STROOD PLOVERS

There's a nice variety of different members of the plover family being seen near the Strood channel with a flock of thirty golden plover seen feeding in the Strood fields on Wednesday 14th.

Also in the fields were about forty lapwing, several of which were feeding on the close-cropped winter wheat field recently grazed by the large brent geese flock beside Feldy View.

On the Strood channel on Wednesday twenty grey plover were feeding on the mud as the tide came in during the morning.

The fourth member of the plover family seen on Wednesday along the Strood was the ringed plover with about fifteen seen, including a handful by the West Mersea Hard.

Lots more dunlin were feeding in the channel recently with 700 on Wednesday, also fifty avocets and 12 little grebes of note. A marsh harrier and two buzzards were seen too.

A female stonechat was feeding on the inside slope of the Strood seawall, out of the cold wind but facing the winter sunshine on Wednesday. Two other stonechats were also seen along the same face of seawall. In the fields were 100 skylarks and a brown hare in one of the fields.

Martin Cock walked the footpath west of Shop Lane to Gyants Marsh on Wednesday and saw 20 redwing, ten snipe and heard the Cetti's warbler

In Firs Chase two red squirrels made an appearance at the garden feeder on Wednesday midday. It meant one or two activities we were going to do in the garden had to wait until the squirrels had finished feeding. This individual has a darker coat than the other one, pictured below.

This second red squirrel has distinctive pale flanks and has become a regular visitor recently. It was seen coming down the tree while the other squirrel was already feeding, so it climbed back up and waited on the side of the tree, staring upwards for a few minutes.

The previous day the pale-flanked red squirrel was seen visiting the garden feeder in Firs Chase

A grey heron was seen stalking over the grass field beside the Strood seawall on Tuesday, but other than worms, not sure what it's expecting to find. Some of the 100 golden plover were also feeding in this field and also the wheat field, as were 70 lapwing. Two snipe were seen flying over, while in the channel were 74 avocets, 25 shelduck, two Mediterranean gulls and 800 dunlin.

Three marsh harriers flew along the Ray Island saltmarsh at different times, also two buzzards noted, while two stonechats beside the dyke.

A brown hare was keeping a very low profile in one of the Strood fields and stayed motionless. In the picture the hare is the browner lump in the centre with the hare facing right.

In East Mersea on Tuesday morning, Martin Cock reported seeing a water rail walking over the ice in the dyke near the Oyster Fishery, also two buzzards, five marsh harriers, peregrine, sparrowhawk, snow bunting, a few redwing, 13 snipe and a brown hare, during his walk from the Oyster Fishery to Maydays.

On Monday Andy Field and I walked the north side of the Island from Maydays to Cudmore Grove to undertake the monthly wetland bird survey. Birds of note at Maydays on a very chilly and grey Monday were four pintail, 8 red-breasted mergansers, kingfisher, peregrine, 20 fieldfares, two song thrushes, 42 corn buntings, two bar-tailed godwits and 25 black-tailed godwits, a grey seal on a pontoon, while on Langenhoe two short-eared owls were seen flying about and mobbing a passing marsh harrier. 

On the Reeveshall section the snow bunting was by the seawall, 300 golden plover, seven shoveler, five snipe, water rail calling and stonechat, with five marsh harriers on Langenhoe.

Twenty redwing were by Ivy Dock, seven sanderling were at the the Point, two Mediterranean gulls and five great crested grebes were in the river, while at the park pond were 150 mallard, ten gadwall, thirty teal, five shoveler and two calling water rails.

Charlie Williams saw a green sandpiper and a snipe near the Bower Hall dyke below the paramotor fields on Monday. Martin Cock earlier in the morning along the Strood reported two buzzards, two marsh harriers and a snipe.

In the arable field in East Mersea opposite the south end of Meeting Lane, Michael Thorley watched about 1200 brent geese feeding from his house on Monday.

The snow bunting posed nicely on some frost on the Reeveshall seawall on Sunday 11th, during a walk along the north side of the Island. It has been along this same section of seawall for the past week now.

Four snipe, stonechat, 100 lapwing, buzzard and four marsh harriers were noted on the Reeveshall section, seen here with frost not thawing on the north side of the seawall on Sunday at midday.

A male pintail was in the Pyefleet near Maydays, also forty fieldfare in a field here was the first flock of the winter on the Island.