*Please ignore the mistake in the title it should say August not July, for some reason I can't change it* An important day lay ahead of me as my alarm went off at 5:30am. Breakfast was quickly had and then off to the station at just before 6 in the pouring rain. The Train journey went smoothly after that and I even managed to run onto the Central Line and end up standing next to one of my good birding friends. This made the train journey from Liverpool Street to Purfleet even better and more amusing than normal and was topped off by 2 Swallows heading South over Barking station at just gone 7. Simon got off at Rainham and headed the long way round, whilst I went one stop further to Purfleet. I had just enough time to do a bit of birding along the sea wall before I had to be at the reserve. I had a look out onto the Thames and out in the middle there were at least 10 Common Terns fishing. A large flock of at least 30 House Martins were feeding up above the housing estate behind me. An Oystercatcher called from the far bank and so too did a Common Sandpiper which flew across the river and landed under the pier type thing next to me. A Cormorant flew up river and a lonely Swallow headed South. By this time I was nearly at the reserve. The drawbridge came down at just before 8 and I headed into the reserve, and into the hustle and bustle of the day ahead. I then went out to Jamie who was on car park duty with Max to find out where I needed to be and I was sent up the access road to where Ryan would be waiting for me to help set up the event. On the way there I somehow managed to scare up a Kingfisher and It flew calling loudly into the Woodland and towards the Cordite Store. Cetti's Warblers sang around me, whilst Reed Warblers, and Common Whitethroats called from the shrubs and reeds. Once I had arrived at my destination we set to work setting up the event that was to take place. During this I spotted the 3 Avocet in Aveley Bay take flight calling just above the sea wall and also some Skylarks out and about. With plenty of time to spare we had set up and were ready to go; now all we needed were some guest speakers, and an audience. At just after 11 we were greeted to some songs from Peregrina EnChantica and this gave us some time to reflect. A large female Peregrine also drew our attention at this point as it got into a fight with several different Kestrels on its journey along the power lines towards Wennington. A Hobby was also seen in an amongst the flock of easily over 100 Swifts that were feeding over the reserve on their journey south. Next up was Rob Sheldon from Birders Against Wildlife Crime and he explained a bit about what the organisation does and how in this day and age it is unacceptable for raptor persecution to still exist and in ways that lead to some species being on the verge of extinction in England and in the UK. After this Mark Thomas from the RSPB came to talk about his role in trying to stop this illegal persecution of raptors from taking place. The reason why I have done these 2 speeches in one paragraph is because something one of them said stuck with me, however I can't remember who it was. I believe it was Mark and he said that one cold morning he was sitting in a grouse moor in Yorkshire in full camouflage and right in front of him he watched a Buzzard getting beaten to death. You may ask the question: Why didn't he stop the person from doing this and the simple answer is that without the video evidence that he got, no one would have believed him and it would have been his words against the game keepers. With this evidence in theory these people can be taken to court and potentially prosecuted. Next up was Chris Packham. Chris does many things including presenting one of my favourite TV shows Springwatch, Winterwatch, and Autumnwatch, and last year I was lucky enough to head to RSPB Arne to experience both Winterwatch and Autumnwatch for myself whilst volunteering on the site. Chris does many campaigns to try and end wildlife crime: including Hen Harrier Day and also every year he heads to Malta so that he can show people around the world the slaughtering of migrant birds that takes place every year and to ultimately try and end this. But now back to Hen Harrier Day at Rainham. Chris talked about how it is unacceptable in this day and age for people to still be using lead ammunition. This lead kills thousands of birds per year as it can easily contaminate waterways and therefor estuaries. He also mentioned that he had just got back from the USA and Canada and he had met a typical Texas hunter and whilst talking to him, the hunter found it absolutely appalling that lead was still being used in the UK, for they had sorted it out themselves in America rather than being told by the conservationists to do it. Chris also talked about the fact that there are in fact other reasons why raptors face difficulties and this is partially due to the sheer amount of concrete there is in Britain and specifically Southern Britain leading to a loss of habitat, and this therefore makes this illegal persecution even less sustainable. The fact of the matter is that even with this habitat loss England alone can still hold the potential to have around 300 pairs of Hen Harriers. However at the moment I believe that only 2 pairs have bred successfully this year showing you just how close to extinction they are in England. The number of breeding pairs has also dropped dramatically across both Scotland, and also Ireland. After this we all made the #stopkillinghenharriers trend on Twitter and Facebook showing our support to the Hen Harrier. I think that as I write this on the 12th August people today are entering Grouse moors to start the shooting season. The shooting of the Grouse in