OUT WITH THE OWL

The last hour of Monday 21th was spent on the seawall near the Oyster Fishery at East Mersea, as in the picture above. There was an unexpected appearance of a barn owl hunting in this long-grass field, providing close views a good hour before it got dark. As the light began to fade a little owl was heard calling from a nearby hedgeline and a fox was seen prowling across a field.

Scanning the Langenhoe Point on the opposite side of the Pyefleet Channel, 8 marsh harriers were seen coming into roost for the night with only the one adult male being seen. Five of the harriers sat around on the top of the Langenhoe seawall waiting to drop into the reedbed for the night.

There were plenty of waders as far as the eye could see along the Pyefleet mudflats with the tide out but the dull haze made viewing poor. Thirty avocets were seen flying down the river Colne with a few feeding in the Pyefleet. Four knot were noted amongst ringed plovers and dunlin, while black-tailed godwits were scattered about in good numbers.

A group of 60 shelduck on the east side of the Colne was the biggest gathering in the area for over 2 months. Two common terns flew along the Channel while 10 little egrets headed off to roost.


Earlier in the day Glyn Evans and his team of helpers carried out the monthly wildfowl count around Mersea. On their walk around they noted hobby, common buzzard, whinchat, 6 wheatears, green sandpiper, yellow wagtail, 17 corn buntings and a count of 247 turnstones. Glyn also had a good view of a brightly coloured clouded yellow butterfly near the Oyster Fishery - the fourth sighting on the Island this summer.

Also earlier today a flock of 200 linnets perched along wires over a stubble field by Bocking Hall farm. The presumed parent brown hare of the leveret photographed at Bromans Farm, was seen in the adjacent field.

There was no repeat fly-past today of the honey buzzard that Andy Field had seen yesterday in mid afternoon from the Shop Lane seawall. He had a good view of the bird flying quite low over the Shop Lane wood being mobbed by crows as it flew north-east, where it headed over the Pyefleet towards Alresford Creek direction.

Other birds seen by him in the area included a curlew sandpiper, 2 greenshank, green sandpiper, 3 wheatears and 3 marsh harriers. Martin Cock saw the kingfisher at Maydays farm on Saturday.

Birds seen around the park on Sunday included 3 chiffchaffs, 3 blackcaps, lesser whitethroat, whitethroat, yellow wagtail, a small passage of swallows with the occasional house martin and sand martin and two wheatears at the Point. At the park pond a sparrowhawk flew past and a water vole obligingly sat at the base of some reedmace for several minutes chomping through a few reedmace stems.

Enjoying the calm and sunny weather in the last couple of days have been painted lady, speckled woods, small copper, small white, commas and red admiral. Also several southern hawkers and common darters seen around the park.


There was a reasonable selection of moths in the trap over Saturday night compared with recent sessions. The trap was operated overnight, joining in the National Moth Night event, where lots of other moth trapping sessions were taking place across the country to raise the profile of moths.

On the Sunday morning the trap at the park yielded about 250 moths of about 26 species with a typical selection of autumnal moths noted. The three members of the sallow family pictured above and below were the prettiest found, with their pale markings matching the colour of autumnal leaves.
The one above is The sallow, while the moth below is the barred sallow, both common moths and regular visitors to the trap in previous autumns.

The moth below is the orange sallow, again a widespread moth with 2 other freshly marked individuals in the trap.

Other moths seen included L-album wainscot, common wainscot, engrailed, light emerald, yellow-tail, large yellow underwing, broad-bordered yellow underwing, square spot rustic, feathered ranunculus, black rustic, brick, beaded chestnut, frosted orange, rosy rustic, angle shades, shuttle-shaped dart, mallow and snout.