THE REELING FEELING

The reeling song of a grasshopper warbler was heard by the park pond on Saturday 24th although the bird failed to show. Peering through a thick hedgeline made it difficult to pinpoint which bush the bird was singing from, but it was somewhere just to the east of the pond. In the picture above, the bird's song appeared to be coming from the far side of the pond. The bird was heard singing several times during the day with the last burst being heard at 7.30pm.

This bird probably won't stay around and will just be stopping briefly at the park, before continuing on its migration to breeding grounds further north. No grasshoppers warblers were heard last year on the Island but the previous year one stopped off for one day at the park, while two others stopped off to the west of the park for 2 or 3 weeks and probably bred. The grasshopper warbler is a scarce visitor to the Island so its always a nice feeling hearing that reeling in the spring.

Another summer visitor joining in the bird chorus for the first time this year was the cuckoo, calling briefly near the pond in the morning. The nightingale was singing in loud bursts near the entrance, while a couple of lesser whitethroats joined several common whitethroats, blackcaps and chiffchaffs singing around the park. Overhead 5 swallows flew around while 7 sand martins were seen by the cliff and a yellow wagtail was heard as it passed overhead.

In the evening a sparrowhawk flew over the pond, while the pair of kestrels were by their nestbox at the back of the grazing fields. Four little egrets flew east to their roost at dusk presumably heading to St Osyth.

On the flooded field 15 black-tailed godwits and 20 redshank roosted at high tide while other wildfowl included 25 teal, 4 shoveler, 10 shelduck and 4 greylag geese. A white wagtail was also seen on the fields in the afternoon.

Other wildlife noted were 2 foxes mid morning by the pond, 7 adders in various locations, and the first speckled wood butterfly along with several peacocks, small white and green-veined white too.

Andy Field saw 2 swifts flypast his house in West Mersea during the morning although the first report for the Island this spring was on Thursday in Norfolk Avenue. On Friday evening 40 golden plover were feeding in an East Mersea field near the Pick-Your-Own, while a little owl perched up on a telegraph pole near Shop Lane.