RSPB Rainham Marshes - Young Birders Walk, 12th April 2019

(I'm back!)

After finishing exams about a month ago, I've been busy catching up with all the stuff I've missed over the last few months; blog posts are something I especially need to catch up on!

I organised the 3rd London Young Birders walk before Easter, setting a date for the 12th April, where it seemed Rainham would get some decent birds. Once again it was to be led by Sam Levy, and although a few people from previous meet-ups couldn't join this walk our group of 6 consisted of myself, Sam, Calum M, Ben R, James McC and Fraser (Essex Birder on Twitter.) We all met at the visitor centre at 09:30am greeted by Rainham legend Howard, ready for a good days birding around the reserve. However, with the decent winds, birding from the visitor centre was a pretty good start - 3 species of hirundines were about, as were Common Terns that were constantly moving down the river. 

Med Gull

Med Gulls

Kestrel

Kestrel

We started off heading through the woodland hoping for a flycatcher or something like that, though very little was seen or heard (except the numerous Cetti's Warblers.) Just as we reached the end of the woodland Sam picked up 2 Mediterranean Gulls drifting NE/E at some height. These turned out to be the first of many for the day. As we walked through the start of the reedbeds a starling imitating a Willow Warbler made us look twice, although very little else was around yet, other than a few Little Egret. Heading onwards our first Sedge Warblers of the day and for some of us the year were singing and hopping up over the reeds, which was a pleasing start. As we reached the end of the boardwalk, our first Bearded Tit of the day made an appearance, as did the first Reed Warbler. 

Common Redshank

Lapwing

With winds shifting and the sky turning grey, it was somewhat amazing to watch the sky suddenly fill with Hirundines, as dozens of them - mostly Swallows and Sand Martins - began to descend from the clouds, while we made our way towards the second hide. As we approached, a further 2 Med Gulls appeared calling, coming fairly low down in the dull grey clouds, before continuing on N/NE.
From here it was largely quiet - however, a few Marsh Harriers were around, and a Ruff was found on the Target Pools, showing well through Calum's scope. Then with news of a Grasshopper Warbler reeling near the river - a lifer for some of us - we began to make our way along the path. Unsurprisingly there was no sight or sound, as it seemed most likely to be a fresh arrival that was resting after it's journey. After finding a second Ruff on the Target Pools, we headed on to the screens where a pinging male Bearded Tit stopped us, showing very well for once! After a brief stop here to admire the bird, we headed up to the river. 

male Bearded Tit

Bearded Tit

Bearded Tit

The plan was to carry along the river path towards the mound. Within seconds of reaching the path, I raised my binoculars to see a bird whizz past a ridge on the river. I couldn't identify the bird in the split second I saw it, but it didn't look like any of the Great Crested Grebes that were on the water, giving the impression of a Merganser/Goosander. At the same time as I said 'What's this' James called 'Merganser' as the male disappeared over the riverwall. Little did we know that this would have been a patch tick for Sam, who legged it to the ridge hoping it hadn't passed the bridge, which it seemingly had...

Skylark

Skylark

Kestrel

Despite this disappointment, we headed on to the mound, where Stonechats, Meadow Pipit and Skylark were all abundant. Whilst watching the Skylarks displaying, Terns continued to move down the river while huge groups of Mediterranean Gulls were moving high overhead. Just as I took a picture of a Skylark on a post Sam noticed another bird on the post further along, and it flew just at that point, confirming a Corn Bunting. After flying it joined 2 more birds, before heading off further down the mound! 

Skylark singing

Skylark and Corn Bunting

Meadow Pipit

Raven

Raven

We then decided to start to head back towards the visitor centre, coming across a Raven overhead - a decent bird for Rainham. As we began to walk back, reaching the river path again, Sam pointed out a very distant bird, before saying slightly unwillingly 'GBBG.' A minute or two later he decided to check his phone. Almost immediately he shouted  'White Stork over Aveley!!!' At this point it was panic stations - we frantically began looking upwards and across trying to find the bird. A few seconds later I spotted it back over the West End of the reserve, getting the unbelievably excited Ben onto it while everyone else was watching it. We then pelted it back along the path, scopes and all, towards the end of the mound. The massive bird then began to drop, towards the tip with all the gulls, who were obviously unhappy with the bird's arrival... For almost half an hour we had the pleasure of watching the bird circle the tip, then the mound, then the reserve again, before it seemingly landed on the tip. It was pretty awesome stuff, and though it wasn't a lifer it was a cracking bird to see so well, with that half an hour showing why birding can be so exciting! 

White Stork

go, go, go

White Stork

White Stork

White Stork

White Stork

White Stork

White Stork

White Stork

White Stork

Jackdaw photobomb

White Stork

Eventually, with everyone happy with the views, we headed back towards the visitor centre, not caring about anything else we came across at that point! As it was already quite late, we decided to nip down to the closest hide after lunch to try and find the Jack Snipe found by Howard that morning. But by this point our luck had run out, and we settled for several Snipe and Redshank. We then had to head back home, concluding a 3rd extremely successful London Young Birders walk, which brought about the 250th UK Bird for both Ben and James, while it was a lifer for Fraser. (Sidenote - although the bird was ringed, it was a bird that had been rehabilitated in the UK following an injury abroad, and so as far as we and others were concerned it was wild enough to tick) 

Marsh Frog

Marsh Frog

Little Egret and Greylag

Marsh Harrier and A13

Thanks for reading :)

https://twitter.com/ArjunDutta210/status/1117014305420058624
https://twitter.com/FinchleyBirder/status/1117115263818915840
https://twitter.com/BRNature1/status/1116786680869138433
https://twitter.com/BirderEssex/status/1116742266343829506
https://twitter.com/My_Wild_Life/status/1116729304799502336
https://twitter.com/mckellar_calum

Fraser was a bit excited..!