Birding Braunie

Still basking in my Serin glory, I warmed down by heading straight for the familiar surroundings of Rainham Marshes. After Lee Valley, this is my home. I love it; I love the warm welcome and I love the diversity of the birds that come here. It’s a true barometer for spring migration and frankly, anything is possible – any time. I headed straight for the Cordite area and quickly picked up a singing Chiffchaff. At the feeders, the Brown rats were putting on a show (funny how in a totally natural setting, these rodents retain a certain ahhh factor as they busied themselves picking up seed and chaff from the feeders. This area is a hotbed of action. Great Tits, Blue Tits, Chaffinches, Collared Doves and Reed Buntings all commute in to the feeders, taking turns and jumping away when the next bird is due. If I did’t know better, I would think they have a ticket system like you see at the deli counter at Tesco. I made my way round the circuit not seeing too much ...

Spring has arrived. The garden is on the verge of bursting out in blooms of Cherry and Apple blossoms, Daffodils, Camellias and Bluebells. But it’s not what you see that tells you spring is here, oh no, it’s the birds or to be exact, the dawn chorus. For the lucky ones, this heralds in the spring and is a joy to listen to and doesn’t require covering you head with the pillow because it woke you up. Because the weather was so nice, I decided to take a leisurely trip down to Rainham. Although spring has arrived, Rainham still seems to have traces of winter stubbornly refusing to leave. With a 2nd winter Iceland Gull and a single snow bunting around, it was an ideal place to catch a few lingering winter birds as well as catch up with some early spring ones. As with every trip here, I always start with a walk along the Thames path. Always a chance of wheatear or whinchat but not today. Instead, I came across about three water pipit s. The Thames foreshore has always been good for these...