This morning, I had my usual early April visit to RSPB Canvey Wick, primarily to try and record spring/summer migrants, in particular Nightingale.
Canvey Wick is a former landfill site and the location of a proposed oil refinery on Canvey Island in Essex. The site closed in the 1980s and then lay derelict for years. It became a liability for the former landowner, East of England Development Agency (EEDA), and, along with Natural England, they approached the Land Trust to help find a sustainable exit strategy for the land to provide high quality open space next to land identified for commercial development.
The Land Trust subsequently established a steering group with key stakeholders, including Natural England, Castle Point Borough Council, RSPB and Buglife and secured funding from the Government to assess and prepare a "vision" for the site. The site was recognised as a priority within the Thames Gateway South Essex Green Grid Strategy and secured endowment funding from the Parklands initiative which allowed acquisition of the site.
The Land Trust helped transfer a landowner’s liability into an asset, provided expertise in sustainable land management benefiting local communities and conservation and securely invested and protected the endowment, thereby removing the risk of continued dereliction. The RSPB is the appointed managing partner with significant involvement from Buglife to advise on enhancing the habitats for the rare and endangered invertebrates.
Canvey Wick is now a well-established 93.2 hectare Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and it was designated as such on 11th February 2005, the first "brownfield" site to be protected specifically for its invertebrates. The RSPB manage 18.5 hectares of the SSSI as a nature reserve in partnership with Buglife and on behalf of the Land Trust.
It is a unique ex-industrial habitat but it also has grassland and scrub habitats plus small wooded areas and it is adjacent to the important estuarine habitats of Holehaven Creek.
It is known to be exceptionally rich in plant, insect and animal species with as many species per square metre as a rain forest and it is one of the most important sites in the UK for endangered invertebrate species (the site is home to over 1300 species of invertebrate including at least 30 on the UK "Red List" of endangered species).
More information ....
The Guardian - Canvey Wick: the Essex "rain forest" that is home to Britain’s rarest insects
And so on to my visit to RSPB Canvey Wick this morning ....
It was excellent with the sight and sound of spring/summer migrants everywhere!
I added the following to my UK list for 2026, taking it to 137 species: Nightingale, Common Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Mediterranean Gull
The highlights of my visit, which were primarily spring/summer migrants, were as follows:
Nightingale: at least 12 singing males, 2 seen with a single very showy bird singing in the open from a tree branch
Common Whitethroat: 7 singing males, 2 seen
Willow Warbler: 1 calling bird heard but unseen
Blackcap: at least 15 singing males, 5 males and 2 females seen
Chiffchaff: at least 15 singing males, 8 seen
Unfortunately, I failed to record the following which I have often seen at RSPB Canvey Wick, albeit usually slightly later in April: Cuckoo, Swallow, Lesser Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler.
In addition, I recorded the following: Cetti's Warbler (5 singing males, 1 seen), Reed Bunting (1 male), Common Buzzard (2 soaring together), Mediterranean Gull (at least 4 calling overhead), Green Woodpecker (2 heard calling), Shelduck (2 flew over), Grey Heron (1 flew over), Red Fox (1), Peacock (4), Orange Tip (3), Brimstone (2), "white" sp. (at least 10)
Despite the abundance of birds, photography was relatively challenging although I did manage to get a few photos, not least of a singing male Nightingale ....
Photo: male Nightingale
Photo: male Chaffinch
Love nature .... act now
