BLACK-WITS AND BRENT

Black-tailed godwits have been feeding in various parts of the grazing fields at the country park in recent days. As the fields get wetter through the autumn, there are more opportunities for the godwits to probe for worms in the soil. Up to fifty black-tailed godwits have been feeding recently in the field beside the borrowdyke. On Wednesday 11th there were 420 counted in the fields, most of them roosting on the pools.

The brent geese have been spending a lot of time grazing the fields recently with around 600 seen on Friday 13th and 800 geese the day before. The geese are pictured above crowding into a small pool for a drink of freshwater. The pale-bellied brent goose was present in the field on both Wednesday and Thursday.

During his walk around the country park on Wednesday 11th, Andy Field noted 450 brent geese, 120 redshank, 24 curlew, 300+ wigeon, kingfisher, common scoter offshore, chiffchaff and four goldcrests.

A glance at the fields later in the afternoon revealed about 600 brent geese and 1000 wigeon.
Earlier on Wednesday 30 siskins were flying around the alders by the pond in the company of 20 goldfinches.

On Thursday 12th the water rail nervously peered out of the reedmace onto the field by the hide before it scuttled back into the cover. A dozen siskin were by the alders and the kingfisher appeared as usual at dusk. A sparrowhawk was seen in the afternoon by the pond by Ian Black. A fieldfare was perched in a tree by the park entrance at the start of the day.

A brambling was found by Andy feeding by the garden bird-feeder inside the entrance to Coopers Beach.
The black brant was seen on several days during the week by Neil Mortimer in the Mersea Quarters.
There was a report of a stonechat near Coopers Beach on Thursday.

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 This moth trap operated over Tuesday and Wednesday nights as it stayed reasonably mild. This little female Gem moth pictured above was found after Tuesday night's session and was the most interesting being an immigrant from the continent. It's only the third record for the park.
Other moths included feathered thorn, silver-Y, large wainscot, yellow-line quaker and mottled umber.

A red admiral butterfly was seen at the Point by Martin Cock on Wednesday while one was seen the next day by Adrian Amos in his West Mersea garden.