SUMMER SALTMARSH

Early evening stroll along the Strood seawall on Friday 13th was lucky for me - lucky just to be able to enjoy this unspoilt part of the Essex coast. There was a breeze blowing but it was a warm summer air in your face. The tide was out along the Strood Channel so there was plenty of mud to look at, as well as the bright sunshine.

Despite scanning almost every bird feeding along almost two kilometres worth of channel, there was a low variety of waders. Most of the 200 birds were redshank, medium sized waders with a steady plod across the mud, pecking here and probing there. Numbers however have increased in the last fortnight since I last walked along here, presumably boosted by redshanks on passage.

I managed to hear and see a couple of greenshank, as well as a whimbrel, both also on their passage from northern breeding grounds. Several curlew were noted and a dozen oystercatchers were the only other waders although two young shelduck fed on the mud.

As always the musical accompaniment for the walk was provided by corn buntings, reed buntings, reed warblers and skylarks singing from the fields and along the dyke. Flitting along the path were a pair of yellow wagtails and a pair of linnets.
A female sparrowhawk crossed purposely over the fields back to the tree cover near the Firs Chase caravan site, an area where I recently heard there might have been a pair breeding.

The saltmarshes are at their most colourful at the moment with lots of sea lavender adding splashes and carpets of - well, lavender colours! There are extensive patches of sea lavender on the marshes at the bottom of the Strood Hill, which is where this picture above was taken
In certain corners of the Island bordering some of the saltmarshes is the tall straggly plant dittander with its dense clusters of tiny white flowers. It is quite a local plant along the coast in Essex but at this time of the year, dittander certainly towers over most of the other coastal plants as the plant stands over a metre high.

PARISH BLUES

Various sightings of note to report over the last few days with the highlight being the sight on Monday 9th of the first two avocet chicks to have ever been born on the Island. This would've seemed really exceptional maybe ten years ago but now they are turning up all round the Essex coast to breed. Two pairs of avocets have frequented some saltmarsh pools near the East Mersea Point for the last couple of months and the nests were tucked away on some small sea lavender islands. Five pairs of avocets nested on Reeveshall three summers ago but the nests failed.

Andy Field counted 5 green sandpipers, ruff, two spotted redshanks, greenshank at Reeveshall on Monday.

On Monday late at night whilst driving back into the park, I had to slow down to allow a badger to cross the road safely. It jogged quickly across less than ten metres in front of the car. It has been a long time since I have seen any badgers at night crossing the road.
On the subject of crossing the road, I had to slow down as I approached West Mersea on Tuesday evening to ensure I didn't run over a hedgehog. I stopped the car and the alert little chap momentarily stared into the car headlights and decided to return back into the verge. This was just as well as a car at this moment came racing past, followed shortly after by a bus.

Still on the nocturnal theme, my sister in law was horrified to discover a monster of an insect occupying her bathroom one evening, causing her much frustration as she could not use the bathroom. Finding courage in the morning to capture the flying-beast, she delivered a shoe-box with beastly contents to me. Like finding a birthday present delivered by the postman, This present on my doorstep turned out to be the very large privet hawk-moth, although it looked very worn and faded.

Three sandwich terns called out to each other with loud grating calls as they flew close inshore at high tide on Wednesday morning. A short while earlier a group of 15 common terns and about 10 black-headed gulls hovered above a shoal of small fish-fry, only about 50 metres offshore. The birds swooping down every so often to try and pluck one of the fry out of the water.

Unusually a male yellowhammer has continued to frequent the park and its rather disjointed song "little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheese" has been broadcast from the tops of bushes. Another declining farmland bird that is still clinging on is the turtle dove and it was nice to hear a second bird singing near the park entrance.

Whilst chatting to two regulars beside a hedgerow in the park, we watched in amazement as a flock of 37 long-tailed tits fly over, round, between us and in one case smack head-first into the window of the tractor cab. This group is probably made up of at least three different families that have come together as it will be safer for them foraging in numbers. We weren't expecting such a huge flock and there has never been one this size seen here before. Each little fluffy ball with a long tail, all following a leader, gave lots of close and confiding views with some perching only a metre away from us.

