SHELTERING SKIPPERS

Several butterflies such as this large skipper were on the wing at Maydays farm on Sunday 28th, despite the strong wind. The only places where any butterflies were flying were behind bushes out of the wind.

This large skipper was very obliging as it nectared on some bramble fowers. Other butterflies included a few small / Essex skippers, pair of mating green-veined white, holly blue and several meadow browns.

Three comma butterflies were also seen at Maydays on Sunday, resting out of the westerly wind.
A ruddy darter was also resting on a sheltered clump of bramble.

Two male yellowhammers were heard singing on bushes along the Maydays dyke on Sunday. Also singing were four reed buntings, one corn bunting, two reed warblers and sedge warbler heard too. A cuckoo was chased by a couple of meadow pipits and three yellow wagtails were seen in the area too. A hobby passed low over the fields and appeared to catch a dragonfly near the farm and then feed on the wing, also twenty house martins flocked together for safety as the hobby passed by, later a sparrowhawk flashed by and buzzard noted over Reeveshall. A steady flow north-west took place of 75+ swifts heading off the island.

A common seal hauled out of the Pyefleet Channel and basked on the mud opposite Maydays on Sunday.
Birds other than gulls noted along the Pyefleet included 44 shelduck, ten curlew, two great crested grebes and a common tern.

On Saturday 27th along the Strood seawall, four sand martins were hawking over the fields with a few swallows, also thirty swifts seen nearer the houses. A cuckoo perched in an oak tree by the dyke before flying low over the fields, two corn buntings and two whitethroats were heard singing. Along the channel were two grey plover, 12 redshank and three curlew.

Four Mediterranean gulls flew over Ian Black's Mersea Avenue house on Saturday.
At East Mersea a green sandpiper was seen in the dyke between the Oyster Fishery and Shop Lane by Martin Cock on Saturday

This male black-tailed skimmer was one of two seen patrolling over the Strood borrowdyke on a sunny Friday 26th. Other dragonflies on the wing were 12+ four-spotted chasers, 8 emperor dragonflies and a few blue tailed damselflies.

The male marsh harrier was hunting the Strood fields on Friday morning as usual, also a common buzzard and two kestrels. Two corn buntings were singing as were two lesser whitethroats and three reed warblers, with five yellow wagtails flying about the area too.
Along the Strood channel were the first returning two grey plover, 32 redshank, four lapwing and a common tern.

At the country park on Friday, Steve Entwistle noted four purple hairstreak butterflies in the south-west corner of the park, while Essex skippers seemed to be everywhere at the park. Dragonflies noted near the dyke were black-tailed skimmer, emperor dragonfly and 10+ small red-eyed damselflies.

A skylark was one of the birds seen during a walk along the Strood seawall on Thursday 25th.
Also noted were the male marsh harrier, two kestrels, five yellow wagtails, corn bunting, lesser whitethroat, while in the channel were 32 redshank, curlew and a pair of shelduck.

At Coopers Beach on Wednesday 24th, the family of stonechats were still near the caravan site although only two fledged young were noted, the third fledged youngster possibly hidden from view. A reed warbler and two reed buntings were singing on the edge of the old marshes, a common tern hunted over the pond while on the mudflats were a brent goose, eight little egrets, curlew and a shelduck. A reed warbler was also heard at the eastern end of Coopers Beach.

A cuckoo was seen in flight over the fields beside Chapmans Lane on Wednesday 24th.
A marsh harrier, buzzard and sparrowhawk passed over Ian Black's garden in Mersea Avenue on Wednesday.

On Tuesday 23rd along the Strood seawall, a marsh harrier, four common buzzards and kestrel were noted over the fields, while 75+ swifts circled over the fields near the top of Strood Hill. A male corn bunting and a lesser whitethroat were heard singing, as was a meadow pipit over the saltmarsh by the caravan site, also six yellow wagtails flying about. In the channel were fifteen redshank, two lapwing and two curlew.
Ian Black spotted a marsh harrier flying into view on the Strood Cam, as the bird flew over the Strood fields on Tuesday. Adrian Amos reported a blackcap singing in his East Road garden on Tuesday.

Jon Clifton and his wife Ad visiting from north Norfolk, walked the back of the Island on Tuesday and were amazed at the sight of 1000+ meadow brown butterflies nectaring on a 150m patch of mallow on the Reeveshall seawall. He commented he hadn't seen a sight like this since his childhood days!