Bearded Tits At Rainham Marshes

19th July 2026

I arrived in the car park at 8.00am so time for a walk along the river wall until the reserve opens. I took the lower path as you can see over the saltmarsh and the bushes below the sea wall. The first birds to appear were a family party of Long-tailed Tits that were flying from one bush to the next.

In fact there was quite a lot of activity amongst the bushes and the next species to appear in a Hawthorn was a Reed Warbler...........................

.......................followed by a most obliging Sedge Warbler.

Now away from the bushes and approaching Avelely Bay where even at this unseasonal time of year there are usually a few non-breeding waders such as this Oystercatcher..............

........................and the usual Black-tailed Godwits all in their summer plumage

Eventually they came closer.

It was great to see so many Shelducks out on the mud, the vast  majority being juveniles.

Now on to the reserve and time for some breakfast in the Purfleet Hide. Rather surprisingly there were only two Common Terns on the whole scrape.

There was of course the compulsory Heron......................

.......................and great to see that this juvenile had already learned the trick of using his wings as sun reflectors when sunbathing.

Also a single Great White Egret and with a Heron for comparison.

But the speciality here today was this Spoonbill, a fairly uncommon visitor to Rainham.

Now on my way to the Butts Hide and approaching the bridge just before you get to the Dragonfly Pools. The end of the hand-rail has falllen off and Paper Wasps have moved in and have constructed one of their exquisite paper nests. You can distinguish Paper Wasps from common UK wasps by their more slender elongated bodies, bright orange-tipped antennae, and longer hind legs that dangle forwards when they fly.

Now in the Butts Hide and 10 Little Egrets were roosting on one of the islands and taking some time off for a spot of preening.

There was also a few pairs of Avocets with small chicks with the adults watching out for potential predators.

Canada Geese certainly aren't a threat to Avocet chicks but the adults don't know that and after all Canada Geese are big. So what does a small slender white bird do to a large fat brown bird?....................well, attack of course!!!!

Job done.

But the stars of the show today were the family of Bearded Tits comprising Mum, Dad and two juveniles. They were feeding on the mud by the Dragonfly Pool and were fairly easy to see provided  they didn't get too close and disappear behind the reeds. This is the adult female with a generally light brown plumage and a distinct golden eye.

The male was far more difficult to photograph as he had a favourite spot close in to the reeds so was always partially obscured.

But this was more than made up for by the two juveniles which were far more adventurous and spent more time on the open mud. They are a richer colour than the adult females and have distinctive Dusty Springfield eyes. Juvenile males have orange bills like this one, whereas juvenile females have brown bills.

Well what a fantastic day at Rainham and the autumn migration period is just round the corner.