Wildlife at Rainham Marshes - 13th September 2024

Male Common Darter on the Thames path at Rainham Marshes

Comma butterfly on pink Sedum/Stonecrop flowers near the car park

Tall Cardoon plants with large seed heads at the edge of the car park

Bee in the centre of a still-flowering Cardoon

Upside-down Comma butterfly

White butterfly on a Buddleia flower

and on a Sedum

Cat bird watcher at the marshes

Marsh frog resting in the stream

Lapwing in front of the Purfleet hide

Juvenile Little Grebe - a parent was fishing nearby

A juvenile male Kingfisher put on a performance in front of the MDZ bird hide.  Photographs were taken through the glass window, which is covered with camouflage netting with some camera lens-sized holes so that the birds don't get scared off.

Unidentified caterpillar on the path

A Migrant Hawker dragonfly was hanging from a shrub

Black-tailed Godwit with slightly windswept feathers at the Shooting Butts hide

Same Little Egret in two completely different poses

Peaceful view on a lovely day - with lots of electricity pylons in the distance

Bath time for a Shoveler duck

A  couple of Gadwalls on the move

Lapwing and Snipe

plus a few Black-headed gulls and a sleeping Black-tailed Godwit

It was great weather and I enjoyed a lovely walk along part of the Thames path outside the reserve and then a long walk all round the reserve itself.  I must go there more often!

Wildlife in Walthamstow Wetlands nature reserve during the last week in August 2024

I had just arrived at Walthamstow Wetlands and was thinking that I had not seen a Little Egret there for a while when one flew over my head and landed in shallow water in front of me

There were lots of Tufted ducks on the reservoir - here are just three of them

A bright spot during my walk was seeing this pet Sun Conure parakeet out for a flight with it's owner.  The bird flew a very short distance to the gate, perched there for a while and then flew back for a tit-bit.

Otherwise it was business as usual - Great Crested Grebe riding the waves

Mum Tufted duck with four cute fluffy little ducklings

Banded Demoiselle damselfly on a leaf in the Copper Mill stream near the main road

I followed a Canada goose along a narrow path at the edge of a reservoir.  I have a birdwatching permit and prefer walking round the less busy parts of the wetlands.  At this point it was just me and the goose!

Then I came across a Little Grebe and some chicks

A kind young man showed me an area where a Migrant Hawker dragonfly was hanging around while sheltering from the wind.  I find it impossible to photograph dragonflies in flight, so was pleased to find this one in a relatively easy place for a photograph

I came across a Barnacle goose in the wild flowers at the edge of another reservoir in the Wetlands

Having not seen many Little Egrets at the Wetlands for some time, I then saw a distant Grey Heron accompanied by ten Little Egrets

As I walked round the edge of the reservoir, I disturbed a Mute Swan family that were resting at the edge of the water.  A large juvenile cygnet flapped its huge wings as I went past.

The parents

A parent with two of the cygnets - there were at least five, but they were spread around the reservoir

There was a "Polish" cygnet in the family - white feathers and pink beak instead of the usual colouring