A tatty painted lady was seen on Friday 28th in the West Mersea Feldy cemetery. Three painted ladies were seen at various locations near the Firs Chase caravan site and the Strood seawall. There have been several reported in West Mersea gardens over the last week following the recent influx in the second half of June from the continent.
Three small tortoiseshells were also seen enjoying the sunshine in Feldy cemetery.
The first ringlet for the season in West Mersea was another butterfly seen at the Feldy field on Friday.
A check of some purple toadflax proved worthwhile as at least ten caterpillars of the nationally rare toadflax brocade moth were found feeding on one of the plants in Feldy.
The moth has been spreading across Essex and was first seen on the Island by the Potifars in Shop Lane last year. The toadflax brocade caterpillars should be easy to spot at the moment on any flowering purple toadflax in gardens.
Also on Friday a marsh harrier quartering the fields, the regular buzzard perched on one of the field hedgerows with another common buzzard flying north-east over the Lane. A corn bunting, whitethroat, 2 reed warblers were heard singing, while 3 yellow wagtails and 50 house sparrows were by the seawall.
The first returning waders of the autumn were feeding on the Strood mud with ten curlew and ten redshank noted.
At East Mersea Point a ringed plover chick was seen on the beach by Martin Cock during the third week in June although by the 26th the adults were calling anxiously but the chick wasn't spotted, maybe it was hiding. Another ringed plover nest with three eggs was found seemingly abandoned with no sign of adults nearby.
The red squirrels have continued to visit the Firs Chase garden feeders throughout June such as this adult male without the ear tufts.
A muntjac deer was seen just after daybreak in the Firs Chase garden on Thursday 27th.
No comments:
Post a Comment