STROOD KINGFISHER PAIR

 

The pair of kingfishers was seen along the Strood borrowdyke on Tuesday 18th, with this regular male seen again at the north-east end of the dyke.

The regular female kingfisher has often been seen at the south-west end of the dyke, perching in willows alongside the water. She was seen perched on the 18th.

The pale sandy-coloured merlin made another appearance by the Strood channel on Tuesday 18th. Andy Field and I watched as it crossed over the channel from Ray Island and then perched in a couple of bushes along the central ditch. After perching briefly at the back of the fields, it then chased a skylark over the fields, pursuing it for about five minutes including passing close overhead, before the chase headed over to Ray Island. The fast agile flight of the merlin nearly caught up with the skylark but when a couple of kestrels on Ray Island got involved, it seemed the skylark managed to escape. 

This pale leucistic merlin was first seen on the 5th March over Ray Island and then on 17th over Old Hall Marshes.

Other birds of prey noted in the Strood area on Tuesday were marsh harrier, three buzzards and a red kite over the Hard.

The green feathers on a male teal stood out in the sunshine along the Strood on the 18th. Other birds of note included a greylag goose, six avocets, 10 black-tailed godwits, 18 golden plover, while in the fields was a pair of red-legged partridge and a pair of stonechat.

A colour-ringed brent goose T7 was photographed by Andy Field off the Hard on Tuesday.

Birds noted on Monday 17th along the Strood were 58 shelduck, 4 avocets, 10 black-tailed godwits, 3 knot, buzzard, two coots in the dyke, pair of stonechats. The female blackcap was in the Firs Chase garden.

On Sunday 16th the black brant, right-hand bird pictured, was feeding along the Strood channel before it got flushed by a jet ski. It then fed in the saltmarsh in front of the Firs Chase caravan park, with some of the 500 brent geese noted along the channel. Also 35 shelduck, 6 avocets, 19 golden plover seen along the channel, while six buzzards and a sparrowhawk were seen too.

The male kingfisher with its black bill was perched in a rose bush beside the Strood dyke on Sunday. Also a coot and a pair of little grebes in the dyke, a pair of stonechat, Cetti's warbler and a rock pipit were also noted. A blackcap was in the Firs Chase garden.

Record image of three of the four brown hares seen together in one of the Strood fields on Sunday.

On Saturday 15th Jim Hume saw two red-throated divers off Coopers Beach, while black-necked grebe and 14 red-breasted mergansers were off the Esplanade along with some great crested grebes.

Jonathan Norgate reported a possible first winter Caspian gull by the Hard on Saturday, also the black brant by the Hard and a pale-bellied brent goose along the Strood.

Along the Bower Hall seawall on Saturday were a pair of yellowhammer, three marsh harriers, five buzzards, three meadow pipits, great crested grebe, 50 teal, 5 little egrets and a knot. Twenty fieldfares were feeding in a field at Maydays farm.

Andy Field photographed this red kite over Reeveshall on Friday 14th, seen during the monthly WeBS count from Maydays to Cudmore Grove. Two other red kites were seen, merlin over Maydays, 6 marsh harriers, four buzzards and a barn owl hunting in early afternoon near the East Mersea Oyster Fishery.

A dark cloud over the Reeveshall seawall on Friday. Other birds noted during the walk included 29 red-breasted mergansers in the Colne, 3 pintail, ten Canada geese, six greylag geese and a pair of stonechat at Maydays. At Cudmore Grove a water rail was heard calling, 3 snipe in the fields, 6 sanderling, 200 brent geese, 150 wigeon, 30 teal, two pochard, 12 tufted duck, 2 gadwall and ten great crested grebes offshore.

Two adders were tucked under a bramble bush at Cudmore Grove late on Friday, photo by Andy.

A muntjac deer was feeding beside the park pond on Friday. Earlier in the day a Chinese Water Deer was feeding beside a ditch at Maydays farm.

At Coopers Beach on Thursday 13th a Slavonian grebe and a red-throated diver were seen by Martin Cock.

Opposite the West Mersea Hard late on Thursday afternoon a barn owl was hunting along the Feldy marsh seawall, pausing a few times to rest on the outer face of the seawall. Later in the evening another barn owl was seen in the car headlights near Barrow Hill by Steve Entwistle.

The black-necked grebe was seen offshore from Kingsland Road on Wednesday by Martin Cock, later it was seen from the Esplanade.

Offshore from the East Mersea boating lake on Wednesday was a group of four Slavonian grebes, also ten great crested grebes, two red-throated divers and two great northern divers. On the Rewsalls marshes were 200 brent geese, 75 curlew and 30 redshank, while two buzzards were noted over the fields, 20 chaffinches along one hedge and a singing chiffchaff in East Mersea church yard.