WELCOME TO MERSEA ISLAND - A GEM OFF THE ESSEX COAST. FAMOUSLY DESCRIBED IN 1880:- "A MORE DESOLATE REGION CAN SCARCE BE CONCEIVED, AND YET IT IS NOT WITHOUT BEAUTY". STILL UNIQUE TODAY, CUT OFF AT HIGH TIDES, SURROUNDED BY MUD AND SALTMARSHES, MERSEA IS RICH IN COASTAL WILDLIFE. HERE ARE SOME HIGHLIGHTS -
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
SHOREBIRD SPECTACLE
Alan Reynolds eventually got onto Mersea Island after the very high tide had gone down from the Strood causeway last Friday 9th, and took all these photographs of waders on the shore by East Mersea Point. If you time the tide right just as it begins to uncover the mud, it's a great place to see good numbers of waders and a great variety close-in too. The picture above shows a grey plover in typical pose.
The mud near the Point is a good place to see bar-tailed godwits, such as these pictured above.
The oystercatchers pictured above, are one of the most recognisable of the waders being black and white, and are often the noisiest too.
Dunlin, pictured above, are the most numerous with up to 2000 sometimes gathering on the mud here in winter.
Three ringed plovers fly onto the mud with two dunlin in this photo above.
The turnstone, pictured above, feed along the beach in small flocks during the high tide flicking over the stones as they look for food.
Running alongside the turnstones on the beach at the Point are the ghostly white sanderling, photo above.
The rock pipit is a winter visitor to the Island feeding in saltmarshes or along beaches as in Alan's photo above.
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