this case isn't the problem, here the problem is the fact they are entering a moor where illegal raptor persecution takes place so that unnaturally large amounts of Grouse can be raised on this particular piece of land. Today the #Inglorious12th was trending on twitter and Facebook and this is due to a thunder clap set up by Findlay Wilde so that the message could be spread to those that are unaware of the happenings on Grouse moors. I highly recommend reading his blog post on this occasion which I will leave a link to at the end of this post. Anyway more about the day. Whilst Chris Packham was speaking a flock of 19 Black-tailed Godwit flew behind him and I assumed they had landed at the back of Aveley Pools, however when I told a few people, It turned out that they were still flying, but out of sight to me and eventually they landed in front of the centre on Purfleet Scrape. One thing you may have noticed if you looked at the photos carefully is that the colour of the sky behind the speakers was turning from Blue to Grey and as we listened one more time to Peregrina EnChantica thunder and lightning could be heard and seen in the distance, however it was still at least 30 miles off at this stage. Once everybody had vacated the field we had to pack everything away before the storm arrived and we managed this with little fuss. Whilst we were packing up we found an interesting Weevil by the name of Larinus Planus which according to Ryan's insect guide book is quite a rare British Species...! Whilst we were heading back to drop all the equipment off we were given a nice display from the Marsh Harriers that were out and about quartering the marsh. Above and Below: This tiny little Weevil is Larinus Planus, I think! After dropping everything off Ryan and I headed back to the reserve centre for lunch however whilst we were doing this the heavens opened and made it virtually impossible to see. When we got to the centre we waited for the hail to stop before we made a dash for cover, and when I say we I really mean I because Ryan decided that he would walk from the truck to the centre and get a soaking. Once under shelter I got my note book signed by the man himself Chris Packham, and then lunch was had with the good company of many RSPB volunteers and also RSPB staff for company. After lunch there wasn't really too much to do. First I had a scan of the reserve from the centre and I picked up 4 really small bobby things next to a Lapwing out on the far right hand side of Purfleet Scrape. As soon as I alerted the local birders of this Max came running out to see if he could see any Common Sandpipers, however in the end we gave up looking for Common and Wood and settled that all 4 were Green Sandpipers. After this, careful scanning showed us that the flock of Black-tailed Godwits were still around. Above: Green Sandpiper: Next 3: Black-tailed Godwit I then went out with Max to join Howard and co for their raptor count for the day, although even though the sun was now out they hadn't had much luck with them on this particular occasion. Whilst I was standing there though a Chiffchaff called and was briefly seen in a bush just to the other side of the ramp up to the visitor centre and also 2 Yellow Wagtail flew over us and could be heard, but not seen. I then went down to the hide to see if anything was hiding from us, but unfortunately there were no added extras to my list from the hide. Above (4): Black-tailed Godwit Next 2: Lapwing I then made a slow wander back into the visitor centre and on the way I saw my first Little Grebe at Rainham for quite a while. What a beauty it was too! Above and Below: Little Grebe Next up was a trip to Aveley Bay along with Max and Tom and this produced some good wader action with the 3 Avocets still around and also a flock of 10 small waders which I believe was made up of 2 Ringed Plover and 8 Dunlin however the sunlight was against us and made it difficult to identify the 2 that weren't Ringed Plovers. Also 2 Whimbrel flew from Aveley Bay across the river to the banks over the other side upon our arrival. Above Red Admiral Above and Below: Small Waders and Herring Gulls Above: Avocet and Black-tailed Godwit (Photo by Tom Bell) Below: Black Headed Gull, Herring Gull, Ringed Plovers, and Dunlin (Photo by Tom Bell) Unfortunately due to the position of the sun we were forced to give up in our search and I decided to head to the station, but not before taking a picture of London as the haze lifted and also having a quick scan along the Thames to find Common Terns feeding there again. When I got to the station I found out that there was going to be a half an hour wait due to a train being cancelled and therefore I sat out in the sun and watched as a Yellow Wagtail flew over the station calling loudly marking a spectacular day at RSPB Rainham Marshes and signalling an end to proceedings. Here is a link to Findlay's Blog: Also Here is a Link to Tom's Photography page: Keep a look out in the next few days for my blog posts from RSPB Arne and also Brownsea Island NT!
3 Comments
13/8/2017 11:19:57 am
Well done Sam. A good days work and a lovely informative write up.
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Samuel Levy
13/8/2017 09:00:04 pm
Thank you!
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Tricia C
16/8/2017 08:26:11 pm
Hi Sam i really enjoyed reading your blog. Thanks. It was a great day!
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AuthorI have been a birder since i was 8 however only really started to be able to go out to places by myself in Summer 2016 (Blame the parents) My blogs will be from all over the place, but mainly from RSPB Rainham Marshes and Totteridge Valley! Photography done by Samuel Levy aged 17. ArchivesCategories |