HANGING AND QUARTERING

Masses of geese came raining out of the sky when I walked along the Strood seawall on Friday 25th. On a rather windy day, it was just the thousand brent geese and myself in the area - well nearly just us.

I laid down on the side of the seawall and enjoyed slowly scanning with my binoculars back and forwards through the flock. I then noticed some of the geese sticking their heads up, indicating that they were anxious about something. I scanned around and slowly flying along the edge of the field above the reeds in the dyke, was a marsh harrier, edging its way closer towards me.

I stayed lying low hoping it would pass along the dyke in front of me only 25 metres away. The strong wind allowed it to hang in the air as it quartered the reeds and rushes just below it. It probably got as close as about 50 metres when it hovered and then dropped suddenly down. A couple of big flaps of the big brown wings and it was airborne again and nearly continued towards me, when it veered sharply away. It must have seen me, as it turned and flew right over the brent geese.

As it passed over the flock it dropped an object from its talons which must have been a water vole. Dropping an object onto the geese was rather like a bomber shedding a bomb onto the various targets below. Needless to say, all the geese quickly took to the air, causing a bit of chaos and it took me a while to relocate the harrier.

The marsh harrier slowly flapped its way low over the far wheat fields , before returning back to the same dyke but just further along. It quartered the reedbed for a few minutes, passing just above the height of the reeds, before rising high and crossing the Strood Channel, heading west to Feldy Marshes.

Most of the geese returned to the field after the harrier had passed, while others headed to the water in the Strood Channel. The tide was well up and the last of the mud was nearly covered over. Along the edges were small numbers of lapwing, redshank, dunlin, curlew, turnstone, teal and wigeon. One single little egret was all hunched up against the saltmarsh bank, trying to shelter from the fresh wind. Around forty shelduck bobbed around in the choppy waters.

Close to the Dabchicks area, were about 6 dabchicks, a handful of bar-tailed godwits and one black-tailed godwit. Hovering beside a fishing boat were up to 150 big gulls hoping to pick up some fish scraps being thrown overboard. The gulls were mainly herring with a few great black-backed gulls circling round too.

Small birds seen along the seawall walk were rock pipit, meadow pipit, couple of reed buntings, five linnet and five greenfinches.

Two Slavonian grebes were reported today from just east of the boat moorings at West Mersea.