NEW YEAR'S DAY

What better way to start the New Year off than going for a good beach walk in the bright winter sunshine. My wife Nolly, Monty the JR and I started at the very busy Cudmore Grove CP. Our two mile walk along the south side of Mersea Island felt like summer with the weather and everyone else striding out too.

It was perfect timing for wader-watching as there were all sorts of flocks arriving to feed as the tide receded. Twelve species were noted ranging in size from the large curlews to the silvery looking tiny sanderlings. The mudflats really seemed to be alive with activity and bird-calls. The sun showed up all the frantic feeding that was going on with each species identifiable by unique and subtle signs.
Plenty of obvious dunlin, redshank and turnstone but careful scanning revealed 10 bar-tailed godwits and 5 knot. As the tide edged further out, so did the waders and the many groups of birds dispersed widely over the huge expanse.

A large raft of 300 wigeon bobbed about on the sea offshore from the park. They were probably recovering from the mad dash to the sanctuary of the sea after a peregrine was reported flashing over the fields earlier in the day.
Four little egrets added a touch of elegance on our walk, two stonechats perched on fence-posts near the Youth Camp, but a female common scoter amongst the boats off West Mersea hard was an unexpected find.