RSPB Rainham Marshes (14 May 2025)

RSPB Rainham Marshes is a relatively local RSPB site that we had not visited until yesterday.  So, taking advantage of the lack of child care responsibilities for the day, we set out shortly before lunchtime for "The Albion".  You can read what others thought of it here: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g2052502-d2509265-Reviews-Albion-Rainham_Essex_England.html. We had a very nice older person's meal in an almost empty pub, but we did arrive at 11:50. 

After that, it was only a short drive to the reserve.  The Visitor Centre is an impressive building, sadly it was almost unoccupied.  No refreshments of any sort available, despite it being a warm, bright day.

We walked the 'wrong' way round, so the first hide was some distance away. 

This hide is quite a distance from the scrapes, so the Grey Heron is very small. It flew around a few times.  An impressive bird. We also saw: Sandpiper Lapwing Canada Goose Grey Heron Greylag Goose Mallard M&F Pochard Lapwing Great White Egret Northern Shoveler M Oyster catcher Black Headed Gull Red Shank Moorhen

Coming at this time of year means we also get to see some young. Here a Greylag family are scouring the edge of the scrape, near where we're walking.  We also heard (according to the Merlin App): Eurasian Blackbird Canada Goose Greater Whitethroat European Goldfinch Cetti's Warbler Common Cuckoo Eurasian Wren House Sparrow European Robin Eurasian Blackcap Eurasian Blackbird Eurasian Blue Tit Common Chiffchaff Great Tit Great Spotted Woodpecker

By far the most exciting of those was the cuckoo. I hadn't heard a cuckoo for years.

Sadly, the reserve has suffered some damage. This level of vandalism is appalling. The hide will be out of action for a considerable time.

The reserve has a considerable war time (WWII) heritage. The RSPB also do their best to preserve this and make it accessible to the public.

	There is also, of course, loads of plant life.  There are also quite a lot of these in various places, pretty now, but don't eat the berries later in the year.  It's Deadly Nightshade, if you don't recognize it.

RSPB Rye Meads & The Rye House

The colours of Autumn, across the river Lee

On a warm and Sunny day, we headed for Rye Meads reserve on the river Lee.  We arrived via the sewage plant, with the associated smells.  They persisted at the visitor centre, but the guide told us they would 'come and go'.  Happily, they soon went.  

Rye Meads has been built on the old settlement ponds, the area is shared by the RSPB and Middlesex Wildlife Trust.  You can get from the RSPB side to the MWT side, but not back.  The site has been built to encourage Kingfishers; it was not our lucky day. Still, neither of us have seen a kingfisher properly. There are plenty of hides and plenty of birds, but we seem to be further from them than we are at other locations.  Still, a few reasonable pictures were taken:

A Mute Swan and its reflection

A coot, after a dive

There was plenty of vegetation too:

I have identified this as Himalayan Balsam, from a plant ID site

Lastly, there are various different seats available as we walk 'there and back'.  Most are just regular seats, one or two are special, this is the most special and is a real work of art.

The Redwood seat

After our walk, we had a chat with the (now different) guy in the visitor centre.  He identified me as someone who takes pictures and identifies them when I get home.  He was spot on.  We also asked him where a good pub for food could be found. He suggested the Rye House as it is nearest, so off we went.  It is a Green King pub, so I tried a pint of Bonkers Conkers. 

Tasting Notes (from the website)
A complex beer full of fruity aromas and taste. The biscuity malt adds body and warmth.
ABV: Draught 4.1%
Malt: Pale Malt, Crystal Malt, Amber Malt
Hops: Admiral, Pilgrim, Goldings, First Gold, Fuggles, Bramling Cross

A nice, easy to drink beer.  Now, the downside, not of the beer, but the Green King pub.  Download the App to order.  Did that - nice and quick, as we have 5G.  Got all the food in the order, then it wants a table number.  Our table does not have one, so we move.  Our table number is not accepted.  Back to the bar, and a real person.  She, too, is having trouble with the technology, but eventually gets the order in.  The estimate is 20 minutes; the food arrives inside 15 minutes.  BUT - no peas on Jo's plate.  Rather than wait, we share the peas I have.  Later, the server returns and apologises for the mistake - there should have been peas.  She offers us a cup of tea as compensation, which we happily accept.  

Who does that these days?  Well, thankfully there are still some dedicated, diligent people working in our pubs. It quite made the visit! 

