DUSK WAVES

A late Tuesday 12th evening march along the beach was perfectly timed with the high tide and a near deserted beach. Against the sandy cliff backdrop, it was just the sea, sand and sky to occupy your attention. The only sound to be heard was the continual gentle lapping of waves onto the beach. There didn't appear to be any moments of silence in between the small waves crashing onto the shells and shingle at various points along the beach.

A group of 25 black-headed gulls were hanging about waiting to inspect the beach and the first uncovered mud for any interesting morsels washed in by the sea. What I noticed along the strandline were quite a lot of common moon jellyfish washed up amongst some of the seaweed. It is normally during June when the jellyfish start appearing on the beach and sometimes in very large numbers.

Dusk walks smell a lot more fragrant than during the day. You can tell when you are passing a honeysuckle plant in flower well before you see it. Several clumps of wild honeysuckle are in full flower at the moment and their evening boost in smell production will get those night-time insects homing in on them.

A brief stop-off in the hide provided a view of a vixen fox starting out on her hunting expedition where I reckon rabbit may well be on the menu again for her three young cubs. Glancing across the field there was the fine view of one of the local barn owls hurriedly flapping his way over the grass. I was amazed to see it fly right in front of the hide. A rapid and brief fly-past but a wonderful view of those dark eyes amongst the white face staring intently ahead, before the bird disappeared over the hedge. After five more minutes in the hide, when I emerged the barn owl was making a return flight back to the grass field in front of the hide, so I was treated to another great close view.

As I drove away from the park I spotted the silhouette of another owl perched on some wires by the East Mersea road. It flew over the road and I was able to see the very brown wings which confirmed it as a tawny owl.
The previous evening I had seen a little owl also by the East Mersea road at dusk flying to a nearby hedgerow.

On the subject of nocturnal creatures, I have been trying to get a good view of the brown long-eared bat which rests inside the public toilets in the car park during the night as it feasts on captured moths. His recent preferences recently have switched from angle shade moths to large yellow underwing moths. The remains of his midnight snack are strewn across the floor in the morning. I managed to see him / her indoors one evening recently but he was wary of my presence and after lots of circling around I stood to one side to let it fly out the door.

Another batty incident I witnessed was also a few nights ago whilst watching moths come to my trap. Two or three small pipistrelle bats were also attracted to my back garden because of the incoming moths. Bats were swooping low down to head high and a fleeting glimpse of a passing bat out the corner of the eye were all the brief views they gave. I watched one bat at roof height home in on a moth which managed to escape by spiralling rapidly downwards and out of the way. The bat tried to follow but gave up so this moth must have picked up the echo-locating sonar of the bat to help it escape.

Earlier on Tuesday morning I saw three great spotted woodpeckers near the park entrance. Two of these were the young recently fledged and most likely from the nesting tree near the west end of Bromans Lane. I also enjoyed watching a large family of long-tailed tits in a white poplar tree beside the car park. I reckon there were at least 15 birds in the tree but it was difficult trying to count all of them as they hopped from branch to branch, all calling to each other.
As I walked across the park I saw the dark grey shape of a falcon in fast flight. This was a hobby in a hurry and with a very focused mind, although it did change tack suddenly to swoop unsuccessfully after a skylark.