Brian's birding blog: Rainham and KGV

Saturday, 11 April 2026

Rainham and KGV

I'm currently running around looking after family as much as I possibly can but I have made a commitment to myself to squeeze in a bit more time for birding and as such I'm dropping into KGV and Rainham when I can. Travelling time is a few minutes for each so I'm spending more time birding and less time driving although I do crave a good day on the coast.

Over the last couple of days I've chosen Rainham and yesterday I saw Spotted Redshank, LRP, Corn Bunting, Curlew, Blackwit and a large number of both Sedge Warbler and Whitethroats. A great Egret was out on the marsh and three Common Terns were in Aveley bay and this morning I took Jim hoping he'd see the Spotted Redshank and he wasn't dissapointed as it was still on the small pool below Serin mound. A couple of Ruff were new. We marched up the mound to the tip as Jim needed Corn Bunting and soon found one on the scaffold poles. A Wheatear was seen on the way down the other side too. On the foreshore we had 51 Avocet 6 Blackwits, a Ringed Plover and 2 Curlew. The walk along the river wall was full of the calls of Cetti's, Sedge and Whitethroats and as we stopped at the turnstile we picked up Garden and Willow Warbler along with our first Reed Warblers of the year and then Jim said "Gropper" (his ears work better than my ears) with my ears cupped I managed to pick it up but it then went silent and despite a half an hour wait we didn't hear it again. (Think is a first Gropper for Rainham this year so well done Jim) We found a couple of Common Tern out by the sailing club and had a fly over Gt Egret but the rain came down so we headed for the cover of the car. The wind and rain looked likely to push some birds down the river but with a Red-rumped Swallow reported on our patch at KGV we decided to head back that way.

We waited for a second report and as that landed we headed over. We did the mile or so out to the north east corner at a gallop stopping briefly to discuss the bird with finder Ian L as he headed home. We checked all the Swallows as we headed along the east bank and found that lot's of House Martin had arrived in the couple of days since we last visited. Sand Martin numbers were up and there were now lots of Swallow. Surprised to find no other birders on the magic corner we set about scanning all the Swallows which promptly decided to gain height and head off east. Joined by another three birders on the corner and three on Sewardstone marsh we spent an hour searching befoe news that the bird had been seen near the causeway half a mile or so away. We got to the causeway to negative news but then the bird reappeared and we enjoyed several passes and managed to give directions to the three guys on the other side of the relief channel who also managed to get on the bird. Five Yellow and a White Wagtail were also seen.