Hi everyone,

I hope you are ok.

I hope you don't mind, but I would like to leave you all a little message.

I wanted to say goodbye to you all! :(  I am very sorry to say that I'm off!  I'm heading over to Rainham Marshes (click here to see Rainham's blog) as their new Education Officer!

Rye Meads is the most wonderful place, with the most wonderful staff, volunteers and visitors that I have ever had the pleasure to meet! I have had an amazing time at Rye Meads!

I started working at Rye Meads nine years ago, and have enjoyed every moment!

 Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)

 This is me when I started volunteering as part of my degree back in 2003!

I had had such a wonderful time at the reserve over the years - I've learnt so much, had the most brilliant time, and made a lot of friends.

I will never forget my time at Rye Meads, and it certainly won't be the last time I visit - I only live up the road (and I'll still be running the childrens WEx Club once a month!)

I want to say a big thank you to everyone! To all the staff, volunteers, and to all of you! Thank you all for reading this blog over the last couple of years, thank you for visiting Rye Meads.

Bye for now! Come see me at Rainham, and I'll be back to Rye Meads soon!

Take care xxxx

Good afternoon,

I hope that you are all well. Been enjoying the sunshine? Enjoy the weather and come and visit us!

So I thought I would do a quick (ish) blog. This is the second time I'll be writing all of this, so hopefully this time I won't  press the wrong button and accidentally delete it all!

Do you all remember the Kestrel Saga? I'm sure you do, if you want to remind youself check out the blog: http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/groups/ryemeads/blog/archive/2010/08/24/august-update-kingfishers-kestrels-stuff-for-families-and-more.aspx

 Over the last couple of weeks a kestrel has been using the box on the pylon, in the car park, to roost and  to avoid the rainy weather. I nipped out on Thursday and took this photo of the kestrel in the box for you:
 
On Friday 1 October I even saw two kestrels sitting in the box getting out of the rain!  Looks good for a pair next year!

Now, I was thinking... this started after the injured male was released. No kestrel has used it to roost before that... I wonder if its the same bird!
The injured male (I think we should name him, it gets very confusing saying the injured male!) was ringed. The Rye Meads Ringing Group are the ones that caught the male when he was injured and took him to the Raptor Foundation to be looked after. The Ringing Group are highly trained and licenced so they can safely and legally handle birds. They can fit small rings onto birds legs (it's just like us wearing a wrist watch), they can weigh, sex and age the birds and then will release them. Each ring has a unique number so if a bird is caught again ringing groups around the world can tell when and where that birds was first ringed. Ringing provides alot of information about birds, their migration and population sizes - so in other words its really important as it tells us alot about birds and their behaviour.

Anyhoo, the injured male was ringed - check out this photo of Paul from the Rye Meads Ringing Group holding the bird just before he was released back in August after his three month stay at the Raptor Foundation:
 (Photo Keith Bedford, 14 August 2010)
Can you see the silver ring on the kestrels leg?

Well we wondered if it was the same bird... Does the roosting kestrel have a ring:
Its a bit hard to tell the picture is a bit fuzzy (hey, I was holding the camera to the telescope).

Here is a close up:
  There's a ring - on the same leg as the injured male. Is it the same bird? Well we can't say for sure but it could be, I'm choosing to believe it is!

Hot Off The Press - the Rye Meads' Newsletter!
The brand new Autumn newsletter is out now. This issue of the 'Eye on Rye' contains autumn at the reserve, star species, an interview with Sir Graham Wynne former Chief Executive of the RSPB, 60 second interview with two of Rye Meads' key volunteers.... and more!

Download it now! If you click on the blue headline of this blog (so you're opening the blog post) there will be a downlaod link at the bottom of the page. Have a look under where it says "posted by Louise Moss at 15.20 on 11 October 2010, and then underneath that there will be a thin grey line and then you'll see "Attachments: Eye on Rye Autumn 2010" and you want to click on the words Eye on Rye Autumn 2010 and ta-da! There it will be!

I hope you enjoy it!

Afternoon all!

How are you this fine afternoon?

I was wondering if there was anything you wanted to know (other than what the kingfishers are doing!)? Do you want to know anything about the wildlife, or what/ how we do stuff here? How long something has been here?

What do you want to know for me to blog about?

:) Lou

Morning all!

I hope that you are all well. Did you all remember to change your clocks?

Yesterday we saw two kestrels by the nestbox on the plyon in the car park! Will we have another pair breed in the box this year? Keep your eyes pealed!
 This picture was taken this time last year... I wonder if they use this box this year...

The kingfishers are definately a favourite bird! Lots of people are enjoying watching them!
Can I be cheeky.... I know we all want to see kingfishers, but if you are planning on being in the hide for a long time please can you be considerate of others - swap round so everyone can see! It can get quite busy at times.
One day we would like to have a hide that is twice as big, but we will have to wait until we find funders... one day we will!

Anyhoo, the kingfishers are still showing off at the moment. They haven't started laying eggs yet, so they are hanging around on the posts and in the branches, investigating the holes and they've been seen mating.

The courting behaviour is quite important for the bonding of the pair - the female like being wined and dined (well, given many presents of fishes but you know what I mean!)

They have been going in and out of the holes, I don't think they have decided which they are going to use yet. We did see them going into a different hole this morning (the one they used last year, with the streaks underneath the hole). This might be a possible hole, or they might have just gone to look... Who knows! I'll keep you all up to date!

These two pictures were taken by one of our visitors Brenda. Brenda can usually be found over at Rainham, next time you visit Rainham say hi!  (*waves* Hi brenda!) Check out Rainham's blog page here

Come visit soon! Before they lay their first clutch of eggs is the best time
to see them, so come and visit soon! 

Afternoon all.

I hope you are all well.

Just thought I would tell you some of the highlights over the last week or so. We've had the usual things (loads of pochard, teal, tufted duck, gadwall, mallard, mute swan, little grebe, snipe, green sandpiper, kingfisher, robin, blue tit, great tit, green finch, chaffinch, robin, blackbird, etc) but a few different things have been showing really well.

Do you remember when the garganey appeared? Well it's been spotted again, showing quite well since the 11 September. Yesterday is was on the lagoons overlooked by the Tern Hide.

An osprey showed really well flying over the reserve on 12 September.

Our first wigeon of the season was spotted on the lagoons on 6 September.

The baby kingfishers have been and gone, but one of the adults is still about. The adult has been spotted from the Ashby Hide,
you may get a chance of seeing them as they fish around all over the reserve.

Has anyone worked out the creature in the mini picture quiz? I'll give you another chance - any ideas anyone? Feel free to comment with your suggestions! They're things from the reserve, none of which are birds! :)