Whinchat at Rainham

Took the Jims to Rainham today only to find the reserve was closed for the day but we made the best of it and scoped from the river wall. The Grasshopper Warbler was reeling well and the Corn Bunting was also singing as we got out of the car too. The walk down the river allowed us to enjoy many Greater and a few Lesser Whitethroats with Sedge, Reed and Cetti's warblers all calling too along with the odd Blackcap.

At MDZ we found a Greenshank and one of the Black-winged Stilts and a later scan of Winter pool allowed us to see the other two Stilts, a Wood Sandpiper, a Blackwit, another Greenshank and three Ruff. Over the reserve we saw Buzzards, Kestrels, Marsh Harrier and at least three Hobby. We also noted several Butterfly species with Wall Browns evident along the footpath.

Our last point of call was a walk up the hill to the tip where we found three Whinchat, a Stonechat, Corn Buntings and five Red Kites to end a good visit.

Year list now 195

Black-winged Stilt

Lesser Whitethroat

Wall Brown butterfly