Privet Hawkmoth
Back in April a privet hawkmoth was brought in to work.
This moth was pretty big!
So I took lots of photos!
Curlew with a lugworm
Back in April, on the same day in fact as my last post, I came across a curlew feeding in front of one of the bird screens in Wat Tyler CP.
I got some nice refection shots as it was walking around looking for good spots. 
I got some more shots as it caught a lugworm. 
Chiffchaff
I’ve been editing some pics from earlier in the year and I came across my photos of the chiffchaff that posed nicely for me.
These are probably my best shots of this species.
Broad Haven – Jackdaw, rook and rock pipit
Here are some photos from my trip to Pembrokeshire in Wales. We stayed in a coastal town/village called Broad Haven. On the sea wall one day I found a tame jackdaw. There were some rooks around too. Around the cliffs were some rock pipits I spotted a linnet too. We had a walk round the…
DetailsCommon toad and moorhen at Bedfords Park Lake
After visiting Epping Forest and Cornmill Meadows (see the last post) we headed for Bedfords Park. It rained for the first couple of hours before beautiful sunshine emerged. A quick look for wasp spiders was fruitless but we found this lovely common toad (Bufo bufo) crawling across the path. I sadly don’t see toads often,…
DetailsCommon lizard, grasshopper and nursery web spider
The day before visiting Rainham we went to a few other sites in Essex. We started in Epping Forest where we found some common lizards. Along with some meadow grasshoppers. This one started stridulating.. There were loads of migrant hawker dragonflies hunting over the scrub and heath, but none posed for photos. We then moved…
DetailsMarsh frogs, grass snake, common lizard and wasp spider
My final post from Rainham. The ‘other stuff.’
We saw 2 grass snakes, one of which I photographed.
There were also a few wasp spiders, including one in a photographable position
I got some nice photos of marsh frogs too
And a nice one of a common lizard on the boardwalk.
Migrant Hawker in flight
While at Rainham Marshes we noticed a fair few male migrant hawkers patrolling territories. The light wasn’t great and neither was the angle from the boardwalks so we didn’t bother with them. But then we found a spot where we could get to their level with the sun behind us, only for the sun to…
DetailsRainham RSPB – Water rail with chicks and other birds
On Sunday, Adam and I headed to Rainham RSPB reserve and walked along the boardwalk to the dragonfly sculpture where Brenda, who works at the reserve, was looking for bearded reedlings/tits. While waiting and chatting I spotted something run along the edge of the reeds – moorhen or water rail? Turned out it was a…
DetailsOsprey and whimbrel
Today at Wat Tyler Country Park I was given a heads up that an osprey was present over the fleet. I managed to sneek out and get a few photos of it perched just on the opposite side of the fleet! Later on after work I walked down to the sea wall and found a…
Details