Hunstanton

Friday

For our 40th Wedding Anniversary, we spent a long weekend in Hunstanton, on the North Norfolk coast.  The journey up to Norfolk was relatively uneventful, although we did stop at possible the worst designed service we have ever stopped at. FourWentWays is on the A11, south of Cambridge.  There is a lovely big roundabout, off which there is a tiny entrance, the road narrows as it goes through what appears to be a pedestrian area into a higgledy-piggledy car park that was partly flooded.  We snacked at Greggs, not a good choice, but perhaps the only option.  The toilets were awful, nowhere near large enough for the numbers passing through.

Arriving in Hunstanton in the early afternoon, we parked up by the theatre because we had promised not to arrive before 3pm. At the Princess theatre, we dropped in at the booking office and in front of a poster with the words "SOLD OUT" emblazoned across it for tonight's performance, I asked "You wouldn't have anything for tonight would you?"  We had interrupted him, he was just processing a cancellation.  If you don't ask - you don't get! 

We booked for the following night as well.

A quick sandwich and cup of tea in the 'cash only' sandwich shop meant we were fuelled up and ready for the rest of the day. We then drove to "Rosamaly" to book in and chose our room - "The Honeymoon", with a four-poster bed and very pink.  There was little space in the room, but plenty of storage under the bed.  We went to investigate the town.  It is a planned town and benefits from not having grown up randomly over many years.   

That evening we ate at Henry's, who claim to be the third-best Fish and Chips in the country.  They are good, but third best? - maybe, not.  The theatre is just around the corner, so on to see Gilbert O'Sullivan.  A very enjoyable evening and a good chat with the remaining 4 of the party of 6, whose cancellation we had benefitted from.  I remembered more of his songs than I expected to.

Saturday

After a lovely breakfast, we drove a little way up the road to Titchwell Marsh RSPB reserve and spent most of the day looking for birds.  Here's my list:

Canada geese
Mallard. m+f
Blue tit
Chaffinch
Common gull
Moorhen
Coot
Avocet
Brown bird, long pinkish straight beak, tip is black, white underneath - black tailed godwit
Brown mottled duck, black beak
Lapwing
Sandwich Tern
Pink footed goose
Great white egret

 

We had lunch at the reserve, but it was fairly basic, and not too good.  Following some ice cream, we left the reserve mid-afternoon and returned to the B&B.  There we ate salads that we had bought earlier in the day and got ready for our second theatre trip.  Marty Wilde also put on a good show, with lots of well known rock and roll songs.  But the mood in the theatre was quieter - the audience that bit older, so no tearing up seats and partying.

Sunday

Another lovely breakfast and an Anniversary card from our host made breakfast that bit more special.  Afterwards we walked up to the lighthouse and a little along Hunstanton beach.  The cliffs are amazing.

We got so far and then had to turn back to get to our Sunday Lunch at Legge Cafe.  On the way, we read the plaques about St. Edmund and the Wolf.  There was a classic Morris Minor show on the green in aid of the Air Ambulance. How these now ancient cars are kept is such good condition amazes me.

This one looks very like my second car, and is also an ex-police car.  However, they did a better job on this one, there is no dent in the roof where the blue light was removed.

Lunch was excellent.  There was a lot of banter between the regular customers and the owner.  You can tell a restaurant is good when it has regulars that return again and again.  Now very, very full, we walked around the parks and greens of Hunstanton for a while.  The town is well-kept.

There is not much to do in the evening.  We tried the other fish and chip shop because there was a choice of that of Pizza, nothing else was open.  It was not so good.  Then we went and had a game of bowls at the 10-pin alley.

Monday

Our last breakfast with Bob and Sandy, after which we headed to Ely and visited the Cathedral.  Deciding not to take an octagon tower tour as we were not feeling fit enough. Still, we wandered round and appreciated the architecture.  The place was full of school visits.  We had a very good sandwich, and a free cake (because of the wait) at "Marmalade and Jam" for lunch and wandered along the canal, getting ice cream from the historic ice cream van.  Ely is a lovely city.

We made our way home, but the warm weather and a full stomach meant I needed a break to wake myself up a bit, so we stopped in Saffron Walden for a cuppa.

A very enjoyable weekend.

 

 

 

Westleton - Day 3 - RSPB Minsmere

After another excellent breakfast we drove to Minsmere, we had discussed walking as it's only about 2 miles away, but though it would have been too much.  (Today I have over 10,000 steps, and it's not time for dinner yet.)

Here are the birds I recorded as seeing, the most interesting ones are highlighted.

