GEESE READY TO GO

Cold start to Wednesday 4th but hardly a cloud in the sky all day. About 300 brent geese were tucking into the saltmarsh near East Mersea Point in the late afternoon. They will be starting to build up their fat reserves for the long slog back to their nesting grounds in Siberia. The cold north-easterly winds in recent days have prolonged their stay here but most of those still remaining should be going in the next week.

On the park grazing fields there were only about 70 wigeon, so many of these must've already departed compared with the numbers a month ago. However 38 shelduck stood out in the bright sunshine, whilst along the shallow creeks, 30 mallard, 10 shoveler, pair of gadwall and 25 teal could all be seen. Several waders were still present such as a couple of black-tailed godwits, 10 curlew, two redshank whilst several lapwing and a lone oystercatcher will be hanging around to breed later in the spring. Careful scrutiny of the tussocks revealed 5 snipe hiding near the water's edge, the sunshine helping to highlight them. A second group of 7 snipe flew into the fields, arriving from the west.

As the tide receded in the afternoon, the mudflats seemed to be devoid of small waders like the dunlin. Plenty of oystercatchers, several redshank, a few curlew and grey plover and turnstone with some colourfully marked black-tailed godwits feeding along the water's edge.

The gorse bushes on the clifftop have a fantastic view out to sea although a precarious one!

Another bush with a great setting are several small sallow bushes that have rooted along the bottom of the cliff edge. For the catkins this is an excellent location as the sandy cliff teems with thousands of small mining bees on sunny days. The warm weather also saw two bee-flies hovering in a sheltered corner with their long straight proboscis sticking well out in front.

The sunshine elswhere on the park saw a couple of common lizards in the long grass and three adders on show in their usual spots.

The moth trap that was run overnight had less moths than recent sessions with 20 moths of four species. Usual ones common quaker, early grey, clouded drab, hebrew character were seen.