PURPLE SAND SHOWS AGAIN

The purple sandpiper was found again near the East Mersea Point on Friday 13th by Andy Field.

The purple sandpiper was feeding on the mud just as the tide receded, alongside some turnstones and ringed plovers. Also on the mud as the tide dropped were 600 dunlin, 200 knot while in the fields were 157 curlew and two redwing in the country park.

The pair of stonechat was also seen at the Point, here the male photographed by Andy on Friday.

Along the Strood on Friday 13th the bearded tit was heard pinging from the reedbed in the dyke, also the Cetti's warbler sang, stonechat pair and a redwing in a berry bush in the dyke. The pale-bellied brent goose was feeding with 400 brent in the fields, three marsh harriers, two buzzards and three sparrowhawks were seen during the walk. On the mud were 500 dunlin and 100 knot, also a rock pipit on the saltmarsh.

A walk along the fields in East Mersea between Shop Lane and Meeting Lane on a sunny Thursday 12th was worth doing when a woodcock flew out of a ditch close to where I stood to scan some nearby fields. The clatter of wings from just a few metres away provided me a fleeting glimpse of a woodcock flying swiftly away.

Also along the walk were a peregrine near Fishponds Wood at Shop Lane, marsh harrier, two buzzards and two kestrels. Five lesser redpolls flew west and 25 fieldfares were perched in some tall trees along the hedgeline. A red squirrel was feeding beside the road in Shop Lane.

Part of a group of 130 black-tailed godwits along the Strood Channel on Wednesday 11th had four colour-ringed birds with them. Other waders of note were 1000 dunlin and 200 knot along the channel. In the fields was a pale-bellied brent goose feeding with 450+ dark-bellied brent, while further up the field were seven red-legged partridge and a buzzard. A marsh harrier was seen over Ray Island and a Mediterranean gull was also noted. A bearded tit was heard calling from the reeds and three stonechats were seen along the dyke.

Ian Black reported a buzzard flying high and south over the Dabchicks sailing club and also a sparrowhawk terrorising the bird feeders in his Mersea Avenue garden.

Birds noted along the Strood channel on Tuesday 10th included 150 brent geese, 70 wigeon, 24 little grebes, 40 knot, 400 dunlin and two Mediterranean gulls. A marsh harrier and a buzzard were also noted.

Also on Tuesday along the Strood was this rock pipit feeding on the algae on the mud, a second  individual was seen further along. Two stonechats, fifty skylarks, ten linnets were also seen, while in Firs Chase two redwings flew high over and a male and female great spotted woodpeckers were together on a tree in the garden.

Later on Tuesday the bearded tit was heard calling from the Strood reedbed by Jonathan Bustard, also two buzzards circling overhead early afternoon.

At Cudmore Grove on Tuesday Andy Field reported at least ten lesser redpolls, Cetti's warbler and a water rail calling from the park pond while the pair of stonechats was still at the Point.

Fourteen marsh harriers were seen late on Tuesday by Martin Cock gathering for their evening roost on Langenhoe

A back of a camera shot of a short-eared owl photographed by Richard Brown on Monday 9th on the nearby Langenhoe ranges.

On Monday 9th at least three bearded tits were seen along the Strood dyke with a pair in the corner reedbed and another bird in the middle reedbed. Later a nice male marsh harrier was seen hunting low along the reeds and the rest of the dyke. In the fields were 250 brent geese, also a sparrowhawk, three buzzards, 3 stonechats, 2 rock pipits, four reed buntings and 30 skylarks seen. Of interest in the Strood channel were 200 knot and 19 little grebes.

Several large flocks of knot were feeding along the Pyefleet channel on Sunday 8th with a rough estimate being about 5000 birds involved. The large knot numbers were first noted last week - the second November running there has been an unusually large flock feeding here. Numbers last year dropped off through the winter and will probably do the same again this winter too. One colour-ringed knot was probably ringed in Norway.

Also along the Pyefleet were 42 avocets, 40 shelduck, greylag goose, four great crested grebes and three common seals lying on the mud. Two marsh harriers and two buzzards were over Langenhoe with another two buzzards and two sparrowhawks over Reeveshall. 

Five Mediterranean gulls, 32 stock doves, 7 stonechats, two rock pipits, four corn buntings and 30 linnets were seen at Maydays. A pair of stonechats was also reported near the Bower Hall seawall.

The short-eared owl was seen by Jonathan Bustard late on Sunday afternoon sitting in the grassy field by the Strood.

Two red squirrels were on the cedar tree briefly together in the Firs Chase garden on Sunday.

Steve Entwistle reported two reed buntings, two pied wagtails, buzzard and five goldfinches near the East Mersea boating lake on Sunday.

The mild temperature in the evening of Sunday 8th was worth setting the trap in the Firs Chase garden - until the rain arrived at 11pm. By then about twenty moths of 15 species were in the trap including two of these feathered thorns.

A striking Merveille du jour was also in the trap, the second one this autumn. Other macros of note were a cypress carpet, pine carpet, red-green carpet, spruce carpet, dark chestnut, turnip, brick and angle shades.

Four rusty-dot pearls were noted on Sunday 8th - signs of an immigration along with a silver Y, white-point, four diamond-back moths and also Palpita vitrealis.