Rainham Marshes

We visited RSPB's Rainham Marshes on Sunday for the first time.  These marshes just next to the Thames and London are apparently medieval.  It is a great site for waders, wildfowl and birds of prey.  It also has quite an interesting history.  It was closed for 100yrs and used as a military firing range.  There are remnants of this around the site such as this target wall (spot the kestrel on no 6):

There was also this remnant piece of tree which supposedly dates back to neolithic times (approx 6000 years ago).  It was preserved in the silt at the bottom of a ditch, preventing any oxygen access and thus decay, until now!

Wonder what species of tree it was and what sort of people used to sit under its canopy.

Birds spotted included lapwing, snipe, golden plover, teal, wigeon, shoveler, grey heron, little egret, kestrel, stonechat, little grebe, and black-tailed godwit.  Good site but prefer Dungeness or Rye.

My post obviously wouldn't be complete without a picture of some creepy looking monster - so here you go:

Araneus diadematus Garden Spider (female)