COUPLE OF CROSSBILLS

Spent an hour along the Reeveshall seawall on a hot Monday 28th. The tide was out along the Pyefleet Channel so waders were thinly scattered across the mudflats. Fifty black-tailed godwits were seen as well as 5 golden plover but other than a few redshank and oystercatchers, not much else of note here.

A hobby raced along the seawall to snatch a small insect presumably a dragonfly which it proceeded to eat. It then circled slowly round, gaining height until it disappeared as a tiny speck in the sky and was lost to view.

On the Reeveshall pool pictured above, a ruff was of interest, also 5 green sandpipers, 2 redshank, 3 black-tailed godwits and 15 lapwing present.

A female marsh harrier was seen hunting over a nearby field, while on Langenhoe a juvenile harrier was seen catching some prey from an adult male while a fellow juvenile sibling eagerly followed close-by.

Had to disturb some of the local sheep from a footpath, that were enjoying the cool shade under the trees from the heat of the mid-day sun. As I passed through the Shop Lane conifer wood, I recognised the loud chipping calls of a crossbill nearby. The bird flew a short distance but I was unable to see it in flight.

Luckily the bird landed in another section of pine trees and after some careful scanning of the tree-tops, I located a female crossbill perched high up. The distinctive feature of its' cross-bill could be made out, as the bird called repeatedly. Having watched it for only five or so seconds, the bird flew off, being followed by a second bird, they disappeared off to the south-east, calling as they went.

The last crossbills that were seen on the Island were about five years ago when a group of ten were seen in West Mersea. This summer in the last few weeks there have been quite a few sightings of crossbills across Essex, presumably part of an influx from the continent.