On my way back home to Beverley I decided to take a look at the RSPB’s new reserve at Ranham in East London after reading about it in May’s edition of Birds; the fact that a Spoonbil had been hanging around there for a few days helped sway the decision.

I assumed (wrongly) that the reserve would be signposted from the A13 which is rather daft as although the reserve is known as Rainham marsh, the entrance is on the edge of Purfleet, Essex.

The reserve has a good car park and a visitor centre that blends in with the industrial landscape and employs a huge amount of security features including drawbridges!!!!

From the visitor centre there are good views over the marsh, and although it was mostly dry, one can see that in winter, when flooded, it will be extremely attractive to wintering birds. On the 2.5 mile circuit I saw a few nice birds, but things were rather quiet. 5 Little Egrets were present along with at least 15 Grey Herons. The Spoonbill was easily found with a group of herons but the only waterbirds present were 5 Little Grebes, numerous Coots with young, a few Moorhens and about 12 Canada Geese.

A damp scrape held about 12 Lapwings, a few Black-headed Gulls and 7 Ringed Plovers and a number of Skylarks were singing in the warm sunshine.

Other birds seen included Reed Bunting, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Pied Wagtail, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull and Greenfinch along with some other common species such as Magpie and Collared Dove.

Nice to see Spoonbill, but otherwise a trip to the reserve in winter or spring is needed to see it at its best.