FELDY FUNGI

A colourful Fly Agaric with its red cap added to the autumnal scene in Feldy View on a sunny Sunday 9th. A few Fly agarics were seen in this same area a couple of years ago in early November.

A single fieldfare was feeding amongst the leaf litter in Feldy View on Sunday.

The fieldfare was more confiding than usual fieldfares and provided good views on the ground and in a tree when it perched up on Sunday morning.

Two green woodpeckers and two great spotted woodpeckers were heard in The Lane and Feldy View area. A chiffchaff and two goldcrests were seen in the Firs Chase garden.

Birds seen from the Strood seawall on Sunday included 300 brent geese, 200 wigeon, 70 teal, 2 shoveler, 500 golden plover, 100 dunlin, 40 avocets and 30 knot. Raptors seen were two marsh harriers, two buzzards, three kestrels, while small birds of note were 150 linnets and three stonechats.

The sunny weather on Sunday saw this small copper butterfly resting on the Strood seawall. The latest date I think a small copper has been seen on the Island.

The small copper closed its wings up when the breeze blew, making this individual very hard to see on the path. A small copper was also seen the day before flying across Feldy View. Other butterflies on Sunday were two red admirals and a small white by the Strood seawall, while a common darter flew over the Strood seawall.

The mild autumn has seen flowers appear on the holly bush in our Firs Chase garden - a time of year most female hollies should be displaying their crop of berries.

A nice surprise was seeing this red squirrel in the poplar trees by the path at the top of the Firs Chase caravan park on Saturday 8th. It was seen exploring a hollow side to the trunk on one tree.

A rock pipit stood on a post in the Strood channel on Saturday - as did a couple of other rock pipits.

On a sunny Saturday a red kite flew over Ray Island and a second bird circled over Barrow Hill, while a marsh harrier and a buzzard were also noted. Along the channel were 150 wigeon, 50 teal, 400 golden plovers, 70 black-tailed godwits, 45 avocets, 50 dunlin, 20 knot and five Mediterranean gulls.

A distant kingfisher was spotted perching briefly on the Strood seawall sluice on Saturday. Three stonechats and 100 linnets were in the nearby fields. A very vocal brambling was heard calling from the trees at Feldy View but was only seen when it flew overhead and landed in trees down the side of the caravan park. It carried on calling for a minute whilst obscured by branches and was only seen when it flew off west. 

A goldcrest was seen in the Firs Chase garden on Saturday.

On Friday 7th Andy Field, Carrie Horwood and I carried out the monthly wetland bird survey along the northern side of the island, from Maydays farm to Cudmore Grove Country Park. After a very dull day the sun peeked out when we reached the park pond mid afternoon where we saw a sparrowhawk, 15 shoveler, 20+ teal, 15+ wigeon and 12+ mallard.

Earlier on our walk we saw the two Arctic terns flying back and forth just inside the mouth of the Colne. These were first seen by Neil Harvey early Friday afternoon, just before we got to the area to look. Neil also saw two Little gulls in the Colne and a water rail on one of the borrowdykes.

Four bar-tailed godwits were with other waders on the Golfhouse saltings, stonechat here too, while two female red-breasted mergansers were by Langenhoe Point. Later Steve Entwistle saw a red-throated diver in the Colne, the Arctic terns still present, four red-breasted mergansers flying out of the river, 300 dunlin, 3 bar-tailed godwits and 20 ringed plovers.

Other highlights of our walk along the north side of the island on Friday were a kingfisher by the Oyster Fishery, great white egret on Reeveshall, four snipe flying off from the edge of the Reeveshall seawall at high tide, four marsh harriers, peregrine over Maydays, twenty Mediterranean gulls flying up Pyefleet, 45 golden plover, 70 avocets, also at Maydays 6 yellowhammers, stonechat and ten fieldfares flying over.

Charlie Williams birds of note during his count on Friday from Maydays to Strood to West Mersea were six red-breasted mergansers in the Blackwater (one landing), 66 avocets, 17 sanderling off Seaview Avenue, one snipe, greenshank, kingfisher, three marsh harriers, buzzard, as well as 372 brent geese, 327 wigeon and 251 teal. 

 

Thursday 6th was flat calm along the Strood channel and flocks of birds were flying about during the very high tide in the middle of the day. The highlight was a glossy ibis seen flying north-west over the channel heading to Ray Island. Its very distinctive profile in flight with its long thin downcurved bill - like a "flying coat-hanger" apparently!

Along the channel were a Sandwich tern fishing, two greenshank heard calling, black brant opposite the Firs caravan park, 200 brent geese, 150 wigeon, 50 teal, 30 shelduck and 24 avocets. Two marsh harriers were seen flying about.

Two corn buntings were noted perched on bushes beside the Strood seawall on Thursday. A brambling was heard calling as it flew over but not seen, five song thrushes were in bushes near the bottom corner of the caravan park, 50 linnets, 30 skylarks, five stonechats, four rock pipits and ten reed buntings noted in the fields.

Moth activity in the Firs Chase garden is much decreased now. This Mottled Umber was resting on the window.

Two or three November Moths aggs have been noted in recent nights.

Five immigrant Rusty-dot Pearls were noted on the 6th.

This tiny Pellitory Beauty was nearly overlooked on the 6th. A recent coloniser in the UK, was first recorded in Essex in 2020.

This parasitic Ichneumon Wasp in the moth trap on the 5th looks like the sickle-wasp Ophion obscuratus