MERLIN OVER MARSHES

Walked the length of the seawall beside the Strood Channel by West Mersea on Friday morning It stayed dry, the out-going tide had uncovered most of the mudflats but the chill in the wind meant you didn't want to hang around for too long.

Watching the 100 lapwing and 300 golden plover suddenly take to the air, two falcons appeared into view and spooked the roosting waders away. In the hurry to quickly identify the two falcons, the first bird may've have been a kestrel but I turned my attention to the second bird which luckily was seen to be a female merlin. I kept watching this bird as it dropped quickly down towards the field and then raced low across the ground where it then sat on a clod of earth for five minutes. The brown colouring of the bird blended in well with the colour of the field.

A couple of minutes later there was the nice view of a male marsh harrier flying east over the same fields. The merlin watched it pass by, with the harrier continuing on its way and passing high over the traffic at the bottom of Strood Hill. The merlin took off and raced fast and low over the grass fields but no small birds were flushed up in front of it as it went. It disappeared out of view as it passed over the seawall towards the Hard and the Mersea Quarters.
A kestrel was seen at the start of the walk near the caravan site and then later, a sparrowhawk glided over Firs Chase.

The brent geese were feeding in a wheat field and a brief count of the youngsters present revealed about 60 young birds from this summer, among a flock of about 400 birds. A slightly higher proportion of young than earlier in the autumn but not the signs of a good breeding season this year.

In the Channel small groups of wigeon, teal and shelduck were noted while amongst the various waders, a group of 100 knot seemed the most interesting for the area. In the actual channel 10 little grebes were bobbing up and down in the choppy waters and a handful of cormorants were feeding amongst the boats.

The only small birds noted were 10 linnets, and a couple of reed buntings that kept thinking about flying off the Island towards Ray Island