This morning, I again visited RSPB Canvey Wick, primarily to try and record spring migrants.
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 35 bird species and 2 butterfly species.
The highlights of my visit, which were primarily summer migrants, were as follows: Nightingale (8 singing males with 3 seen well), Common Whitethroat (5 singing males), Chiffchaff (at least 15 singing males with 6 seen), Blackcap (at least 15 including 2 singing males seen and 2 females seen), Cetti’s Warbler (at least 15 singing males including 2 seen), Reed Bunting (1 male), Marsh Harrier (male in flight carrying what seemed to be a Brown Rat), Kestrel (1), Sparrowhawk (2), Green Woodpecker (1), Great Spotted Woodpecker (unseen bird heard “drumming”), Pheasant (unseen bird heard calling), Greenfinch (at least 10), Chaffinch (unseen singing male), Mediterranean Gull (2 pairs flew over calling), Black-headed Gull (at least 10), Little Egret (1 flew over), Mallard (6 flew over), Brent Goose (at least 30 still present on Holehaven Creek), Common Redshank (at least 20 on Holehaven Creek), Avocet (4 on Holehaven Creek and 6 flew over), Curlew (6 on Holehaven Creek), Oystercatcher (2 on Holehaven Creek), Shelduck (at least 20 on Holehaven Creek)
I will be visiting RSPB Canvey Wick again before the end of April to hopefully see most if not all of the spring migrants that I failed to record on this visit, namely Cuckoo, Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler and hirundines.
Photo: male Nightingale
During my visit, I also saw a single Speckled Wood (my first record of the year) and a single Peacock.
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