MERSEA WILDLIFE: NESTING PLOVERS

A ringed plover was discovered sitting on four eggs on the beach at East Mersea Point on Wednesday 15th.

Later that same day Lea Merclova from Bird Aware Essex Coast, roped off the area around the ringed plover nest to keep people away, and also put up some warning signs too.

Two other pairs of ringed plovers were seen on the mudflats, as well as a whimbrel, two curlew and twenty oystercatchers.

A pair of common terns on the Golfhouse pools was photographed by Andy Field on Wednesday. In the estuary there was a feeding flock of ten common terns. A black-headed gull was on a nest on the same pools, eight sanderling were seen close to the Point, two lapwings and a redshank were in the grazing field. Two sedge warblers were along the Golfhouse path, four reed warblers noted, female kestrel in the nestbox as was the barn owl in its box. One of the barn owls was seen mid morning hunting the back of the grazing fields.

A red-legged partridge was photographed by Andy in a horse paddock north of Cudmore Grove on Wednesday.

Five pochard were seen on the park pond on Wednesday, also in the area four tufted ducks, two pairs of mute swans, greylag goose pair, brent goose, gadwall, calling cuckoo, four singing Cetti's warblers, lesser whitethroat, five whitethroats, yellow wagtail and eight linnets.

A pair of pied wagtail appeared to have a nest somewhere alongside the Golfhouse path to the seawall.

An azure damselfly photographed by Andy Field at Cudmore on Wednesday.

A Tetragnatha species of spider photographed by Andy.

Jack Hoy photographed a ring-necked parakeet at his bird feeder in Mersea Avenue on Wednesday morning. It was reported in Fairhaven Avenue the previous day and in Jack's garden on Monday evening. This is the seventh record for the island, the most recent in 2022.

At Maydays the nightingale was heard still singing by Martin Cock on Wednesday evening, also three cuckoos noted.

Birds noted along the Strood seawall on Tuesday 14th included cuckoo, two great crested grebes, 13 shelduck, four avocets, whimbrel, four common terns, three sedge warblers, three reed warblers, also 20 brent geese near Cobmarsh Island.

Andy Field reported the other half of his swift pair had just arrived in his swift nestbox in High Street North on Tuesday morning - six days after the first bird came back.

A whitethroat was singing near the Strood seawall on Monday 13th with another male singing near the Firs Caravan park. Also along the dyke were three sedge warblers, three reed warblers, yellow wagtail, meadow pipit and seven swifts over the houses.

In the fields were a lapwing, two gadwall, three shoveler, while in the channel were ten shelduck, ten avocets, whimbrel and a buzzard overhead. Five brent geese were by Cobmarsh Island on Monday.

A record shot of six distant brown hares in a Strood field on Monday 13th. After a while they had disappeared to the sides of the field.

Martin Cock visited Maydays on Monday evening and reported a common sandpiper, three cuckoos, two male yellowhammers singing and the nightingale singing too. Steve Entwistle also added a marsh harrier and a buzzard during his visit there later that evening.

Caroline Horwood visited Cudmore Grove on Monday evening and reported a hobby, cuckoo, reed warbler, whitethroat, reed bunting, linnets, swallows, house martins and a swift.

On Sunday 12th two lapwings were beside a pool in a field between Shop Lane and Meeting Lane. The cuckoo was calling, male marsh harrier and two buzzards flew over, kestrel, green woodpecker, four Cetti's warblers, two lesser whitethroats, five whitethroats, two linnets and a yellowhammer noted, also a reed warbler singing at a pond to the north-east of Shop Lane.

A hairy dragonfly was eating a red beetle maybe a ladybird, near Shop Lane on Sunday.

Pairs of azure damselflies were photographed by Michael Thorley at his garden pond near Meeting Lane on Sunday.

Azure damselflies photographed by Michael.

A newly emerged teneral stage of blue-tailed damselfly photographed by Michael in his East Mersea garden.

A Common Mourning Bee was photographed by Caroline White as it fed on lavender flowers in Feldy View on Saturday 12th.

At Maydays farm on Saturday 11th, the pair of stonechat was still in the same area beside the borrowdyke as the week before. Also along the dyke were two singing sedge warblers, four reed warblers, corn bunting singing, three lesser whitethroats, four whitethroats, five house martins over the farmyard, sand martin flew north over the Pyefleet and three cuckoos noted.

Two hobbies were hunting insects over Langenhoe on Saturday, also four marsh harriers and two buzzards and a sparrowhawk noted. Eight whimbrel, five lapwing were on Reeveshall, redshank on the saltmarsh and a common tern in the Pyefleet.

On Saturday late afternoon Steve Entwistle visited Maydays and reported eight house martins, three cuckoos, marsh harrier, buzzard, yellowhammer, four reed warblers, three whitethroats, two greylag geese and the pair of stonechats.

At Cudmore Grove on Saturday late evening a barn owl was seen by Caroline White flying from alders near the park pond and then another flew from the box.

An Oil Beetle was found at Cudmore Grove by the play area on Thursday 9th by the ranger Matt Smith who photographed it. The only other record at the park - and the last sighting on the Island was in 2016.