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Ken Barrett
London Birders will be saddened to hear that Ken Barrett passed away at the weekend at the age of 73. Ken was well known to many birders in London and Essex. Tributes and anecdotes can be placed here:


 * I met Ken quite a few times over the years, mostly on excursions to the Rainham Marshes area for one species or another. I consistently found him to be one of those rare birders who no one had a bad word for, possibly as a consequence of his own views of others which, in my experience, were always generous. Whenever our paths crossed he always appeared to be good natured, good humoured and well worth listening to. He was acknowledged as a sound birder and rightly so. The last time I met him was at Rainham RSPB earlier this year. I went out for the Sociable Plover and was standing at the pools with others scanning the area but having no luck, next minute Ken appears, makes one quick phone call, ascertains the plover is on the foreshore, insists we jump into his car and drove us round to the seawall, totally typical of him. We could do with more Ken Barretts in birding. Not having his sightings in the pages of the London and Essex bird reports anymore will be a tangible loss and without doubt he will be missed by many (Des McKenzie).


 * Ken was a name everyone knew. I don't remember when I first met him or even when I first heard about him, he was just always there. Not only was he a first rate birder but always a very happy man no matter what life threw at him.  I remember in the early 1990's meeting him at the Stone Barges at Rainham and watching Water Pipits with him, shortly afterwards I was clambering out of a friends car at Dagenham Chase in the gloom of pre-dawn trying to find out where the Pine Bunting was.  Who was there ushering the crowds to the correct spot? Ken, happy and friendly as ever.  He would not only find the good birds but also help out with the crowd control.  A sterling man and very much one of the good guys in East London.  Even when he dipped on a local bird it didn't seem to bother him, he just wanted to have a good time birding.  As many others will undoubtedly say I will deeply miss seeing him in the field or having one of our chats (David Darrell-Lambert).


 * What more can I add to Andrew and Dave's comments about the late Ken Barrett. My great birding friend and co-patchworker at Dagenham Chase, the place will never be the same without him. The great times I had with him at the Chase, sharing in the delights of each others finds are gone forever. I remember the time when I found the Slavonian Grebes at the Chase, Ken had to leave an FA cup semi final between Arsenal and Liverpool to twitch the birds. On the day before he so tragically died I met him in the reserve car park. When he saw me pull up he wasn't at all pleased in a lighthearted sense, he was just leaving to watch the rugby and explained that he hoped I wouldn't find anything good as to disrupt his viewing. After a few minutes banter he was off to watch the rugby and the rest is history. To say that I will miss Ken is an understatement, for me the massive void is only just unfolding, I will miss that cheery character, the knowledge and the wisdom that he had so much of (Vince Halley-Frame).


 * I worked at The Chase for nearly three years, leaving this Christmas. An excellent bird watcher he was happy to spend hours talking to me and passing on his wisdom (which I found to be endless). We got on well. Though we did not always agree on the work taking place on the reserve, he understood why we were doing it. He always appreciated any news I could pass his way. I remember how pleased he was when I passed on the location of a family of Little Owls. And how excited we both got when one of my volunteers brought in a drawing of a bird he had seen on The Chase but didn't know what it was. It was an American Robin. Sadly nobody could find it and the bird becoame one of those might've beens. A thoroughly nice bloke, he was, quite simply, The Chase. He'll be badly missed (Tom Clarke).


 * I met Ken about 15 years ago at Rainham Marshes and count myself lucky to have had him as a close friend for all these years. He was always there with advice and influenced me greatly because he was so knowledgeable, not only with birds but with sport which we both shared a passion for. I am going to miss all the trips we went on, whether it was a meeting or sea watching at Canvey or Dungeness, he was always happy and great fun to be with. When we went out, no matter where we were, birders knew him and it was obvious everyone thought highly of him. I am going to miss him terribly, he was my mate and the best birder I have ever come across. He used to tell me off for my grammer, lets hope I have got this right (Dave Morrison).

Rainham Marshes RSPB
As from Tuesday 20 December 2005 the Reserve at Rainham Marshes will no longer be opening to the public, as we have been recently for viewing the sociable plover and other birds.

As you may be aware the reserve is still offically closed to the public and members until we have completed most of the major developments such as the Environment & Education Centre. We are due to open fully in Autumn 2006. We are obliged to marshall reactive events such the visit from the sociable plover with staff and volunteer resources not only because of the safety considerations to visitors and contractors on site, but also because as an ex-MoD firing range we still have areas on the site which are still deemed unclear of unexploded ordanance. As responsible landowners we cannot allow at this time for members and the public to walk the site unless we can marshall the area. Due to the Christmas period we are unable to deliver this service to visitors. However visitors can access the River Wall Riverside Footpath from Spider Park located at New Tank Hill Road next to the reserve main entrance. People will be able to view the reserve from this area only. The rest of the site will be closed to the public, but we will open up again on New Years Day only, when we will be open from 9am until 3pm, and the site will be locked up at 3.30pm.

Bird Flu
If you come across a suspicious occurrence of sick or dead wild birds please: Do not touch them Contact DEFRA on 08459 335577