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Things are looking up... Water levels are dropping slowly and at the moment the trail is passable in walking boots (not shoes) or Wellies. Bit sticky in places where the water has subsided but this is only to be expected. One of the cuttings off the Northern Trail A new and very wet channel...

It is that time of year again for cutting back the vegetation and Andrew, Nicole, Dhruti and their team of volunteer strimmers have been blazing trails into the phragmites and reedmace beds either side of the Northern Trail to create passage ways that not only allow the wildlife the chance to forage...

Last night's pumping has left us with another great area of exposed mud and very shallow water on Purfleet Scrape and Nicole has been out there this afternoon with the tractor, topping the taller vegetation for the first time this season so it should see more waders dropping in to this inviting habitat...

The extreme heat of last week has stressed out one or two of the new plants in the bog garden but we have kept them wet and have added a bark chip mulch to sooth them! I was in Norfolk at the weekend and visited the biannual Langham Street Fair where I bought some more great damp loving plants from Jelly...

As you will no doubt remember, back in late May and early June our Wildlife Pond got vandalised to the extent that we decided not to repair the many punctures just so that it could be damaged and the plants trampled down again. Today saw the start of the rebirth of the area and with the help of Mark...

With waders returning earlier that we expected with an surprising 18 species in June, we have already begun lowering the water levels in preparation for passage birds dropping in for a refuel. Nicole and Dhruti pumped out the back section of Purfleet Scrape yesterday and flooded the adjacent meadow leaving...

With wader breeding season over for another year we have let the cattle back onto Purfleet Scrape to help curb the now rampant vegetation. They look like they are having fun and have been joined by hoards of noisy young Starlings eager to find juicy insects in the tall grass. 3-7-12

Not really that surprising but with days of full on rain, water levels across the site we have once again risen quickly. On a plus point the Flowering Rush that caused so many problems last year has been kurbed somewhat by the higher levels although we are keeping an eye on it incase it makes a dash...

With the wettest the reserve has ever looked in the spring and Channel 4 coming down to film our "terrible drought conditins" last Thursday, it was not at all surprising that we saw another day of squally downpours of just the 'right' sort of rain to actually make a difference and add...

I do not know about you but can you picture a host of wonderful waders out here on the Purfleet Scrape from the hide? Trust me but there are two Little Ringed Plovers, six Lapwing, 2 Snipe and a Curlew out there! I reckon that we should have our first Greenshank on here within ten days!

I know that it is getting a little late in the season but our entrpid Thursday Work Party have been back into the Cordite today to give the two huge overgrown Budhlias on the back edge a serious haircut for the first time in nine years! There are already lots of new shoots low down so the butterfly-attracting...

Not much we could have done about the weather today; may be great for gulls and all that but not exactly ideal for planting bare root saplings. Not much choice really but with a stalwart group of hardy volunteers, myself and the Wardening Team, we managed to get about 250 safely into the ground. It was...

On Tuesday we had about 300 Teal on site but yesterday these numbers had swollen to over 1300 .... magic! A big sky full of duck! Wigeon remain stable at about 300 which is low for the time of year and about ten Pintail are still around along with the first two Pochard of the season. The newly reformed...

The fencing contractors have been back in today and have started to put the electric predator proof fence back up around Purfleet Scrape so that the whole area is now encompassed by this defensive line. They are making short work of it so there will be little disturbance. The first Lapwings were on the...

Over the last few years the phragmites and greater reedmace along the Northern Trail has filled up all the availble space and as such it has become almost impossible to see anything in the winter let alone the summer months unless it is either on top or along the front edges. As such, I headed out...

With heavy rain overnight that lasted till lunchtime and snow flurries every now and then it was great to see that the waters are startring to flow at last and Purleet Scrape is really starting to take shape with puddles merging and channels overflowing. There have been a few more Wigeon hanging around...

Thursday afternoon saw the start of six hours of glorious, steady rain which come Friday morning had wetted up pasrt of the new Purfleet Scrape and attracted the main flock of Canadas and Greylags to feed on the disturbed rhizomes. Just need more rain to make all the new systems work properly. Hopefully...

Dhruti has been out today strimming those parts of the Purfleet Scrape that were left intact in the re-landscaping and were previously untouchable by the tractor and mower! Two Water pipits and a Little Egret have also been exploring the uncovered expanse. Meanwhile Marc has been getting stuck...

Still going strong out on the scrape with four caterpillar dumpers and two JCBs working flat out. Hopefully it will be finished by the end of the week and then we shall just need the heavens to provide us with some free moisture to fill them up! The spoil is being ditributed over several area and...

On Friday the diggers arrived and headed out towards the Butts Scrape. Hopefully tomorrow they will begin work on relandscaping the islands in from og the Butts Hide which should reduce them in height and make the edges better for wildfowl and waders. I look forward to seeing it when I get back from...

Our contractors have been back on Purfleet Scrape over the last two days realigning the spoil heaps and bund left over from the works in the early spring to build the hide. All we need now is some more tweaking of the habitat to provide some nice shallow pools, some rain (like we have at the moment!...