OLD TOAD FACE

One of Mersea's more handsome local residents!
One of thirty common toads found on Saturday 24th slowly crawling along the muddy footpath.

This is the garden pond which is hosting its annual toad festival, pulling in our warty friends from far and wide.

The view towards Packing Shed Island with a few obliging brent geese in the foreground grazing the green algae off the mud. This was one of many groups of up to 300 brent seen around the West Mersea Quarters. On the walk from the Dabchicks to Seaview caravan site, there was a good selection of estuary birds on show although many ended up being distant specks, closer to low tide-line.

In the creeks, 10 red-breasted mergansers, a male goldeneye, several little grebes and cormorants were swimming amongst the moorings. Two female eiders feeding in one distant channel were rather unexpected. After some underwater feeding they emerged to preen on the edge of the mud. Also along the water's edge was the now familiar egret sight with at least three little egrets to be seen, with one feeding within a few metres of the floating causeway.

The usual waders on show were roughly 300 redshank, 100 grey plovers, 150 oystercatchers, 50 dunlin, 10 ringed plovers, 50 turnstone, 100 curlew, 12 bar-tailed godwits with one in russet summer plumage. The real estuary atmosphere is provided by the hundreds of gulls in the area with the most boisterous and loud being the herring gulls. They've been nesting in the area for at least ten years and several of them today could've been getting territorial with all the fuss they seemed to be making.

Opposite the beach huts of the Esplanade were two great northern divers and a distant red-throated diver. The great northerns appeared larger, thicker-set, darker back and with a thicker head with a chunky bill. They always seemed to keep a low profile in the water and they like to stare into the water below them before diving below. Also offshore were six great-crested grebes and the glistening shiny head of a common seal when it surfaced.

In the distance two marsh harriers could be seen circling above Old Hall Marshes, while earlier a huge flock of 2000 golden plover were disturbed off the reserve and passed overhead in their distinctive formations.