FLASH OF BLUE

There were no blue skies on Sunday 8th and it stayed grey all day. The only bit of blue that Andy Field and I found on our walk around the park was the flash of blue of a kingfisher along the dyke near the Golfhouse. The bird was seen flying into a bush over the water where it perched in a spot that is a favourite location for the kingfisher in the winter-time.

A walk around the Point pictured above, was quiet with small numbers of the usual birds such as reed buntings, rock pipit, linnet, skylark, dunnock and meadow pipits. The Colne was quiet too with only one or two great crested grebes noted but no mergansers. One common seal in the middle of the Colne soon made itself scarce when a bright yellow hovercraft noisily drifted into the river to Brightlingsea from the offshore windfarm.

On the mudflats offshore distant wader flocks could be seen with 200 knot, 50 black-tailed godwits and 25 avocets the most recognisable.

The park pond has become very autumnal in the last 2 or 3 weeks as the reedmace loses its colour and the trees lose their leaves. Duck numbers vary throughout the day with the birds often swopping the pond for the nearby pools in the fields. A few gadwall and shoveler mingled on the pond with the mallard, wigeon and teal, as did a tufted duck.

On the fields 200 teal, 100 wigeon and a few brent geese were gathered by the pools with a couple of black-tailed godwits and a snipe. A fox made a brief appearance in the morning which spooked most of the birds away. There were 3 sightings of sparrowhawk during the morning, firstly at the Point, later by the pond and then over the car park.

Martin Cock was lucky enough to see and hear 2 Bewick swans fly over his garden in West Mersea as they headed west on Sunday morning.