October half term we hosted our annual Warden Week event. This gave young people the chance to experience life as a warden here at the South Essex Marshes.

We all had a fantastic week, carrying out practical conservation tasks such as habitat maintenance in the form of reedbed cutting, post and rail fencing…

Transport was the theme of Little Owls Club this month. In the photo you can see the group testing out boats that they have made in our paddling pools. The children also got to see a tractor up close, flew planes across the field, and raced cars down the slope in our Discovery Zone. Next months Little Owls Club is on 9^th November 10am-12pm, for more information contact hannah.chisholm@rspb.org.uk.

Calling all 16-19 year old wanabee wildlife wardens. The RSPB South Essex are offering a whole weeks worth of hands on experience alongside our expert ecologists.

From October Monday 24 – Friday 28 we will be giving nine young people a unique experience of managing habitats, scrub clearing, performing surveys and generally getting stuck in helping to protect local wildlife.

Hanna Chisholm, Education Officer…

A brilliant 'well done' to Michael Old from Benfleet who has just been awarded GOLD in the RSPB Wildlife Action Awards.

This plucky 6 year old has gone above and beyond in the call to 'step up for nature', completing over 20 activities, including counting butterflies and moths, helping hedgehogs, planting trees and writing to an MP.

This award scheme is all about finding out about wildlife, doing…

If you think the UK is cold in winter, try growing up in the Arctic!

For us brent geese, coming to the UK in winter is definitely a 'summer' holiday! We leave our breeding grounds in the chilly North (where subzero tempertatures are standard), and head over to the UK in our family groups. And what a sight we are!

Visit the beautiful fishing village of Leigh-on-Sea during October, and you'll get to see thousands…

This month our Little Owls group enjoyed a morning of worldwide exploration. They travelled to America to discover the Statue of Liberty, flew to Mexico where they created Aztec headdresses, crossed the Atlantic to Botswana to make tribal jewellery & music, made their way up to India following a spice trail, and finally ended up in Italy where they got their hands mucky mixing pizza dough to take away and make a tasty…

Last week on our new reserve on Canvey Island, the muddy edges of the reservoir attracted not one but three wood sandpipers along with 18 green and 7 common sandpipers. A supporting cast of black-tailed godwits, spotted redshank and ruff provided quite a selection of wading birds. Two whinchats were seen on the fence near the the redhill, while an immature redstart proved elusive along Pantile Way. Upto 12 yellow wagtails…

Hi,

My name is Brennan Briggs. I am one of the RSPB’s Youth Nature Officers, based at South Essex Marshes.

We are a group of 5 teenagers who are employed to engage more young people with the work of the RSPB.  

This year the Youth Nature Officers have several different roles, this is to ensure a wide range of different activities are available for young people. 

Zoe and Jasmine work as Fundraisers. Their role…

Yesterday an osprey was first seen circling low over the RSPB visitor centre at midday, before spending early afternoon sat on a post in the freshwater fleet. Visitors and staff were treated to stunning views, as this rare visitor to the park posed for photographs.

Thanks to Neil Philips for the excellent image. You can see more of Neil's images here

The Little Owls Club met today at the RSPB Discovery Zone in Wat Tyler Park for 2 hours of fun nature based activities. This months theme was Space and the children learnt all about planets & stars through games, song & craft. In the picture the group can be seen making a mural of the nights sky.
The next Little Owls session will be on Wednesday 14th September 10am-12pm, no need to book in advance, small charge…

Late evening Friday, two spoonbills were found on the freshmarsh at Vange Marsh.This tempted a couple of local birders to visit the reserve early on Saturday morning and they soon found an adult female red-backed shrike.

The red-backed shrike is a summer migrant that was formerly widespread in farmland, scrub and heathland over much of England and Wales. Following a dramatic decline, it is no longer a regular breeder…

It’s time for a cup of tea here at the South Essex Marshes as we take a quick brake from a brilliant week of events, activities and surprises.

The Saturday before last we hosted our second Canvey Wildlife Fair on our newest reserve, West Canvey Marsh. A rugged, wild marshland West Canvey lived up to its untamed nature, greeting us with a cold wind whipping up the long grass and dark clouds rolling across its big…

Time to get excited! The Canvey Wildlife Fair is this Saturday and in anticipation we’re shutting the reserve to get it spotless for the hundreds of visitors due this Saturday. Not to worry though Vange Marsh and the RSPB Visitor Centre will still be open as normal offering up a great day out in nature.  

As for this Saturday we’re kicking off at 11am with bug hunting, pond dipping, walks, food and much more. It…

A couple of these stunning black & white bees were spotted in our wildlife garden this week. Any help identifying them would be appreciated.

Cuckoo bee by David Lee

Our wildlife garden at Wat Tyler is attracting a range of insects, including the butterfly below.

Can you tell what it is yet?

It opened it's wings and showed itself to be a male brown argus, delightful!

The beetle below is either a soldier or a sailor, answers on a postcard please.

Thanks to David Lee for the images.

Some of the occupants in our indoor pond at Wat Tyler Country Park are changing!

The first-year iceland gull has been appearing sporadically on the scrape, viewable from the hide. It has been present since at least last Tuesday and was last seen Saturday morning.

 West Canvey Marsh (RSPB) Sunday 08 May  08:00 to 10:30
3 Little Egret, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Cuckoo, 1 Swift, 20 Skylark (at least), 2 House Martin, 1 Wheatear

Vange Marsh (RSPB) Sunday 08 May 11:55 to 13:50, Mostly cloudy & cool, brisk SSW wind…