STANDING ROOM ONLY

Standing room only on the pools at the park's grazing fields for the little egrets and the wader roost at high tide on Wednesday 29th. Twenty-five little egrets were gathered here along with about 150 redshank and 70 black-tailed godwits. Ten lapwings were seen here at the end of Thursday 30th.

A barn owl was quartering the areas of long grass on the main part of the park in the last hour of Thursday 30th, before it flew west over the car park. Fifty swallows were also flying over the park feeding before dusk. A little owl called from a hedgeline to the north of the park.
A badger was seen briefly as it foraged just before dusk on Wednesday evening near the pond.

On the pond on Wednesday 4 little grebe chicks were seen being fed by the parents, also three tufted ducklings still around while 4 teal were present amongst 20+ mallard.

The first passage warbler of the autumn to be seen at the park was this male willow warbler, heard doing a soft sub-song alongside the path near the pond. No willow warblers bred on the Island this year, so this bird had just stopped off briefly to feed up before continuing its journey south.

Two whimbrel flew over the mudflats off the park whistling to each other on Wednesday and one also heard the day before too. The two ringed plover chicks were still at the Point and a Med gull seen on the mud, both sightings by Andy Field on Wednesday.

At West Mersea a yellow wagtail was heard calling and seen flying high west over the Spar car park on Wednesday morning while the Chapmans Lane corn bunting was singing from wires on Tuesday.

This Essex skipper was resting on a greater knapweed at the park on Wednesday while nearby half a dozen gatekeepers and a handful of six-spot burnets were seen feeding on knapweed and scabious.
An adder was seen sliding back into cover on Wednesday at the park.

Two black-tailed skimmer dragonflies were seen over the park dyke on Thursday by Steve Entwistle.

A section of bramble bush in a field near the Shop Lane seawall had a good number of butterflies on it with this fresh painted lady the most interesting, as photographed by Andy Field.

Also on the bramble bush was this peacock butterfly, also photographed by Andy.

On the nearby Pyefleet mud the main waders noted on Wednesday by Andy were avocets and black-tailed godwits, while on the Reeveshall pool the family of avocets was still present. The two chicks were seen flying for the first time a couple of days earlier by Martin Cock.

The moth trap has been operating a couple of times at the park, although this yellow shell was found fluttering over to a tree where it rested on the side. One or two are being seen daily flying between bushes or between foliage clumps.

The colourful V-pug pictured above has been noted a couple of times this year.

There have been a handful of small scallop records this summer, this one being the most obliging as it rested on the glass of my back door.

No sooner had this species of jungle-fowl been added to the park's bird list for the first time on Monday, a pile of brown feathers were then found a couple of days later 30m away from this spot, just inside the park entrance - R.I.P.