RED-NECKS AND RED-RUMPS

There was a steady flow of birdwatchers to see the red-necked phalarope, showing well for the second day on the dyke by Coopers Beach on Sunday 7th. Richard Brown kindly passed on this photo he took of the bird. The photo shows one of the two white lines along the top of the back that form a "V" pattern - a feature of red-necked phalaropes.
Richard has more photos of local birds on his new blog-site-
http://dickie-b-birdography.blogspot.com/

The bird was very confiding and Sean Nixon from Colchester here, was one of many photographers who were rewarded with some good close-up shots - in Sean's case a thousand shots were reeled off! The bird can just be made out in the photo as the white speck on the far side of the water. It was quite content to paddle up and down a fifty metre section picking off tiny insects on the water as it went. On one occasion it tucked its bill under its wing and tried to have a snooze. There was also a lot of wing stretching which appeared as if it was getting itself ready to carry on its long journey south.

One of the other bird photographers to visit was Andy Cook who took his eyes off the phalarope briefly and found himself watching a flypast of five swallows - one of which was thicker bodied and with a pale rump, typical of a red-rumped swallow. This group of swallows passed quickly over the marsh in front of him and then flew over the seawall, heading westwards and not to be seen again.

Red-rumped swallows are rare annual visitors to Essex from the Mediterranean and have not been recorded on Mersea Island before.

In the short time I was on the seawall in the middle of the afternoon, dodging the showers, a few other birds were noted. Three wheatears were seen on some nearby kids play equipment, 3 swifts were seen passing over by Andy Field, little egret and kestrel, 18 mistle thrushes and a little owl were seen by the caravan site. Ahead of a squall a group of 50 mainly swallows passed over the East Mersea church. Nick Green was lucky enought to see a short-eared owl over the Coopers Beach fields late in the afternoon.

Flying past during the high tide of interest was an adult Mediterranean gull, 5 common terns and a common sandpiper.
Martin Cock saw a spotted flycatcher again at the country park today and a few yellow wagtails in a field just north of the park. A marsh harrier was seen quartering fields alongside the East Mersea road near Bocking Hall.

Alan Burgess of the East Mersea Pick Your Own field told me that he was amazed to see a grey squirrel by his field on Friday 5th. Mersea prides itself on being squirrel-free although the occasional one gets reported once or twice a year.
I also gather that the fresh corpse of a deer was found yesterday, washed up on the beach at the East Mersea Point. Like the grey squirrel status, Mersea is just about deer-free and there has been no proof of breeding of either in recent decades.