A walk beside the Pitsea, on the last day of Summer.

On Monday my freind Rebecca and I made our way to Wat Tyler Country Park near Pitsea on the C2C railway in the hope of catching up with some interesting passage migrants and some summer visitors.  The park, on the site of a long demolished explosives factory beside Vange Creek of the Thames Estuary, gets very busy at weekends as the people of Basildon flee to their local patch of countryside. As we walked up the path to the RSPB visitors centre, which covers the wider South Essex Marshes landscape, a few swallows flew low over our heads, my first swallows of the year, and a very welcome sight! We had a cup of coffee and a delicious Easter cake as prepared by the RSPB volunteers, and elected to visit first the small RSPB reserve of Vange Marshes. We walked down a grubby footpath beside piles of building rubble, and crossed the railway. The wider landscape is a patchwork of grubby industrial areas, construction sites, landfill traffic, and beautiful areas of scrub and marshland managed for the benefit of wildlife. A building site stretches along the footpath as far as the railway crossing, but upon reaching the other side, the lanscape transforms dramatically. mature shrubs, including plenty of flowering blackthorn and budding hawthorn sit on an area of close, rabbit-grazed grass, giving way towards the river to reedbeds and an area of open water. Plenty of passerines can be heard here, and the calls of chiffchaff, robin and great tit are the most evident. Water was evidently being pumped from one place to another as part of the RSPB's management plan and large hoses had been set up at intervals along the margin of the meadow and marshland.

We walked up to the viewing point beside the water and had a look around. Birds were surprisingly few, but a kestrel hovering above us might have been responsible for some shyness among the passerines. Looking through the metal gates which separated us from the water, we could see a single sleepy Oystercatcher, head under his wing, on one of the islands, and no fewer than four elegant avocets strutting their stuff in the shallows. They seemed to be sticking together in two pairs. It seems these brackish creeks, of which there are several in the wider area of South Essex Marshes, are well used by the species. I was a little disappointed not to see any more waders, having had hopes of catching up with such old favourites from Gialova as Common and Green Sandpiper, both of which have been reported here recently and pass through in some numbers in Spring and Late Summer. A few swallows wheeled about ahead. I hope that now they have arrived, they will appear evident in larger numbers, and return to local breeding sites. Vange Marsh is flat, dotted with scrub on one side, and underwater on the other. Above it rises the hill in the centre of Pitsea, with an old church tower standing on it, and the A130 road flyover beside it. It occupies the land between the railway line and Vange Creek. It is grazed by horses, which we saw messing around and enjoying the spring. We decided not to interrupt them and turned back toward the Country Park.

Walking up the entrance track a second time, as lorries on their way to the landfill thundered by on the other side of a hedge, we were checked out by one of the landfill site foxes, who just ambled nonchalently past. Perhaps more so than even the typically urban foxes one encounters in Upminster, landfill foxes have lost much of their fear of humans, and this one seemed happy for me to get a couple of photos. He looked every bit a handsome, healthy wild mammal, with a thick red-brown coat, and a leisurely gait. When a car passed he knew to stand aside, and eventually wandered off into the bushes.

Borrowing the key from the volunteers at the visitors' centre, we went first to the hide oppposite the Green Centre, housed in the building which used to be the National Powerboat Museum, now sadly closed down. There were plenty of avocets on the scrape, and several gulls of various common species. The scrape at Wat Tyler is actually a substantial body of shallow water dotted with small islands, many of them vegetated. Behind the scrape lie gently rolling hills to the west, and beyond the water, a hedge and a line of trees screen Pitsea Landfill Site, its location betrayed by the distant, but huge flock of gulls which swarm above. Handsome, chestnut-sided Shovellers sat peacefully, scattered among the islands, heads under wings, while pochards floated about, diving occasionally, and being more active. I imagine these winter species will be soon to depart for the North. Among them were a couple of tufted ducks, and several Mallard. A few teal skulked about in the corners of the lake. Among the brown reeds, a repetitious and familiar song rose up, rhythmic, curiously electronic. Another summer visitor, a reed warbler and the singer, alighted breifly on one of the brown phragmites stems. A lapwing was also displaying a distance away. After we had been sitting a few moments, I noticed a few birds becoming agitated at the far side of the scrape, and I took a closer look with the bins. Avocets, Lapwing and teal had gone up, while the larger Gulls and waterfowl appeared unperturbed.  It was actually a gentleman seated in the far corner of the hide who called the Sparrowhawk first, I had just missed it behind the reeds, but the smart little hawk soon climbed above them again and flew above us, affording us both good views of its barred underside as it flew past. Apparantly its hunting attempt had been frustrated as there was nothing in its talon.

We watched for a little bit longer and decided to carry on walking around the park, dropping off the keys to the hide with the RSPB volunteers on our way. We reached the creek and found it surprisingly quiet for birds. The tide was well out and the mud exposed.  From one of the smaller hides we saw a couple of teal, and decided to wait a little while. There was something of a cool breeze but the sun held good as we looked across the seemingly barren saltmarsh, when a couple of big, handsome, rugged looking curlews arrived, unfortunately landing just a little out of site. A little egret also flew over, trailing its yellow feet, a bird which has gone, in a relatively short space of time and in defiance of a trend, from very scarce to very common around this part of the country. The park is dotted with remnants of its industrial past, when it was used to produce ammunition, and a large, concrete bowl lies beside the creek, apparently it was once used to wash guncotton. Interpretive signage, which is actually quite informative, amusingly reminds you that you are on the explosives trail.

Wandering uphill, past more chaffinches and the common tits, we were able to discern a pair of blackcaps among the hawthorn, already, in a matter of days, growing thick and green enough to disguise any birds hiding in it. The female, who unlike the male has a chestnut coloured crown, looked at me curiously through the leaves. The peak of the hill in the centre of the park, complete with a metal sculpture of what appears to be a woodlouse, but doubles as a musical instrument, affords a good view of the Thames marshes and the mosaic of habitats this surprisingly large, but innaccessible area offers.

We eventually called it a day, and elected to go to the pub. As we walked back toward town,a large bird flew over the access road. It was dark, with long wings and a longish tail, and pale, beige markings about the head. The juvenile marsh harrier, still very scarce in this part of South Essex, was our third raptor of the day. Further down we also got good views of a hovering Kestrel.

 Unfortunately, as far as we could discern, Pitsea is a dry town. An old pub, a grand looking place called the Railway, stands boarded up in the centre of the town, advertising a hand carwashing service. Disappointing, but in reality a good days birding had been had.