FIRST MOTHS

Some more toads were on the move on Firs Chase in West Mersea early evening on Friday 19th. This pair were on the wrong side of the road from their pond, so after this photo was taken I lifted the pair across the road with the male still clasped tightly around the female.

At dusk the first pipistrelle bat of the spring at the country park, was seen flying around the park entrance. The slow increase in night temperatures has seen a few moths on the wing with several species seen at the park following trapping sessions on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Some of the moths seen were the March moth, hebrew character, common quaker and small quaker.


The most eyecatching moth was this fairly common oak beauty which normally turns up as a single individual but this time, three were noted early on the Friday morning.

The grey shoulder knot pictured above is usually recorded once or twice each early spring but only single individuals each time.

The shoulder stripe with its distinctive dark and light brown banding is another regular visitor to the trap in early spring but like the two moths above, just one or two noted in a season.

The first chiffchaff was heard singing quietly and sporadically from bushes from the rear of the pond on Friday morning. The bird couldn't be seen amongst the dense stand of willows and other trees. Apart from the firecrest here at the park two days earlier, the chiffchaff is normally the first common summer migrant to the Island and this date is about average for the first sightings of them here.

There were two ruff in the park grazing fields on Friday afternoon along with 3 snipe, several pairs of displaying lapwing, 200 wigeon, 100 teal, 20 gadwall, 20 shoveler and a few mallard. On the park pond there were 4 pochard and 10 tufted duck, while nearby a dozen fieldfares and the male sparrowhawk were seen. In the field next to the park 500 brent geese have returned to feed on the regrowing winter wheat crop.

The male adder was seen again on Friday in its usual spot near the car park, basking on bare soil

At West Mersea Martin Cock located the black-necked grebe offshore from the Esplanade early on the Friday morning.