Trip reports

Rainham

Sunday, 14 October 2007

We were treated to some wonderful autumn sunshine for the group's first visit to the RSPB reserve at Rainham Marshes. The small area of reed and foreshore by the reserve entrance was quite productive as we waited for the reserve to open. There was continuous movement amongst the small bushes; goldfinch, greenfinch, grey heron, redshank, pied wagtail, great black backed gull, wren, dunnock, blue tit, great tit and reed bunting were all easily seen from the path. Inside the reserve a number of greylag geese were close to the visitor's centre, along with widgeon and a little egret. We opted to explore in an anti clockwise direction. A green woodpecker showed well perching on telegraph poles and a group of 7 mistle thrushes were spotted on an electrical pylon. We spent some time in the hide where we were treated to a close up view of a feeding kestrel and a snipe hid in the grass. Further out on the water there were mute swan, pintail, shoveler, gadwall, ruff and a solitary dunlin. Better views of these birds and a little grebe were obtained from the main footpath. Two sparrowhawks circled overhead as we emerged from the hide. As we continued around the reserve a cormorant was drying it's wings on a large nest box and the rear of the party had a fly past from a kingfisher. Meadow pipits were seen in the grass and a second kestrel posed on a fence. Stonechats and skylarks were numerous around the reserve. After lunch we explored the river path without finding anything of interest. With time to spare we decided on an unscheduled stop at Bough Beech on the return journey. At the visitor centre the feeders were alive with small birds. Blue tit, great tit and green finch were numerous and there were frequent visits from a nuthatch, but the best was a quick visit by a marsh tit. The nearby pond had a number of widgeon, mallard and teal. A number of woodland birds were seen in the trees including a number of jackdaws. We visited the causeway where a very large and vocal party of greylag geese had just arrived. Other birds present were cormorant, canada goose, great crested grebes, mallard, teal, morehen, tufted duck, pheasant, long tailed tit, coot and snipe. A little egret and a few grey herons were positioned at the waters edge, while a group of lapwings were roosting on the lake side. A brief visit by a grey wagtail completed the sightings for the day.