ISLAND SPERM WHALE

Called round on Friday 26th to see David Nicholls, on the left above, along with Ian Black on the right, to admire some old sperm whale bones found locally. David has recently taken temporary possession of a handful of the bones that had been discovered back in May, protruding from the mud by Cobmarsh Island at the entrance to the Mersea Quarters.

Ralph Merry made the initial discovery and with assistance from Donald Rainbird and advice from Jerry Bowdrey of the Colchester Natural History Museum, some of the bones were removed and cleaned up. Apparently the bones of the whale have become scattered across the mud rather than being an intact skeleton. At this stage no-one has an idea of the age of the bones suffice to say there is no recent documentation of one being located there by Cobmarsh.

The two photos above show the long lower jawbones with the empty sockets where up to 22 teeth in a row would've been situated. The jawbone has had the tip broken off but still stands at just under 7 feet long. There was no sign of any teeth in the jawbone or in the mud where it was found.

This photo provides an idea of the length of the bones, as they lean against a garden shed with its' six-foot five inch doorway. The large wide bone in the middle, is the flat roof plate of the mouth. The upper jaw only has small vestigial teeth that apparently rarely break through the gums. This flat roofplate almost had the appearance of an old bit of fibreglass from an old boat.

No other whale has such a distinctive jaw with a long row of teeth, which the sperm whale uses when feeding on squid, octupus and occasionally fish. Sperm whales normally feed in deep waters or near the continental shelf, so it is unusual to have one washed up on the shallow Essex coast. One of the vertebra from the back-bone is pictured below, this is about 12-14 inches long.

The Mammals of Essex book by John Dobson makes a couple of references to sperm whale in the county. "One was captured in the Thames and brought ashore at Blackwall, London around 1732, and two were washed up at unknown locations on the Essex coast following an east coast storm in 1763."

John Dobson lists the only other documented whale records for West Mersea were two northern bottlenose whales on 30th July 1939. On 7th August 1939 an unidentified whale 5.49m long, stranded at East Mersea may have been this species too.

Three more unidentified whale remains were found at East Mersea on 9th August 1956.

Another still and sunny morning, with the cattle at the park's grazing fields helping to keep the grass in good condition for the geese and ducks, soon to arrive for the winter.

The gentle north-east breeze has kept the small trickle of migrant birds flying into the wind. A group of 12 swallows flew north-east over the park in the afternoon. Five siskin and 3 lesser redpoll flew over in the morning, again heading north-east, as did a few meadow pipits. Feeding with the tit flock around the car park bushes were three chiffchaffs and four goldcrests.

Three common lizards were seen basking in the sunshine, one on top of a fencepost.

The common toadflax with its yellow "snapdragon" flowers is generally a common plant in north Essex but appears to be scarce on the Island. There have been regular clumps at the country park for many years and this little patch of flowers pictured above, caught the eye along a hedge near the park seawall.