Monday 8 August 2022

YOUNG DUCKS

A young pochard was on the dyke at the country park on Monday 8th with no sign of any siblings or parent nearby.

Also on the park dyke were three young tufted ducks busy diving underwater to feed.

At the park pond twelve little egrets roosted in the trees, nearby the head of a barn owl could be glimpsed in the owl box and a sparrowhawk landed in the tall trees. A willow warbler was calling among a tit flock at the park, a lesser whitethroat and three whitethroats were seen by the pond. Three yellow wagtails flew over the grazing fields while flying overhead were six sand martins, ten house martins and thirty swallows.

A willow emerald was resting out of the breeze beside the pillbox in the bottom corner of the park - the same location where they have been seen in previous years.
 
There seemed good numbers of small red-eyed damselflies along the park dyke on Monday with at least fifty seen resting on the algae at the western end of the dyke.

A recently fledged ringed plover along with a sibling and parent were feeding on the recently exposed mud beside the East Mersea Point on Monday. Other than 50 oystercatchers, four black-tailed godwits and 30 redshank, there weren't many other waders seen.

Five Mediterranean gulls were feeding on the mud off the park on Monday, three common terns were seen in the estuary.

A red squirrel was clambering through the branches along the horseride at the country park on Monday.

At one point the red squirrel paused for a few minutes, allowing some passer-byes to stop and admire the squirrel. It did remain hard to spot through the foliage when it didn't move.

In the evening on Monday Steve Entwistle visited the seawall beside East Mersea Point and reported seeing two ringed plover, five sanderling and a common tern.

A southern migrant hawker dragonfly rested among the reeds along the Strood borrowdyke on Sunday 7th. There have been up to three on the wing along the main reedbed over the last fortnight. Several were also in this area last summer too. Also along the dyke were ruddy darters and blue-tailed damselflies, while a common blue butterfly was over the grass.

Birds seen on Sunday during a walk along the Strood seawall included stonechat, yellow wagtail, two willow warblers, 40 linnets, sparrowhawk, ten swallows as well as three swifts over the houses. Along the channel were 200 redshank, 150 black-tailed godwits, three grey plover and two Mediterranean gulls.

Martin Cock visited Cudmore Grove very early on Sunday morning and saw six lesser whitethroats, 10 reed warblers, five sanderling, six avocets, two ringed plovers, three teal and the unexpected sight of a water rail flying across the park pond.
At West Mersea Martin reported two swifts over his house and two willow warblers in his garden.

A juvenile green woodpecker was feeding on the Maydays seawall with three other green woodpeckers on Saturday 6th.

Another hot day on Saturday with lots of blue sky over Maydays and the Pyefleet Channel. On the mud were seven shelduck, an avocet, three grey plover, two whimbrel, black-tailed godwit, two common sandpipers, greenshank, 18 little egrets, three grey herons with two common terns flying up the channel.

Also at Maydays a willow warbler was in a tree by the seawall, two Cetti's warblers, chiffchaff, three whitethroats, sedge warbler, three buzzards, sparrowhawk, eight swallows and three house martins were seen during the walk.

A hummingbird hawkmoth was pictured by Andy Field feeding in his garden in High St North on Saturday. After it had flown into his conservatory, it was released back into the garden near an Abelia bush where it immediately started feeding.

The less often view of a hummingbird hawkmoth when it is actually resting its wings, pictured inside Andy's conservatory.

In the Firs Chase garden on Saturday there were two song thrushes hopping about, the first ones seen here since late spring. Butterflies present were three red admirals, comma, holly blue and two small whites.

A dark sword-grass moth was of interest in the Firs Chase moth trap, usually regarded as an immigrant.

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