PRIVETS AND PYEFLEET

This gentle giant of a moth was discovered in the Cudmore Grove moth trap at 4.30am on Thursday 7th (the early start is to ensure the crows and jays don't gorge themselves on the vulnerable and docile moths).
The big spectacular moth pictured above is the privet hawkmoth - the largest resident moth in the UK with a wingspan of four and a half inches. It normally rests with its wings folded close along the body but this one above kindly obliged in showing off the wonderful pink bands on its abdomen. It is quite a widespread moth and last summer several were trapped here on a number of nights in June and July.

It was a good night for moths with 160 moths of 35 species being a worthwhile session. The most interesting ones found included poplar hawk, peppered, green silver lines, shark, light brocade, several dark arches, buff-tip and poplar grey. The most numerous were 30 marbled minor, 30 heart and dart, 15 shoulder-striped wainscot and 15 hebrew characters.

Many moths have very descriptive names and the scorched wing above is no exception. The charred colour on the wings make the moth look as if it has flown too close to the flame of a candle. The moth when it rests amongst the leaves has the strange behaviour of curling its "tail" over its head, as in the photo above.

The scarcest moth to turn up was this water ermine pictured below. It looks similar to the commoner white ermine but with hardly any black spots on the wings. The ermine name refers to the white fur appearance of the moths with their fluffy heads. This moth is only found on coastal areas of the south-east of England and is listed as nationally scarce. There is an old record of this moth for East Mersea. The caterpillars feed on a variety of marshland plants such as water dock, purslane, water mint and yellow iris.

In the evening it was time to make tracks along the Pyefleet - almost like the shelduck footprints in the mud pictured below. In the two hours on the seawall with Monty in tow, two people passed me and it made it seem like rush-hour in comparison with the usual remoteness of the area.
At the Reeveshall pool, there were a few more birds than normal. A green sandpiper and greenshank seemed unusual for early June as they should have been much further north on breeding grounds. At this time of year it is difficult to tell whether these birds have aleady been north, or are just very late heading north or maybe just not bothering to head to their breeding grounds in northern Scotland or Scandinavia at all.A black-tailed godwit, oystercatchers, redshank and lapwings have been regular recently. A group of 8 pochard and three drake teal were also noteworthy while a little egret stalked the shallows to the rear.

Along the Pyefleet Channel on the mud, waders of note were 14 knot, a group of 18 grey plover and one dunlin. One great crested grebe, little tern and common tern were all trying their luck with the fish in the Channel.

At least four marsh harriers could be seen flying around over the Langenhoe Marsh and towards dusk a barn owl was also out hunting.
On Reeveshall a female marsh harrier sat on the ground briefly and then one of the male harriers from Langenhoe came over late in the evening. One corn bunting was heard singing but generally there wasn't much small bird activity. Four brown hares seemed very excitable as they chased each other around in one of the fields.

The sun which had stayed well hidden for most of the day behind the clouds, shone a little beam of orange-light across the Pyefleet.


I was shown this unusual and very beautiful shell by a regular dog-walker to the park Marianne Jones, on Tuesday. Neither of us have seen such an eyecatching shell before on the beach with its broad pink bands on the side and red spots underneath. Measuring an inch and a half it appears to be a big common topshell(sometimes called painted topshell). I've since walked the section of beach by the park a few times but not found any more examples although smaller and duller topshells are often found.