Papermill lock

On Thursday I took a visit to paper mill lock on the river chelmer. I could hear a cuckoo calling along with a noisy pheasant. When we got to the water there was a family of baby Mallards and the swallows were darting about and ever so often would land on the telephone wires. We all walked upstream to hear more pheasant and reed bunting was singing from a bull rush. It was a fantastic day with great weather.

Matthew Foakes

Mallard Chick

mallard

Family of Mallards

Robin

robin

swallow

swallow

Rainham Marshes

Hi readers, my family and I visited my local patch at Rainham Marshes.  The sun was beaming down and there was not a cloud in sight, so it was a good day  for birdwatching and photography.  The Reed Buntings was singing high upon the Bull Rushes along with Sedge Warblers and White Throats. Here are my shots of the day.

Jamie Croft

Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Mute Swan

Hovering Kestrel

Reed Bunting taking off

hovering Kestrel

River Chelmer canoeing trip

We went to the river chelmer on Sunday night and canoed on the Monday. At night when in our tents we would hear the tawny owl calling and the bats screeching call. Dawn corus started at around 5:00am. We could hear almost all of the garden birds including the green woodpecker. Then something surprising started to call it was the cookoo. The first we have hear this year! 

We started conoeing at 10:00am seeing a common tern whizzing up and down the river and often splashing down to catch a fish. 15 swallows flew over head and we could hear another cookoo calling. We left the main river and entered the black water which was very hard to paddle down due to the wave splashing over the boat. 7 oystercatchers could be seen along with a hovering kestrel. As the tide was going out it became harder to paddle. Thankfully a king man in a motor boat towed us back to the mooring area at hieghbridge basin. We all very hungry as we had not eaten since breakfast. It was very enjoyable trip but if we had to been towed then we would have run around!

Young birders

Rainham Marshes

Went to rainham today in hope to see the grasshopper warbler there but no luck. The marsh frogs are showing very well as are the reed buntings, white throats and wrens. I saw the first 2 sand martins of the year for me and 5 swallows. And a noisy pheasant to round up the day and a lovely water vole!!.

Matthew Foakes

Wren

Marsh Frog

Air Balloon

Pheasant

Pheasant

Water Vole

peacock butterfly

A days Birding in my back garden

I woke up this morning to find that a pair of Blue Tits had taken an interest in our garden bird box.  I was thrilled to know that we had a pair of Blue Tits nesting in our bird box!  Other than the blue Tits, hear are some more birds that visit my garden regularly.  I will keep you updated with our nesting Blue Tits with photos and information on how they are getting on.

                                                   Jamie Croft

Our nesting Blue Tits!!

Singing Starling

Dunnock

Male House Sparrow

Curious Robin

Rye Meads

My mum and I arrived at Rye Meads in search of Kingfishers.  After a two hour wait in the hide, the King Fishers finally appeared in a flutter of colour up.  Here are my photos taken at Rye Meads.
                                                         
Jamie Croft

KingFisher

Jamie Croft

Jamie Croft

Canada Goose

Jamie Croft

Mute Swan

Jamie Croft

Coot

Jamie Croft

Heighbridge basin

Today I went to heighbridge basin but the weather wasn't as good as the other days. The tide was going out which made it good for large numbers of black tailed godwit and grey plover. More and more bh gulls were on the there breeding island as well as 2 common terns on that lagoon. On the other lagoon the island where the avocets nested last year is so submerging as there was a oystercatcher sitting on it. The first swallows were flying through. I love the way there sore thought air with there forked tail like the tern. It started to rain in the end but only when we were in the car.

Matthew Foakes

Common tern

black tailed godwit



common tern



common tern

little egret

sparrow

swallow

Rye meads

I have just come back from a days birding at rye Mead's. My idea of going there was to see the kingfishers but did I see them?? We set of hearing that the the kingfishers had been seen 1/2 an hour ago so there was a good chance. The first had brought us shelduck, pochard, tufted duck and little grebe which came rather close a times. The next two hides Tern and gadwall hide allowed us to see cormorants, great crested grebe and more tufted duck.

Finally the kingfisher hide. Would we see the kingfisher?? As I opened the door I hear a lady call" Kingfisher, kingfisher in the back tree. I found me and my family a seat and there in the back tree was the KINGFISHER! The female sat there for sometime as the hide emptied out and was just about to go and then in came closer. Then flew into a tree. When I thought it couldn't get any better she flew onto the closest post. Result! They are not the rarest bird in the world but they are magnificent birds. The back to the car was exciting waiting to see what the photo would look like on the computer at home. Photos below.

Matthew Foakes

kingfisher

kingfisher

little grebe

Canada goose

cormorant

pochard

shelduck

Rainham Marshes

Today I took a visit to rainham my local patch. The weather was warm and the sky was blue. I set off seeing a nothing at the feeders towards the woodland. There I saw as usuall the Robins, blue tits, great tits and a Female Black cap. In the 1st hide I saw 6 little grebe, 2 great crested grebe and a a mute swan. As well as the mallard, shelduck and other common wildfowll. As I walked around I could hear the Reed buntings and sedge warbler singing. There was nothing at all in the second hide. As we were walking back I spotted a kestrel hovering. There was not much on the sea wall and over at day with not much seen.

Matthew Foakes

mute swan

Bull rushes

Canada geese

marsh frog

kestrel

little grebe

great tit