It’s been an exciting couple of weeks on the South Essex Marshes; last weekend saw brief visits from a Glossy Ibis and a Great White Egret, both seen from the hide overlooking Pitsea Scrape. Visitors to the hide have also been rewarded with great views of Marsh Harrier quartering over the reedbed, and good numbers of Avocet on the scrape. Across our other reserves, highlights have included Whimbrel and Cuckoo at West Canvey Marshes, and at Vange Marsh a Ring-necked Parakeet was seen flying over. These colourful exotic birds now have an expanding feral population after escaping from collections in London.

On sunny days, West Canvey Marshes is a great place to see reptiles, Common Lizard, Slow-worm and Adder have all been seen recently basking in the sunshine. The warm weather is also great for seeing butterflies, so why not make the most of the next sunny day and get out to visit one of our reserves.

Thanks to Steve Arlow for the above images of the glossy ibis and great white egret.

South Essex Marshes had a great Little Owls session this morning. Our theme was space so the children learnt all about stars and planets through games and activities, we also explored some very muddy paths through the park and built space rockets from recycled materials. Little Owls is the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of every month 10am - 4pm. £3.50 or £2.50 for RSPB members, no need to book just turn up on the day.

Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers are a troublesome duo unless they are singing!

These two shots should help out a little...

Thanks to Howard at Rainham for the ID photo

This weekend our first blue tit chick hatched, we now have eleven tiny little chicks and two very devoted and I'm sure proud parents. Our visitor centre is open daily 10 am - 5 pm, come along and watch their progress in stunning live colour footage.