PARISH CIRCUIT

Spent the first part of the morning of Saturday 15th doing a circuit of East Mersea, catching up with what birds were holding territories in this breeding season. Luckily the weather was warm with a light wind which meant calls and songs were able to carry a reasonable distance.

The walk started at 5.30am at the park, then along Bromans Lane into Shop Lane, across to Meeting Lane to Weir Farm, then down to Rewsalls, across to the church, through Coopers Beach and finally back along the beach to the park at 10am. The picture above shows the path near to Gyants Marsh, just east of Meeting Lane. I'm not sure what the total distance walked was but Monty the JR, was glad for a break when I stopped for a chat with a couple near the end of the walk, nodding off for a snooze at my feet within a minute!

Some of the highlights and notable counts of singing males included 3 nightingales, 3 corn buntings, 4 turtle doves, 51 common whitethroats, 11 lesser whitethroats, 2 yellow wagtails, 1 yellowhammer, 11 linnet pairs, 7 blackcap at least one cuckoo and a pair of red-legged partridge. Also seen during the circuit were two sub-adult Mediterranean gulls near Coopers Beach, wheatear, sparrowhawk near Fen Farm and the male marsh harrier over Reeveshall.

This walk provides a brief snapshot of what birds are potentially breeding in the area. Hopefully a few more walks in other local areas as well as a few repeat visits in the next few weeks, will give us a good idea of what's breeding here this year.


The moth trap was put out at the park over Friday night and checked first thing on Saturday before I started the walk. Despite the cloudy night sky, it had still been too cold for much moth activity. This pebble prominent pictured above was the most interesting of the small haul of about a dozen moths. Others included sallow kitten, brimstone, early grey, muslin, spectacle, hebrew character and clouded drab.

Martin Cock had seen 2 green hairstreak butterflies, the first for the year, along Shop Lane. They've not been seen in the country park this spring yet. He also reported a turtle dove singing at Gyants Marsh, adding to the parish tally for this species.

Following the earlier posting a couple of days back about the collar-ringed greylag goose, I received confirmation that it had come from southern Sweden. The goose was ringed in 2000 and spent the first 8 years being seen around Sweden. There were no reports or sightings during 2009 but then it was seen in early 2010 in northern England in Northumberland, then Yorkshire before moving to Bedfordshire earlier this spring. Leif Nilsson who has overseen the ringing of 6000 greylags in Sweden, has described this goose's wanderings as "most extraordinary!"