Winter Thrushes at Rainham Marshes

16th December 2022

A nice snowy day for a walk round Rainham Marshes looking for Bearded Tits and winter thrushes. Not surprisingly all the water was frozen over so didn;t expect to see any ducks, although the Wigeon had other ideas and were flying in from the river the graze on the meadows despite them being covered in snow.

Don't you just love that whistling sound?

There were a few winter thrushes around the reserve but the largest numbers were on the river wall. Also, no sign of any Beardies so off to the wall we go. It was nice to see a flock of about 30 Linnets feeding on the saltmarsh  on what appeared to be Buddleia seeds.

What handsome little birds.

Also along the wall were the usual suspects such as this Mapgpie and female Kestrel.............

.....................and on the grassy bank a few Meadow Pipits.

The sun is not well placed for photographing waders in Aveley Bay, but this Redshank did come further up the shore and slightly round the sun.

So now on to the winter thrushes. There were plenty of Redwings about but all a bit skittish and generally playing hard to get, so only a couple of shots.

However the Fieldfares, my favourite thush and one of the first "rare" birds I saw as a lad, were far more accommodating and posed nicely for some shots.

They even posed well for a couple of group shots and then some flight shots.

You just gotta love a Fieldfare!!!