Spring Has Arrived at Rainham Marshes

20th April 2024

Into the third week in April now so time for a visit to Rainham to hopefully photograph some spring migrants. The reserve was livening up after a fairly quiet February and March, and along the trail to the Marshland Discovery Zone (MDZ) were Long-tailed Tits and Linnets.

No sign of the Kingfishers at the MDZ just the usual Little Grebe, and a rather splendid drake Shoveler. Perhaps he is thinking of staying on to breed.

The streams along the trails were full of tiny Marsh Frogs, presumably the young from last year. No sign of any large frogs so perhaps still a bit too cold.

But the biggest surprise of all was seeing a couple of Water Voles at a site I have never seen them at before. It has been a while since I've seen a Water Vole at Rainham.

So now on to the spring migrants. Reed Warblers have only just arrived and are normally hard to see, let alone photograph, at this time of year as they tend to sing deep down in the old reeds. However, this one was collecting nest material and gave a brief glimpse, enough for a couple of shots.

Now on to the river wall where there was plenty of action. A few Sedge Warblers have arrived and are staking out their territories, singing their scratchy song and showing their distinctive orangey-red throat.

Whitethroats are always plentiful here and easy to find as they belt out their burst of a song from the top of a bush.

And if you keep still they will often appear right next to you, still singing.

But the stars of the show today were the 2-3 male Wheatears along the path by the foreshore. Luckily there were only a few people about so they were quite happy feeding right in front of us and sometimes running towards us. A wonderful way to spend an hour.

And as we were leaving we were able to watch the Thames Barge Marjorie sailing past the visitor centre on her way to the estuary. I wonder where she was going?

Better than petrol and diesel...................and electric!!!!!!