POORLY KINGFISHER

Sad to report a kingfisher found very poorly by my wife Nolly, lying on the ground in front of the Firs Chase caravan site on Saturday 12th. The bird seemed to have been attacked on the back of the head and it was very weak. Having brought it home and put it in a box, it hardly moved and then died a couple of hours later.
At least one other kingfisher was still on the Island on Saturday being seen at Cudmore Grove.

A party of long-tailed tits passed noisily through the Firs Chase garden on Saturday afternoon. Earlier a goldcrest was heard calling and small groups of swallows and house martins have passed overhead.
At the beginning of the week the pied blackbird was seen back in the garden on Monday morning.

Forty collared doves were perched up on wires near the Firs Chase cemetery on Saturday evening. A hobby was reported by Neil Mortimer trying to catch a swallow over St Peters marsh on Friday.

The Lavenham Bird Club visited the country park on Saturday 12th and reported sightings of 65 little egrets on the pond, kingfisher, 2 snipe, 2 whinchats, Cetti's warbler and common buzzard.

On Sunday there was the pleasant surprise of a firecrest feeding in a cherry plum tree outside the front door of the house in Firs Chase on a drizzly Sunday afternoon. Feeding with a goldcrest it proved elusive at times especially when the 30+ long-tailed tits, blue tits and great tits passed through, which made it more difficult to keep a track of.

Two spotted flycatchers were found by Martin Cock on Sunday near Meeting Lane, following up from two seen in Cross Lane the day before by Martin.
At the park on Sunday 10 blackcaps, siskin flying over, swift over the Golfhouse, two ruff and two snipe on the fields.

Alan Reynolds visited the park on Thursday 10th and photographed this flock of redshank flying off the fields at the park.

Another of Alan's pictures of one of the sixty linnets seen at the East Mersea Point.
Sixty were still present in the area on Sunday morning.

A Mediterranean gull photographed by Alan off Waldegraves at West Mersea.

At the park two clouded yellows were seen by the pond on Monday 7th and probably the same two again by the seawall a few days later by Liz Cutting. A hummingbird hawkmoth was feeding on buddleia in Firs Chase on a drizzly Sunday 13th. A red underwing was resting on the outside of one of the park buildings on Thursday 10th. An adder was reported crossing a path by two regulars on Thursday 10th.