A Mid-April Visit to Rainham Marshes

18th April 2025

A warm and sunny day so time for some breakfast in the Purfleet Hide. The resident Lapwings were parading in front of the hide, and out on one of the islands was a pair of rather smart Lesser Black-backed Gulls. 

Also a lone Egyptian Goose was having a bath, and boy when they have a bath, they really have a bath.

And a male Pied Wagtail was searching for insects amongst the dock leaves.

Along the trail the Marsh Frogs were finally finding their voice and trying to attract a female.

Along the river wall Linnets were fairly plentiful as usual and were posing well in the sun.

Always nice to get a pair on the bramble.

Warblers were well represented with plenty of Chiffchaffs and the newly arrived Sedge Warblers and Whitethroats.

In the woodland was a Jay, the first I have seen here for a while.

So what were the three most memorable moments today? Well the first was the pair of Redhanks that were showing that spring was in the air on the Purfeet scrape, although she seemed to be totally underwhelmed by the whole thing.

The second was the Common Tern that spotted a fish and went in for the kill in front of the Ken Barratt Hide.

And the third was the male Dark-edged Beefly that was hovering just four feet away in the woodland. I thought I would try my hand at some in-flight insect photography and here is the result. Reasonably happy with that.