Carion Crow
Great tit
Long tail tit? / Redstart
Robin
Magpie
Red Breasted |Merganser
Great Black backed gull
Chaffinch
Blue tit
Red crested duck
Small duck red head grey wings B&W tail white underside
Sparrow (small)
Pale yellow breast, grey head (Reed bunting female?)
Widgeon
Brent geese
Little egret
Teal (male & female)
Marsh harrier
Bittern
Mallard (male & female) x2
Moorhen
Grey Heron

 

I spent WAY too much time looking in the book, trying to identify birds.  I need more practice.  After lunch, we arrived in Bittern Hide to much excitement.  The hide was busy, one of the staff had spotted a bittern.  It was pointed out to me 4 or five times, I looked through his focussed telescope, my binoculars, and someone else's phone.  The only place I saw it was on someone else's phone.  Then I tried my binoculars again and eventually spotted it. He described it a cinnamon coloured, well it was perhaps a little lighter, but I saw what he meant.  We watched it walk from one hiding spot to another and almost instantly disappear - they are so well camouflaged.

While all this was going on, the Marsh Harrier went across the front of the hide, and I got the binoculars pointing in the right direction and watched it fly.

Walking back, the little egret flew across our path and landed in the pool on our left, I've never seen one so close up.

Close up pictures are impossible, I don't have a zoom lens yet.

In the evening, we travelled to the Eel's Foot Pub for dinner.  We went to locate it in the light first, to be sure it was worth a visit and to be sure we knew where it was. 

That proved a good decision because as dusk fell, fog started to form, and Google Maps wanted to take us down an unmade road near the Minsmere reserve.

The Eel's Foot is a lovely country pub, there is no booking - just arrive, find a table, order food.  It was not full, but there were enough people there to make it feel comfortable.  The owner is very easy going and friendly.  I had 'pigeon wellington', it's a dark meat and fairly tough, but once the edges are trimmed it is quite tasty

How did it get that name? Here what we were told:

1) Because when eels were trapped in wicker baskets the traps were called boots, so when recovered it looks like the eels have feet.

2) Because there were once 3 businesses in the building, one a cobbler, and it was originally called Heel's foot.

Take your choice, but it's an unforgettable name.

Adnams Brewery and more (Day 2 - Minsmere)

Our room and the lovely bird wallpaper

Following a good night's sleep and after a hearty breakfast at Copperbeeches we were packed up and ready to leave.  The journey home was to be via RSPB Minsmere, It is just a few miles north of Yoxford.  It's one of those places that you arrive at, but you're not there yet.  That's probably because it is so large.  After apparently entering the site 3 times, we parked reasonably close to the Visitor centre, put our boots on and began our journey.  As far as bird watching goes, for us, it is an enjoyable pass time, not a competitive sport!  On arrival, we showed our membership cards and were waved through to the expert, who told us excitedly of the unusual visitors they had on the edge of the reserve.  It was a lovely warm day, but very gusty.

We followed his directions (badly) and ended up in completely the wrong place, having seen almost nothing. Just possibly a Marsh Harrier at the very end of the binocular's range. As it twisted and turned, trying to catch thermals, there were flashes of white and bronze, then it was stationary for a few seconds, until it was disturbed by the next gust and had to start again.  We were looking almost straight into the sun for much of the time, so it was easy to lose track of it altogether.  It did make the occasional dive, but I don't think it ever caught anything.

It was on the way back to the visitor centre that I got my best picture of the day.

Robins are pretty common, in fact they are everywhere, but few will stay perched on a finger post long enough for me to get a decent picture.

By now it was lunchtime, so we went to the restaurant for a snack.  Still too full from breakfast really, but knowing the next meal is at home and 6-7 hours away.

The afternoon took us out to the coast where the gulls were struggling with the strong winds, then back past the wetland scrapes, where life was more interesting. Here there is a good selection of birds and ducks, we watched for quite a while.  There was a book in the hide that helped us identify some, but others had to wait until we got home to the bigger, more detailed book.

Eventually, mindful of traffic around Chelmsford, we left the hide and the reserve and made our way home.  There were a few jams, the worst at the A14-A12 junction.  Arriving home as rush hour was getting underway, we were diverted around the outskirts of Billericay by Google to avoid road closures.  By then, it was raining and much colder, so I left unloading the car until the following morning.

Kingfisher

Tuesday we went to Aberystwyth. The beach has dark grey sand and varying size stones. We were kicking the ball for Brody. He chased it everywhere and enjoyed the water, but eventually lost it in the spray of the tide. We watched it being taken away by the rip of the tide, until finally we lost sight of it altogether. Then on to Llanrhystud for ice cream and a walk along the path back to Aberystwyth. The path is far from dog friendly and we had to help Brody over a stile. He completely ignored the sheep in the field.

