SEPTEMBER SHOWER

Having been away for a couple of weeks, Mersea has stayed very dry, although these wigeon at the park pond must have enjoyed this rare September shower. There was a brief downpour lasting a few minutes around the middle of the day on Monday 26th.


Numbers of duck at the park pond have increased noticeably over the last fortnight with nearly 150 ducks present on Monday with roughly a third each of mallard, teal and wigeon.

 Several of the wigeon were also commuting between the borrowdyke inside the seawall and the pond. The adjacent grazing fields are completely dry at the moment, so nothing suitable for wildfowl yet.

Ten little egrets had to endure the downpour of rain on Monday, this one holding on tight at the top of a dead tree as the rain pelted down.

A snipe was flushed off the edge of the pond by the cows when they walked past.

An osprey flew west past the park just offshore as the tide was receding just after midday on Monday. Flocks of waders and gulls scattered away as the osprey flew slowly along the outer edge of the mudflats.

A short while earlier two immature gannets were seen high over the outer part of the Colne, flying back out of the estuary past Colne Point. One common tern was feeding offshore with some gulls.

One swallow and a chiffchaff were the only other late summer migrants noted on Monday, although a whinchat was seen first thing Monday by Andy Field in the grazing fields.