On 5th May 2021, I made my first ever visit to RSPB Canvey Wick. This is a wonderful site and this morning I had my second successive spring visit.
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 ....
I recorded 28 bird species and a single mammal species (Rabbit). It was evidently still too cold for any butterflies and reptiles .... and I have no idea when it comes to invertebrate ID 😀.
I did not add any species to my UK 2022 year list but I was able to upgrade Cuckoo from “heard only” to “heard and seen”. As I was making my way back to the reserve exit, I heard a calling Cuckoo which then flew in and perched in a nearby tree for several minutes. I managed to photograph this bird although the poor light and tight cropping has meant that this is purely a record shot.
Photo: male Cuckoo
The highlights of my visit, which were primarily summer migrants, were as follows:
Cuckoo: 1 calling male seen and another calling male heard distantly
Nightingale: 2 singing males heard but unseen in dense scrub
Lesser Whitethroat: 3 singing males including a brief sighting of a
single individual
Common Whitethroat: 11 singing males seen and at least another 6
singing males heard
Blackcap: 6 singing males heard but none seen
Chiffchaff: 2 singing males seen and at least another 6 singing males
heard.
Reed Warbler: 1 singing male seen
Cetti's Warbler: 5 singing males heard but none seen
Swallow: 2 single birds seen flying over
Kestrel: 1 female seen
Green Woodpecker: 3 heard calling
Greenfinch: 1 calling and singing male heard
Shelduck: 4 seen on Holehaven Creek
Oystercatcher: 2 seen on Holehaven Creek
Little Egret: 1 seen flying over towards Holehaven Creek
Unlike my visit last year, I failed to hear or see either Willow
Warbler or Sedge Warbler.
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
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