READY FOR SPRING

Only one or two things to report for the last few days. The picture above shows the newly refurbished sparrowhawk nest, complete with solid base, that was hastily erected, with the assistance of Ian Black, back up in the trees at the country park on Thursday 6th. The strong winds of the previous week had blown down this nest of twigs used by the breeding sparrowhawks for the last two years. Fingers crossed the birds will approve of the solid design

At the beginning of the day there were a couple of redwings feeding in the car park as well as a couple of song thrushes. In the wheat field beside Bromans Lane, the 500 brent geese continued to feed at various times of the day. A pair of red-legged partridges were also seen here.

The main wildlife attraction for visitors at the moment are the adders at the country park. The early morning sunshine on the morning of Wednesday 6th, brought out 5 or 6 adders in their regular spot near the car park and along the central track.

Whilst admiring the adders, the rapid flight of a kingfisher was briefly glimpsed as it sped from the pond, across the car park heading to the beach. This is the first kingfisher record at the park this year. One of the local male great spotted woodpeckers was drumming loudly from trees just north of the park.

This ominous dark cloud was watched heading south towards the park on Tuesday 4th in the afternoon bringing a mixture of rain and some sleet. Just in the foreground are some small mounds of grass, raked up and ready for removal. This will prepare the grassland for the 1400 small wild flowers to be planted, to help enhance the flora of the site.
A common shrew was easily located amongst the short grass, whilst high above the areas of long grass, were a couple of singing male skylarks.

It was a sunny start to Friday 7th and around 5 adders were out basking as well as a different individual in the opposite corner of the park.

One of the signs of spring on Mersea is when the first corn bunting sits on its song-post alongside the East Mersea road near Bocking Hall. One was seen perched on the regular bushes as I drove past it.

Michael Thorley saw a short-eared owl on the Rewsalls Marshes near the Youth Camp on Wednesday 5th.