SHOP LANE SUNSET

Spent the last hour of daylight on Thursday 5th, taking a stroll in the evening sunshine along the seawall north of Shop Lane at East Mersea. The tide was well out in the Pyefleet Channel, leaving lots of mudflats on show. Other than a few oystercatchers scattered along the Channel one curlew was the only other wader seen. A few shelduck were the only other birds other than lots of gulls.

Six great crested grebes was an interesting summer count for the Pyefleet. It also seemed notable seeing more grey herons than little egrets along the Channel for a change, with four herons seen but only one egret. Six little terns noisily flew up and down the Pyefleet, calling excitedly to each other as they looked for food.

Before the light faded at the Reeveshall pool several ducks were seen here. Three teal, four gadwall, two wigeon, three pochard, four tufted duck, two mallard and four shelduck seemed a varied group of ducks. Eight lapwing and a pair of oystercatchers were the only waders present. A male marsh harrier hunted over the nearby fields, probably the local Reeveshall bird. Three male yellowhammers sang from various bushes and the distinctive rasping call of a grey partridge at dusk was a worthy record.

At the Cosways set-aside field-edge, the grasshopper warbler was singing loud and clear close to the road. It was eventually tracked down and watched singing from a low bramble bush in the fading light. A little owl was also seen near the field and a pipistrelle bat was seen flying low over the field.

During the day at the park, two adders were found enjoying the heat under a sheet of tin, while nearby a discarded adder skin was found. To the rear of the grazing fields a pair of large red damselflies were seen flying in tandem beside a pond. This is the first record on the Island of this widespread colourful Essex damselfly. Also seen were the usual azure damselflies and blue-tailed damselflies. Several small heath and speckled wood butterflies were seen in the park during the day.

This is the scarce water ermine moth found last night in the moth trap at the park. Appearing like the common white ermine moth, this water ermine only has a handful of small black dots on its wings. The night's haul using two traps produced about 90 moths of 28 species, with the clear sky and heavy dew probably affecting the catch. The highlights were seeing four elephant hawkmoths and eight cream-spot tiger moths.

The neatly marked light brocade pictured above, stood out amongst the other brownish moths in the trap.

Had reports recently that a grey squirrel was seen near the East Mersea shop by Donna Moncur while Terry Lancefield recently enjoyed seeing a badger along Shop Lane one night.