SNOW-FALL

Big snowflakes were falling by mid-morning on Easter Sunday. The snow eventually began to settle although not quite on the roads, such as here on Firs Road above. By the end of the morning there was almost an inch of snow everywhere, although a quick thaw during the afternoon, soon cleared the snow away.

A quick walk around the edge of West Mersea during the snow-fall not surprisingly was rather unproductive for watching any wildlife. One or two greenfinches were singing from gardens, a goldfinch was seen in flight and a few blackbirds and robins were heard singing too. The cheeriest group of birds was the regular flock of house sparrows beside the Yacht Club with about 20 chirping loudly beside bird feeders in a nearby garden.

The tide was coming in along the Strood Channel and only a few waders were seen, although the visibility was poor, while it snowed. Some small groups of brent geese could just be seen, whilst several noisy redshank gave their presence away.
By the Dabchicks, 10 bar-tailed godwits were feeding along the water's edge along with some dunlin and grey plover. Two great crested grebes and a little grebe were seen in the channel.
A shag was fishing in the area of the floating pontoon by the Hard.

Some of the spring flowers such as this blackthorn blossom, will have got a shock with all this Arctic weather of recent days.