STARS ON A GREY DAY

The weather on Sunday 6th was overcast and breezy. Not used to looking at grey skies.
The morning walk was along West Mersea's Coast Road beside all the yachts, the houseboats as well as the St. Peters area with its interesting wildlife to admire. Even on a grey day there are plenty of little stars to look out for in this local wildlife show.

The first star to look at was this striking purple flower called salsify. For a grassland flower it seems rather out of place alongside this busy road, sharing its home with traffic whizzing past and lots of walkers. It is normally found on the grassy seawalls on the Island. It shares another name, Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon with its yellow cousin - the goatsbeard. Both plants have the habit of closing their flowers up around mid-day and sure enough when I did my time-check, it was still only 11.15am!

The path along St. Peters meadow provides a good vantage point across the saltmarsh to the houseboats as well as into the Blackwater estuary. All the tamarisk bushes are covered in pale-pink flowers at the moment, making them easily identifiable.

One of the interesting flowers growing on the grassy bank is the salad burnet, the only place on the Island where it grows. The several remaining clumps that are clinging on in this area are just about to flower - except that these flowers are round and red but without petals. The red male part appears first, scattering pollen, followed later by the yellow female parts waiting for pollen from other plants.

One of the delights of being surrounded by saltmarshes is the spring display of the thrift or sea-pink. Several patches could be seen scattered across the St. Peters Marsh, although sadly all lacked the bright pink colour that many of these wild plants can show.

The most interesting and unique habitat in this area is the reedbed which is fed by a freshwater spring from the St. Peters Well, but is subject to occasional tidal inundation by the very high spring tides. I had a walk along the edge of this ditch to check for the scarce water vole as they have been seen here previously but no sign today. There was a moorhen and a pair of mallard though.

There was just one reed warbler singing quietly away and I'm sure it will be joined by several more in the next few weeks. A male reed bunting flew across the reedbed as did one or two house sparrows and a group of five linnets. In the bushes the scratchy songs of two whitethroats could be heard.

Around the muddy creeks and islands at the entrance to the Mersea Quarters, the tide was almost covering the mud. At least 50 oystercatchers were noted with some getting very territorial and noisy. Everywhere you looked there were the large and conspicuous herring gulls, which have become very well established since first breeding here about 12 years ago.

A dozen cormorants gathered on a muddy spit and overhead four whimbrel whistled to each other as they headed north on their migration. Two common terns hunted up and down the channels but there was no sign of any little terns. I'm not aware of anybody seeing these summer migrants around here yet.

Richard Hull saw 27 whimbrel in two flocks flying north-east over West Mersea and also 3 greenshank by the Strood.

His visit onto the nearby Langenhoe army ranges produced 2 hobbies, 3 pairs of barn owls, 3 ruff, 2 little ringed plover, 6 spotted redshank, pair of sparrowhawk, 5 greenshank, 2 pairs of avocet, 63 whimbrel, common sandpiper, 12 singing blackcaps, 3 turtle doves, nightingale and garden warbler.