Early January walk round Rainham Marshes RSPB nature reserve

Last week, on a day when the sun was shining, my camera and I decided to go for another walk around the RSPB nature reserve at Rainham Marshes, near Purfleet.

At the edge of the Thames, just before the entrance to the reserve, I came across a Starling on the branch of a thorny bush with a few remaining red berries.

I first walked along the path through the woodland area of the site and was met by this very friendly Robin.  It really wanted some mealworms from me but, unfortunately, I did not have any on me.

Further along the woodland path, I came across another friendly Robin.  This one was perching on the side of another thorny bush.  I learnt later that, one this side, it is blind in the eye and it has a split gape where it was attacked by another bird.

There is a boardwalk around most of the nature reserve.  The sun was shining on the reeds at the edge of the boardwalk and surrounding a narrow stream.  The visitor centre's strangely-shaped roof can be seen in the distance.

Along the edge of the path I came across the remaining seed heads from one of the tall plants - shown against a background of clouds that appeared in the blue sky.

This is a close-up of a Lapwing in the sunshine - photo taken from the Purfleet bird hide.

There were several Starlings flying around near the Lapwings.  This one's feathers look amazing in the sunshine.

Later on, back near the visitor centre, a Magpie perched briefly on top of a tall shrub.

Further down, a Blue Tit posed briefly amongst the twigs and red berries.

Yet another walk round the reserve that was filled with a variety of wildlife.