SCORCHIO

Another scorcher here on the Island on Tuesday 8th with a reported temperature in a car locally reaching 30 degrees. At least here at the country park there was a breeze blowing in from the sea during the day. In the picture above, the breeze is turning over the silvery white underside of the leaves of the white poplar trees.

Butterfly numbers have dropped off sharply since the park appeared to dry up about three weeks ago. Two small coppers, speckled wood, painted lady, several small whites and large whites were the only ones during the day around the park.

A male grass-snake was enjoying the sunshine as it basked beside a path on the north side of the park. It quickly slipped away and managed to cleverly disappear under the barest cover of leaves and a tuft of grass. The previous day a young adder was seen along the same path.

Making the most of the good weather were the migrating swallows passing over the park during the day. The main passage appeared to be in the afternoon when at least 300 birds slowly passed over in a continuous stream. One or two house martins and sand martins were seen too. A single swift was with the martins in the morning and Richard Brown noted one passing over West Mersea in the afternoon.

Two great spotted woodpeckers were seen by the park entrance in the morning while later, 2 green woodpeckers were seen on a small tree by the pond. Blackcap, chiffchaff and whitethroat were noted in bushes near the pond.
A sparrowhawk glided over the area scattering wood pigeons from the copse while one or two swallows bravely mobbed it as it flew past. A juvenile sparrowhawk swooped low over the car park during the day, while a little egret passing over the car park is a familiar sight. A whimbrel was heard calling from the mudflats.

In the evening a dog fox was seen in the grazing fields marking every grass tussock in the area. A short while later a young fox also appeared nearby and took an interest in the some rabbits along a hedgeline. Just before darkness fell a badger was seen jogging acoss the field by the pond and the little owl was heard calling from nearby Bromans Farm.

Conditions seemed ideal for moth trapping on the Monday night but despite some cloud cover and the warm air, the partial moon was probably still too bright and kept moths away from the trap. By dawn on Tuesday about 17 species of about 120 individuals were noted.

The newest addition to the park's moth- list was the cypress pug, a species that seems to be getting more widespread in the county. Other moths noted included canary-shouldered thorn, oak hook-tip, willow beauty, latticed heath, light emerald, brimstone, orange swift, white point, flounced rustic, square spot rustic, snout, broad-bordered yellow underwing and large yellow underwing. Also in the trap in the morning was a common darter dragonfly.

This feathered gothic with its distinctive fine lines along its wings has been seen at the park before, although not last year.

There are normally small numbers of the L-album wainscot through September at the park and although some may be migrants, some are probably locally resident with often a handful of individuals in a night in the trap.