CHILL IN THE AIR

The cold northerly breeze of the last few days has made it feel like winter has arrived. The clear skies at night have been near freezing with this frosty scene pictured above, just inside the country park on Tuesday 29th. Despite the chill in the air, there have been some big blue skies. There was a hint of a wintry shower mixed in with the rain on Tuesday afternoon, with a hint of hail briefly.

In some shaded corners of the park, the frost was slow to clear with some of the plants and grasses thickly covered in tiny, spiky ice crystals, as in the picture below.

Unlike many other parts of central and southern England, Mersea didn't have any snow on the Wednesday morning, nor a frost like the previous morning.

Just inside the park entrance on the Wednesday morning was a chiffchaff, calling out occasionally as it fed in a hawthorn bush. This is a late straggler of a migrant and there won't be many other chiffchaff sightings to come this autumn. Along one of the paths a group of small blackbirds flew ahead with at least one redwing heard calling. The group of about ten birds seemed very flighty and had probably arrived from Scandinavia during the night.

On the park pond a female pintail has been present for at least three days since it was first seen flying over the grazing fields on Monday. Despite there being lots of other ducks on the pond, this pintail never seemed totally relaxed.
There has been a good number of ducks and variety of species too with at least 8 species seen in the last few days. Many of the ducks stay hidden amongst the reeds but there could've been up to 150 birds at times. Mostly mallard and teal with 15 shoveler, 6 gadwall, 4 tufted duck, one pochard as well as one or two wigeon from the main group by the nearby grazing fields.

One lone swallow hawked back and forwards along the cliff-top on this sunny Tuesday morning, making the most of the calm conditions for a spot of insect catching. A group of 15 meadow pipits fed in the grassland areas, and at the Point a rock pipit was seen. Eight lesser redpolls passed over the park in two groups, calling as they went. There were also several flocks of about 300 wood pigeons flying high over the Island as they continued their westwards journey from the continent. Later in the morning a couple of red admirals and a common darter were seen on the wing.

On the last corner of mud to get covered in front of the cliff, there was the nice sight of 6 sanderlings feeding with about 50 turnstones.
Further along the beach near the Point, the regular male stonechat was perched on a bush close to the strandline. There were definitely more brent geese around the mouth of the Colne on Tuesday about 300 birds, presumably encouraged westwards from the continent by the chilly nights and the easterly winds. Eighty avocets were seen feeding on their usual section of mud near Ivy Dock, just north of the Point. A sparrowhawk was seen flying into the park on Wednesday afternoon, upsetting a few of the small local birds as it arrived.