PASSING HARRIER

Walked to the East Mersea Point, photo above, on Friday 11th and met up with Michael Thorley. We quickly stopped our conversation while we watched a male marsh harrier flying over the nearby saltmarsh by the Golfhouse. The bird was beautifully marked with its pale grey wings contrasting with black wing-tips. As it slowly passed over the saltings, a group of 50 brent geese took fright and headed quickly away. The harrier slowly headed out into the Colne and drifted south-east towards Colne Point.
Michael reported seeing a red-breasted merganser in the river.

Numbers of wildfowl on the grazing fields continue to drop and there are no flocks of brent geese or wigeon (other than a handful), left in the fields. Several small groups of shelduck can be seen along some of the hedgerows as they prospect nest sites. Three or four pairs of lapwing continue to display over the fields.

The first swallows for the site were seen flying low over the fields on Thursday with a pair swooping low over the pools. There was the colourful sight of a male yellow wagtail that landed briefly to feed with some pied wagtails. The bird soon took to the air and headed off. The first small tortoiseshell butterfly of the spring was seen in the car park on Thursday.

A Mediterranean gull was heard calling from the mudflats offshore from the park on Wednesday morning.
On Tuesday afternoon a male marsh harrier was seen hunting over a wheat field near the East Mersea road.