the river. Well, nowadays, very few weeds can grow among the crops, so I walk round
the edges. But I asked why not in the field by the river. He told me that he loves the
Lapwings that live and breed in that rough field, and he does not want them disturbed.
He even grows extra crops, usually a few rows of millet and sorghum, to feed these
birds in the winter months. So that was why we saw the Lapwings crossing the river:
they were on their way home for tea!
Near the end of February the air was suddenly much warmer, but we were bored with
all the rain and mud so we walked along the newish path by the Thames south of
Rainham. It was a very windy day, with the direction due west, and patches of bright
sunshine came between the large dark clouds as they rolled along. The first half of the
walk was close to the river, but the track doubles back later and goes further inland
between marshes and a huge landfill mountain. There are chain-link wire fences to
hold the rubbish on the landfill site, and men patrol with large grabbers and big sacks
to collect the plastic that is caught by the fence. But today the wind was so powerful
that loads of plastic rubbish flew straight over the fence and landed goodness-knows-
where.
There were also lots of birds to see. As the Thames water was low, the mudflats had
loads of gulls of various sizes, with a couple of Oyster-catchers and one juvenile
Cormorant, later identified with help from a friend as it looked a bit different from the
adults we see so often.
On the landward part there were more gulls on the marshes, mostly by large freshwater
lakes from the recent rains. We saw two pairs of Tufted Duck, one pair of Mallard and
several Coots and in a small scrubby Elder (this and Hawthorn are the only trees that
can survive on these windswept marshes, and only rarely even then) was a group of a
couple of dozen Chaffinches. But everywhere there were Crows. Some of them made
us laugh: the ones by the Thames who tried to take off as we approached. To get away
from us they wanted to fly out over the river, but they failed miserably. The wind was
too strong for them, so they flapped desperately but were going backwards! Eventually,
each bird gave up fighting the wind and turned round to fly inland instead.
The total precipitation for January was mostly snow, but the equivalent in rain was
28.5mm here in sunny Upminster, but the rain (or snow) for February was 55.1mm:
almost double the January figure. Certainly it was February fill-dyke this year. The
Ingrebourne overflowed and some of the water meadows in the Hacton Parkway were
under water, the Mardyke overflowed rather impressively near Ship Lane, south of
Aveley, flooding the meadows on both sides of the river to some depth, and everywhere
fields have patches underwater. I have to say that both rivers have sluices in several
places to keep water high in summer, and this tends to make then flood easily as
compared to rivers that just empty into the sea.
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 62, May 2010
5