Lots of W's at Rainham

Took a little trip to Rainham on Saturday - despite living the other side of London, it's the easiest reserve to get to on public transport. I got there at 7:30 am to spend a couple of hours on the Thames path before the reserve opened. After about 15 minutes I really wished I'd worn gloves - that cold wind doesn't half whistle up the Thames!

It seemed that the world's entire population of Whitethroats was there - a singing and displaying bird for every bush. One or two even kindly posed for pictures.

The next "W" to show itself was a very cold looking Wheatear, spending a lot of its time sheltering from the wind. Always a pleasure to see one and my first of the year.

The final "W" along the river were a couple of Whimbrel, which were as camera shy as a celebrity without makeup.

There wasn't really much other action on the river apart from a handful of Redshanks and a good number of Shelducks.

Once in the reserve the usual suspects were present, including plenty of Pochards, Little Egrets, a couple of Marsh Harriers and Reed Warblers and Buntings galore.

I carefully managed not to see a couple of Cuckoos (damn) but got quite excited when another birder told me of a spot where some Cettis were popping up out of the reeds to feed. Boy were they hard to photograph, just showing for a second or two at a time. Eventually I thought I'd succeeded, then looked at the captured image...

...yes, not a Cettis, but my final "W" of the day, a Wren!*

*no, not this particular one, this was taken earlier in the year and it's a much better picture than the slightly blurry one I got for 20 minutes effort ;-)

As always, a great day out, meeting nice people and having some of the great cake in the cafe. 

"Let loose the Kraken!"

  • If it had been a Cetti's you would have needed a new title. The little blighters have evaded my camera too. I've just returned from Greece and there were Cetti's singing all over the place. Did I see one -  not even a glimpse.

    Nice shots of all the W's. Glad you enjoyed your day

    ____________________________________________________________________

    Tony

    My Flickr Photostream 

  • "W"onderful photos Stuart-I particularly like the Whitethroat photo, I'm starting to see and hear them down here-they are lovely looking birds.I've seen a good number of Wheatear too the last few weeks,another beautiful bird and the Wren is always a treat to see

    Jayne

    See my Flickr photos here.

  • We're off to Greece next month, although very much not a birding holiday. We're going to spend five days in Athens, but I will be keeping an eye out anyway (might make it out to one of the mountains). Won't be seeing (ha, sorry, hearing) any Cetti's there, but you never know what might turn up :-)

    "Let loose the Kraken!"