BUSY-BEES

This swarm of wild honey bees were seen along the Strood seawall on Wednesday 3rd and appear to have taken up temporary residence amongst the grass. The swarm has been present for at least a couple of days already although it's not exactly clear why they've selected this particular spot. There was also a report last week of another swarm of bees on the move in West Mersea.

Not too much of note during the brief walk in the late afternoon as the tide came in. Three distant waders appeared to be curlews and there were a few pairs of oystercatchers flying around too. In the Channel a cormorant fished amongst the boats and several common terns and little terns were also seen fishing. On the Ray saltings 2 little egrets and a pair of Canada geese were seen.

Along the dyke and nearby fields 3 reed warbers, reed bunting, corn bunting, meadow pipit, whitethroat, some linnets and a pair of mistle thrushes were the only small birds seen. A few swallows and swifts hunted over the fields.


One bramble bush along the side of the dyke has had to produce a second growth of leaves after these caterpillars of the brown-tail moth stripped the first spring growth. A few caterpillars could still be seen on the rather bare bush, although most appear to have moved on. The hairs on these caterpillars can cause major skin irritations if touched, so I was making sure we didn't make contact!