19 SEPTEMEBER 2026 - RAINHAM MARSH

The day begun with an abortive trip to try and see a large pod of between 17 and 25 Long-finned Pilot Whales (depending on which report you read) that had been observed in the Thames estuary at Gravesend the previous day (and indeed most of this week too as it transpired). John and I arrived around 9.15 a.m. but with no reported sightings this morning; but we had to give it a go of course.

There were a few people around who had seen the whales in recent days, but without any knowledge of their whereabouts today and with no further information being given out on BirdGuides, where most of our information had been gleaned from. The proprietor of a café on the riverfront told us that he’d seen the Whales on and off for most of the week - indeed, seen mid-river right in front of his café - so we knew we were in the right place, just no whales to be seen. After a while John had an urge for a bacon butty, so I joined him in the café for a butty and a cappuccino too, whilst we waited in case of an appearance by the whales, but with no further news, we decided to call it a day here, and made our way back to his car, with news of the sighting of an Osprey at Rainham Marsh, so we headed in that direction, slightly deflated.

By the time we reached the RSPB Reserve at Rainham Marsh, there was no further news of the Osprey other than that it (or rather they, as two had been seen) had flown westwards. The volunteer lady on the desk said that whilst the Osprey(s) were no longer around, that there were plenty of raptors to be seen i.e. Western Marsh Harriers; Buzzards; Hobbies and a Peregrine; as well as a Whinchat; so, although we hadn’t intended to walk around the reserve - restricting ourselves to the River (the Thames) side, we’d hoped for a relatively interesting walk bird-wise. But it didn’t turn out that way. Although we did (eventually) see a male and female Western Marsh Harrier, and a Buzzard, they were distant views, and we never had a sniff of any Hobbies, or indeed a Peregrine - just a single distant Kestrel. Neither of us wanted to walk as far as the site where the Whinchat had been found (it was a  long way away), so we missed that too. There was little activity we could see as we overlooked the reserve - mostly ducks, and a few scattered Black-tailed Godwits, but little else of much interest. On the river, just a sprinkling of gulls and Shelducks, with Grey Seals and more Godwits on the Kent side of the Thames.

We did see a few Clouded Yellow Butterflies, which occasionally settled, but the strong westerly wind, assured that they didn’t settle for long; other than those, mostly Small Whites and one or two Large Whites too, and one fleeting view of a passing Wall Brown. Dragonflies comprised three or four Migrant Hawkers and a lone Common Darter seen at the entrance.

On the river, and making it’s way upstream, was a Thames Sailing Barge - a flat-bottomed boat with maroon-coloured sails and a sight not regularly seen these days. Although it wasn’t in full sail, it was still an interesting vessel to see, a reminder of times gone by on the Thames.

When we arrived, we saw a young couple seemingly taking photographs of something in the hedges, and on enquiring discovered they were recording Southern Green Shield Bugs - in varying degrees of development (known as ‘Instars’) - a species we’d never encountered previously; and they were fascinating creatures. We had another brief look at these on the way back to the car, before heading home.

Later in the day, we learned that the reason we didn’t see the Whales, was that they were escorted out of the estuary early that morning by a trawler (or similar vessel) in an effort to ensure their safety, as such a large pod so far up the Thames, was certainly unusual and it probably meant that the Whales had lost their way so to speak. Apparently at least one washed up dead at Canvey further down the estuary. But at least (as far as we know) the main pod was likely to have been saved, and back in the open sea. I guess it’s open to question as to whether the pod is seen again in the Thames estuary.

NOTE

There are no pictures of mine as once processed the photos were corrupted when saved (showing up 'pink'). This is a known issue that I'm looking into. Unfortunately, in the process of trying to solve it, when I thought the final photos were okay, I deleted the images on the SD Card - as is my normal practice after saving my images. Regrettably, when I looked at the 'saved' images again to import them into this document, they'd turned 'pink' again, but too late for me to rectify the situation. To compensate I have downloaded a few free images from the internet, just to illustrate the Southern Green Shield Bug and Thames Barge.

SOUTHERN GREEN SHIELD BUG (including Instars)

THAMES SAILING BARGE (similar to the one seen).