STROOD BRENT

A flock of forty brent geese was seen feeding in the Strood channel on Sunday 23rd, also seen were 25 wigeon and nine mute swans including a family of seven that flew into the Ray Channel. Waders of note included 60 dunlin, 50 golden plover, 20 black-tailed godwits and two ringed plovers.

A merlin chased after a small bird over the fields at the back, two marsh harriers and two kestrels were also noted. A male stonechat was along the reedbed, 10 chaffinches were near the caravan site and 45 goldfinches flew over Firs Road cemetery.

Michael Thorley also walked the muddy Strood seawall on Sunday in the rain and saw a female stonechat, 200 starlings, six goldfinches and two greenfinch, while two jays and a chaffinch were seen in Feldy View.
 

On Saturday 22nd Steve Entwistle saw a great spotted woodpecker and a buzzard in Shop Lane, chiffchaff in Meeting Lane, while later at Cudmore Grove a male brambling was with 25 chaffinches near the car park, seven shoveler, nine teal, buzzard, 500 wood pigeons, redwing and two song thrushes also at the park.

Michael Thorley saw a great spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker and 35 curlew at the park on Saturday.

Eight blackbirds were the only birds noted on Friday 21st in Feldy View by Steve Entwistle.

Andy Field watched two brambling feeding with a mobile flock of chaffinches along Bromans Lane on Thursday 20th. At the Park there were 8 redwing, 400 dunlin, 300 golden plover and a bar-tailed godwit.

On Wednesday 19th there was an unconfirmed report of two Dartford warblers south-west of Waldegraves caravan park. There was no further sign despite Steve Entwistle and Martin Cock looking in the afternoon. Only birds noted were two red-throated divers flying past and 20 long-tailed tits.

Martin Cock reported a stonechat, greenshank and clouded yellow butterfly during his walk along the Strood seawall on Monday 17th. Twenty great crested grebes were seen off Kingsland Road by Steve Entwistle. The rare sighting of a pair of goldeneye was reported in the Mersea Quarters on Monday, made by an observer from Old Hall marshes.

On Sunday 16th offshore from West Mersea a guillemot was seen by Ray Hempstead near the Nass beacon from his boat, later seen by Steve Entwistle from Kingsland Road early afternoon, also a male eider near Cobmarsh Island.

Andy Field counted eighteen marsh harriers going into the Langenhoe evening roost on Sunday which isn't a bad total for October.

Offshore from Victoria Esplanade on Saturday 15th Steve Entwistle saw two common scoters and three great crested grebes.

At East Mersea Point on Friday 14th a short-eared owl was seen by Michael Thorley, as it flew north-west over the Colne being mobbed by small birds, also seen a great crested grebe, 29 little egrets off Ivy Farm and five brent geese.

Andy Field reported that a ringed Mediterranean gull (white 3118) seen on the Golfhouse horse paddock on 13th October was ringed in Antwerp in Belgium as a three-year old bird on 10th May 2018. It was also seen at East Mersea Point in August 2018, with most other sightings reported from Belgium.