STROOD WADERS

There was a good showing of various wader species along the Strood channel on Saturday 26th such as this grey plover which looked like it had eaten something unpleasant!

 A curlew was seen walking along the edge of the mud close to the Strood seawall.

Twenty black-tailed godwits were seen along the Strood channel on Saturday.

At least 200 dunlin were scuttling about on the Strood mud on Saturday. Other waders of interest were 800 golden plover, 200 lapwing, 55 avocets and also a snipe flying over the fields.

The main flock of brent geese flew off the fields near the houses at Whittaker Way and after landing in the Strood, 940 geese were counted. 

A sparrowhawk flew over the fields where 50 skylarks were feeding, a stonechat, 30 linnets, two corn buntings and ten reed buntings. A Cetti's warbler was calling from the corner reedbed and four rock pipits along the seawall. A brown hare was resting in the middle of one of the fields.

Twelve goldfinches flew over Firs Chase.

A red squirrel visited the feeder in the Firs Chase garden on Saturday.

This red squirrel is a slightly darker individual than one of the other recent visitors to the feeder.

Another red squirrel was also seen by the path at the top of the Firs Caravan park on Saturday morning.

A colourful male shoveler was seen on the saltmarsh pools near the East Mersea Golfhouse on Friday 25th. On the park's grazing fields there were 300 brent geese, 300 wigeon, 130 curlew and a singing Cetti's warbler.

As the tide began covering the saltmarsh near the Point, at least fifteen snipe flew off calling, with two birds being seen later at the back of the one of the pools.

The high tide covered all the saltmarsh by the Golfhouse pools and by the Point on Friday late morning. In the Colne seven red-breasted mergansers flew up river, while three others were seen in the Pyefleet. A red-throated diver had been feeding close to Ivy Dock and then flew up the Pyefleet where it dropped down opposite the Shop Lane seawall. 

A male stonechat was by the Golfhouse sluice on Friday, while near the Oyster Fishery a pair were seen there. A mistle thrush was seen by the Golfhouse flying from the poplar trees with the mistletoe clumps.

Two great crested grebes were preening near the East Mersea Point on Friday, also eight sanderling on the beach at high tide.

In the Pyefleet on Friday there were 140 avocets, 30 shelduck, 1500 dunlin roosting on Langenhoe Point, 100 turnstone roosting on a pontoon and six marsh harriers over Langenhoe. A water rail and Cetti's warbler called near the Oyster Fishery.

At Maydays on Friday Martin Cock reported a pintail, two red-breasted mergansers, four marsh harriers, 30 reed buntings and a yellowhammer.

A grey wagtail was seen by the Strood causeway on Friday just before high tide by Steve Entwistle.

A common buzzard was hurriedly photographed through the car windscreen, as it perched beside the road at Weir Farm on Friday.

The black brant was feeding with the big flock of dark-bellied brent geese in the winter wheat field close to Whittaker Way on Thursday 24th.

Around 1000 brent geese were feeding in the field by Whittaker Way on Thursday on the top of the fields above the Strood - pictured in the background. 

The pale-bellied brent goose was seen feeding with a handful of dark-bellied brent geese in front of the Firs Caravan park on Thursday. This is likely the same bird that has returned for the third winter running.

A distant kingfisher perched on a culvert pipe along the Strood dyke on Thursday.

Along the Strood channel were 300 wigeon, 150 teal, 20 shelduck, 55 avocets, 500 dunlin and a snipe passing over. A marsh harrier, buzzard, stonechat pair, fifty skylarks and fifty linnets were also noted. 

A buzzard was seen flying low over Firs Chase on Thursday morning.

Near the East Mersea Oyster Fishery a kingfisher, buzzard, four marsh harriers and red-breasted mergansers were seen by Martin Cock on Thursday morning.

At Cudmore Grove on Thursday morning Andy Field reported three song thrushes, redwing, two stonechats, an auk flew out of the Colne, 20 sanderling, snipe, knot, 95 curlew, 300 brent geese, 200 wigeon and three marsh harriers.

Steve Entwistle on Thursday saw six goldcrest and eight long-tailed tits in Shop Lane, a sparrowhawk sitting on the road in Meeting Lane while at Coopers Beach four gannets, two red-throated divers, six common gulls, four sanderling, 78 redshank and twenty black-tailed godwits were seen.

A grey heron stalked a field between Cross Lane and Waldegraves caravan park on Wednesday 23rd. In another field nearby four red-legged partridge and a buzzard were seen.

The Waldegraves little owl perched in its regular hawthorn tree although partially obscured by the branches. On the fishing lakes and ponds were 75 mallard, three little egrets, twenty moorhens and a coot.

Thirty-five sanderling were feeding on the beach just after high tide near Waldegraves, also five Mediterranean gulls and ten ringed plovers there on Wednesday.

Two rock pipits were feeding along the beach by the Youth Camp on Wednesday.

The black brant was seen feeding with 1000 dark-bellied brent geese in the wheat field behind the Rewsalls marshes on Wednesday. A kingfisher and 28 little grebes were near the boating lake, 190 cormorants flew past in a single file, while a sparrowhawk, buzzard and kestrel were noted in the area.