Bearded Tits at Rainham Marshes

3rd March 2022

Time for a visit to Rainham Marshes for another attempt at those elusive Bearded Tits. Spring had definitely sprung since our last visit as demonstrated in the car park with a few clumps of Primrose and a nice display of Sweet Violets on the way to the visitor centre.

The first port of call was the Purfleet Hide which was fairly quiet apart from a few of the usual suspects such as these Wigeon. 

They are all pairing up now and I suspect the second photo is a proposal of marriage

 

Even the Lapwings were in a sprightly mood!!!

Further along the trail a flock of Greylag Geese were grazing in the field and a single female Reed Bunting was waiting for a male to come along. At this time of year I always expect there to be male Reed Buntings singing from the top of every bush but I am always about a month too early.

We only came across one Stonechat, a female along the northern trail

The Barrett Hide was also fairly quiet with just a few Canada Geese and a pair of Pochards. I've always wondered why the vast area of muddy margins don't attract pipits.

And now on to the Cordite Store which became totally overgrown during the lock-down period. Now that it has been cleared and the dominant brambles from the area within the circular path have been removed it will be interesting to see what emerges. To encourage biodiversity it may be necessary to restrict the growth of the brambles in future.

Because the area is totally bare at the moment the only bird of note was a female Kestrel. I have no idea whether it was the tame Kestrel that has been very much in the news recently, although it was posing rather nicely albeit at the top of a 40-foot tree.

So what about the Bearded Tits I hear you cry. Well, on our last few visits we have scarcely heard one let alone seen one and certainly not photographed one. But today it all came together and up to 4-5 birds, possibly more, were pinging around the dragonfly pools and showing well intermittently. Luckily all but one of the birds seen were males, and one obliged by doing the splits.

The single female was a lot more shy and kept to the back of the pond making photography a lot more difficult.

One of the males visited the grit tray on a couple of occasions and although not the ideal setting, did keep it still for a few seconds.

Well what another cracking day at Rainham and it won't be long now before the spring migrants are arriving.