At 2pm Thursday 15th July 2025 on a windy day with Cumulus clouds scudding across the sky the BNHS group, made up of Alison, Bill, Jean, Glenn, Colin, Marion and Martin, set out on a walk of discovery from Coalhouse Fort. The journey followed the river wall running North with Linford to our left and the River Thames to our right. We tracked through the sandy pathways below the river wall encountering crickets, labyrinth spiders, solitary sand bees burrowing into the sandy soil, a Sloe Bug and a Common Blue butterfly. En-route, we discovered a wild plum tree laden down with red plums which were ripe and delicious so there was a break in the walk whilst we availed ourselves of the fruit. The main pathway gradually took us up to the river wall and we turned our sights and binoculars to the landward side across the wetland fields towards East Tilbury and Linford in the distance. We had a beautiful wide view of the man made lakes close by which was home to a variety of birds. I can’t believe the amount that were spotted by our members including at least two Kestrels and a Marsh Harrier swooping over the site looking for food and disturbing the otherwise tranquil scene.
Finally the eagle eyed Martin had turned around to the river and spotted a seal bobbing up and down in the slightly choppy waters of the Thames. We all had a chance to observe it for a few minutes before it disappeared. Finally we all walked back to the car having had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. Photograph by Martin Lawson.
This article is an abridged version of the one published in the BNHS Summer Bulletin 2025