A Spoonbill at Rainham Marshes

19th October 2017

The weather had be pretty awful over the last couple of days with virtually continual cloud cover, but today was forecast to brighten up by mid-day, so off to Rainham Marshes to see the Spoonbill.
A quick tea-break in the Purfleet Hide revealed a total absence of waders, but this was more than compensated for by a large flock of 100+ finches which were predominantly Goldfinches but with a handful of Linnets thrown in.

Theye were fairly flighty but settled a few times on the remnants of the Creeping Thistles before dropping on to the shallow pools for a drink and a bath.

So time now to move round to the Aveley Pools but was distracted en route by this stunning male Stonechat which was sitting up high on a bramble bush just before the Ken Barrett Hide. Couldn't resist a shot.

Finally arrived at the first pool viewpoint where the Spoonbill was asleep on a distant island. Estimating distance over water is exremely difficult as there are no landmarks to help. I therefore went on to Google Earth and took a measurement from the satellite image of pool from the viewpoint to the nearest island. Surprisingly, the main pool is 190 yards wide and the distance to the Spoonbill was no less than 230 yards, so not surpring that it was difficult to get any decent photos especially in poor light.

The Spoonbill did eventually wake up and even went for a short fly-round when the birds on the pool were spooked by a passing Marsh Harrier.

Well, once again the weather forecast was wrong as the sunny spells never materialised, but an enjoyable day nevertheless and nice to meet John Humble and Steve Elwell.