Wednesday morning was awful weatherwise. It was also the first attempt at getting Brody to run along by my bicycle. He likes to hold the lead as he runs, but that makes the direction he runs in inconsistent - and therefore potentially dangerous. Riding down the hill I was caught in a gust of wind in the rain - just like having a bucket of cold water thrown at you. When he came back he was very tired, so was I. In the afternoon we left Brody in the cottage and headed for RSPB Ynys-hyr. There was a noticeable lack of birds. Nothing at all - not one from the first hide. In the second hide there was very little. Just a flash of blue across the eye line. It landed on a spindly tree and turned around, showing a bright flash of orange. A Kingfisher! I had to check the board in the hide, just to be sure I wasn't imagining it. There it was on the board, and also still on the tree - right at the limit of the binoculars, I watched go from tree to water. in and out, three times. It was too far away to see if it had caught something. What a treat - I've waited fifty odd years to see one. RSPB Ynys-hyr is a disappointment from a sign posting point of view. We could not find the short path back, and had to go back past the hides we'd already visited. In the evening we went into Caersws for Fish and Chips - very nice. We ate it sitting on the seat across the road from the shop and opposite the pub - which just proves the weather isn't that bad really.

Thursday started with another dog cycle, then we went into Newtown for food and petrol. The consumption is high here because you are always slowing down for a lower speed limit or a tight bend - I rarely use the brakes as often or for as long. After shopping we walked along the Severn to the Pwll Penarth Nature reserve, past the disused canal. It's a pleasant walk. Almost level, mostly between fences, quiet and peaceful. It's supposed to be a cycle path but we only saw one cyclist. The round trip distance was 5.34 miles. Then we drove to Llanfair Caereinion to see if the trains were running (they're not, weekends only) and exercise the dog. Then back to the cottage for our £10 meal deal from Tesco - delicious.

Home via LandGuard

We have been staying at Thatched Farm. They have two small cottages (formerly barns?).  I think we were in the smallest.  The location is just a few miles off the A12, well into the countryside.  It is a nice cottage even though it is so small.

2010_0924-27 Thatched Farm, Waldringfield

There are a few more pictures in the album.  One is of the solar panel generation meter at the RSPB.  It was generating a mere 790 watts while I was taking the picture.  I have to ask - are these things really worth having?  What is the energy requirement in building the thing in the first place, and is it recovered over its lifetime?

On the way back, we visited LandGuard Fort near Felixstowe.  It's a mess of development and re-development and a fascinating place to visit.  Some of the information that has been lost, which archaeologists will have to work out, is exactly what type of Radar was installed there in WWII.  It is amazing how quickly knowledge is lost.  An attempted invasion of England by the Dutch was repelled in a battle at the fort in 1677.


We then move on to look at St John's Great Wenham, which was unfortunately locked.  We drove onwards for a while in a generally homeward direction and came upon The Carriers Arms. Lunch was good, but nothing special. 

We arrived home in time to see Basildon's parking attendants watching the school traffic, and chatting for a long time to a woman who then got in her car and drove away.  One day they may, possibly, get it right. 

Lunch at thirty feet

Today we went to RSPB Minsmere.  We have been members of the RSPB for years.  This is the first time we have visited a site.  At Minsmere there are two main routes and five hides.  The first route we walked through, we saw almost no birds.  Someone said there was a Marsh Harrier, I think I saw it.  The image is from the RSPB website.  Something to do with it being a windy day, perhaps.  At the last hide, which was designed to let you watch birds in the tree tops, we ate lunch.  The trees were moving very noticeably in the wind, and even the hide moved a little.  Still no birds.  The other route went via the beach.  Before we got to the end of the beach, it began to rain heavily.  We hid in the next hide.  The rain seemed to bring the birds in.  There were quite a lot of different species.  There was even an Avocet.
Other birds we saw included Swan, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Woodpecker, Great Tit, Lapwing, Magpies and various ducks.
When we got back to the visitor centre, we bought Jo a new pair of binoculars.  Then went back to the last hide to see the difference -  quite remarkable.

On the way in, we had seen signs for the start of the Red Deer rut.  We went to Westleton Heath and walked along the path. Eventually we came to a small group of people, including some RSPB volunteers, who were full of useful information on the rut.  There were plenty of deer in the distance and at least three stags.  They were all very young.  As the season has only just started, there wasn't any action before we left.