LATEST ARRIVALS

A walk along the Strood Channel on the 23rd showed that all sorts of creatures have been arriving onto the Island - and not just the migrants from Africa. Washed up on the tideline along the seawall were the empty shells of thousands and thousands of shore crabs. As most of them are quite small and recent tides have been quite calm, these crabs look as if they have undergone a mass moult, shedding their old casings.

There were several migrants seen on the short walk with the noisiest being five common terns climbing high in the air, pursuing each other with lots of high pitched grating calls. There were few waders in the Channel although a greenshank flew off the mud calling, a pair of avocets stood motionless snoozng with their curved bills tucked under their wings and a couple of ginger coloured black-tailed godwits.

Of the small birds a colourful male wheatear was having a short stop-over on Mersea before continuing its migration north. A yellow wagtail and swallow that flew past may decide to hang around Mersea as some usually do each summer. At least two sedge warblers sang loudly from the reedbed along the dyke and there was also the jangling songs of a couple of corn buntings.

Several different kinds of white butterfly were seen including this male orange-tip butterfly seen resting on a stalk of grass. In flight it flashes its bright orange tips which make it very eyecatching. The underneath pattern is very different with this mottled green colour that makes the butterfly blend in with its surroundings. The Large white, Small white, Green-veined white were also seen fluttering along the seawall.

Later in the day a swift was seen flying around with a group of house martins over the houses of West Mersea. I know that the first swifts back were seen yesterday by two local birders, Steve and Martin from differing places.