Rainham Marshes (1 December 2025)

It was a wet, windy and frankly rather miserable day weatherwise. However, birders are determined creatures and nine of us duly assembled at Rainham Marshes, starting at the Visitors’ Centre where we looked out over the Purfleet Scrape. The first thing to catch the eye was the large number of Pintail and Wigeon. Shoveler, Teal, Gadwall and Shelduck were also present.  Keen to see more at close quarters we walked down to the Purfleet hide next to the scrape only to note huge numbers of ducks flying off towards the sea as we appr oached, even though the tide was in. Had they heard we were coming? More likely the exodus was caused by the pair of Marsh Harriers observed swooping over the scrape. These two magnificent raptors worked very hard to entertain us during the day, being seen from various vantage points as we made our way around the Reserve. In addition, a Sparrowhawk flew past as we set up in the hide. Without the close-up sights of the ducks to look at we played “spot the Snipe” instead and found a grand total of nine. In reality there were probably many more disguising themselves in the reeds and scrub.

We moved on to the Shooting Butts Hide, now restored after the human inflicted damage in the summer. The Butts scrape was fairly empty apart from the Marsh Harriers and a Grey Heron flying over, but the Target Pools were well occupied by 23 Great Black-backed Gulls, together with Wigeon, Lapwing, and Canada Geese.

Walking on to the Ken Barratt Hide we saw our first Pochard of the day and a single Black-tailed Godwit flying over. The Marsh Harriers seemed to be following us round, making up for the lack of other birds by treating us to a flypast at low level. Oddly it was only this late in the day that we saw our first Mute Swan.

At this point we split into small groups and meandered our way via differing routes back to the warmth of the Visitors Centre, noting a lonely Chiffchaff “chiffing” rather mournfully from a tree and a Kestrel doing its best to hover in the wind. My group returned in time to see a very happy fellow birder wearing the satisfied smile of a man who has (a) got a hot cup of tea in his hand, and (b) just seen a Green Sandpiper probably spot of the day. We joined him in drinking tea and coffee and watching the Blue and Great Tits, House Sparrows and Goldfinches using the Centre feeders. On the far bank of the river Roy found some distant Redshanks.

By this time the tide was going out so we walked along the riverside path towards Aveley Bay. We were rewarded with a new species for the day, a Curlew, and a number of distant black and white birds that we tried very hard to make into avocets but which insisted on being Shelducks.

All in all not a bad total for an initially uninspiring looking day.

by Julia Keddie

Species total: 49

Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Feral Pigeon, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Tit, Green Sandpiper, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh Harrier, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pintail, Pochard, Redshank, Robin, Shelduck, Shoveler, Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Teal, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Wood Pigeon