Red Kites and Rainham Marshes RSPB

So caught up at last (for now!)

Last Thursday saw us head down to London to stop with our son for a few days. We had chosen to stop at a National Trust on the way down which meant going down the M40, the bonus of that being the Red Kites, we picked up the first around Banbury, then we started counting until we stopped at the Cliveden NT. We think we had got to 40 by then, best score yet.

We went for a walk around Cliveden (out first visit) and on a nicer day it would have been great, but as my sister-in-law would say, 'The wind was spiteful', a couple of shots from the Garden and a Red Kite (taken at the NT):

So onto London where we had plenty of Laughs, Walking and Drinking. Thanks Son!

So we left Mike's sunday lunchtime and dropped into Rainham Marshes for a few hours on the way home.
We were excited to hear Bearded Tits had been reported and as they are still on our hit list, we had our fingers crossed, but yet again to no avail!

We had a great time there though, despite that 'Spiteful wind' the rain kept off us although we could see downpours all around the reserve. Again not many good photo opportunities, but here a few:

We did pick up another year first and that was a Chaffinch, but he wouldn't stay still for a photo!

Our list for the day:

Black-headed Gull

Carrion Crow

Chaffinch

Chiffchaff

Collared Dove

Coot

Cormorant

Gadwall

Goldfinch

Great Crested Grebe

Greater Canada Goose

Greenfinch

Grey Heron

House Sparrow

Lapwing

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Little Egret

Little Grebe

Magpie

Mallard

Moorhen

Mute Swan

Pied Wagtail

Pintail

Pochard

Redshank

Reed Bunting

Shelduck

Shoveler

Skylark

Starling

Teal

Tufted Duck

Wigeon

Woodpigeon

Wren