MAYDAYS MARTINS

The house martins were busy gathering mud from the farmyard floor of Maydays Farm on Sunday 19th.

At least thirty house martins were coming down to one of the few damp mud patches in the farmyard. There was a continual coming and going of birds during the late morning of Sunday.

In recent years there have been up to forty house martin nests on the side of the nearby Maydays farmhouse.

A walk along the seawall from Maydays to the Strood provided close views of a pair of oystercatcher looking like the birds were thinking of nesting in the stubble field.

Along the top end of the Pyefleet Channel 6 grey plover, single red knot, 3 redshank, 2 whimbrel, 10 shelduck, pair of great crested grebes, 6 little egrets, pair of Mediterranean gulls and a grey heron were noted.

A pair of common buzzards appear to be nesting in a tall hedgeline below Bower Hall.
A female marsh harrier was hunting over Maydays fields. A cuckoo was calling regularly and seen flying near the seawall, also 2 yellow wagtails and 4 male yellowhammers. A brown hare was seen in one of the fields.

This one of the three red-legged partridges was seen in Haycocks Lane. A pair of grey partridge was seen near the Maydays farm buildings.

Across the Maydays marsh were small patches of the pale pink flowers of the thrift.

This young long-tailed tit was part of the family seen by Andy Field during his walk along the path between Shop Lane and Meeting Lane on Sunday. The Cetti's warbler was heard singing from Gyants Marsh. Two common terns were seen in the Pyefleet.

A colourful salsify flower was photographed by Andy on the seawall near the Oyster Fishery.

One of two common terns was seen on Saturday 18th perched on this marker post in the Strood Channel. Also noted during the walk along the seawall were a common buzzard, pair of shelduck, 8 oystercatcher, gadwall, kestrel, 30 swifts, 6 singing reed warbler, pair of yellow wagtails, corn bunting and 3 singing reed buntings.

On Friday 17th the high tide was almost covering the saltmarsh in front of the Firs Chase caravan site. Along the seawall two sedge warblers were heard singing, 6 reed warblers, 2 yellow wagtails, little tern and 2 common terns, whimbrel, gadwall and 4 swifts while a common buzzard was seen by Martin Cock.

During an East Mersea walk along the path between Meeting Lane and Shop Lane, 2 common buzzards and a marsh harrier were seen flying about while Cetti's warbler, reed bunting, 3 yellowhammers, cuckoo, lesser whitethroat and 3 whitethroats were all heard singing.
A brimstone butterfly was seen in Shop Lane and two hairy dragonflies were seen near Gyants Marsh. A green hairstreak was reported by the Potifar family in their Shop Lane garden a week earlier.