The warm weather has brought one or two adders out in their usual spot in the park with up to three have been basking in the sun.


There has been the wonderful colourful sight over the last fortnight in East Mersea of acres of blue fields, in some places in every direction you look. At first glance the crop looks like the familiar borage that has been grown here for the last few years. However a closer look at the flowers and the range of colour varieties within the crop reveal this is actually echium, or bugloss, a close relative of borage.

Like borage it has great health benefits through the rich omega oils and for aromatherapy usage. The flowers seem to be popular with many insects especially the local bees and apparently if the crop was left as stubble in the winter would provide valuable feeding for birds. I was surprised to flush a pair of grey partridge from the crop within a few metres of one of the field corners.

These are the two flowers for comparison with echium above and then the star-shaped flowers of borage below. There are one or two borage plants flourishing along the Bromans Lane verges.

SUMMER LEAF TINTS

Sunday for a change really lived up its name with lots of sunshine through the day. The large amounts of rain that fell during June have made their impact on the tree growth. A close look at some of the fresh leaves that have emerged recently reveal some stunning red colours. It is like autumn has come early. This branch of oak leaves has put on a spurt of over a foot's worth of growth in the last month or so. It is not just one bush or one type of tree, all kinds of trees are making the most of the perfect growing conditions.

The areas of long grass are losing their fresh green colour as they fade to brown. The bright yellow clumps of lady's bedstraw stand out in the summer grasslands with their dense blooms. Several patches of lady's bedstraw grow around the park and it seems to relish the poor dry soils by the coast here.


The sunshine was good for the insects such as this delicate looking azure damselfly seen resting on some grass not far from the park pond. There was also ruddy darter and black-tailed skimmer dragonflies seen along the park paths.
Purple hairstreak was seen again in the south west corner of the park over some oaks and more fresh commas were seen with their bright orange wings.

Managed to find this summer chafer after it buzzed passed me and crashing onto the grass as I walked along. This is the insect which is coming out at dusk in large numbers in recent nights and flying around the tops of trees. I have seen them in the past but not in such numbers. Even the local male kestrel has been staying up late in the car park until almost complete darkness, snatching these chafers in mid-air with its talons. The black-headed gulls too have been flying low over the tree tops and picking off chafers as they buzz round the trees.

Other birds seen during the day were sparrowhawk, turtle dove singing near the entrance, nightingale calling in the car park and the sand martins numbering about 100 birds over the park.

The moth trap was run Saturday night into Sunday morning and collected about 70 moths of 25 species - slightly down on the previous night but then the sky ended up clear. One of the least moth-like creatures was this buff-tip pictured above that mimics a snapped off twig absolutely perfectly. Two elephant hawks added some colour, the giant privet hawk again and a poplar hawk were some of the bigger boys. Most of the moths were the same as the previous night.

Moth traps can often attract other insects and this giant beast of a beetle was crawling his way through the grass towards the bright light. It is the great silver diving beetle and is almost an inch and a half long. On two occasions last summer this beetle was noted coming to the light. It is a beetle that by all accounts is becoming scarcer in south-east England because of the loss of wetland habitats.
This rather alien looking mass of slime is the common moon jellyfish. Masses get washed onto the beaches in mid-summer, sometimes every five paces you can find another one. This one here is one of the larger ones with its distinctive four purple rings visible. Luckily this very common jellyfish does not possess a sting that humans could feel.

DAWN TO DUSK

Well worth the early rise on Saturday 7th at 4am to check the moth trap. The picture above shows the sun rising into a bright orange sky over Brightlingsea. Confirming what the article said in the Sunday Times magazine published earlier this year that watching the sun rise from Mersea Island was one of the top 100 things to do this summer!
The scene below was the sky just a few moments before the sun came up, producing a wonderful pink tinge to the clouds.
While admiring the sun casting its orange glow across the sky, a huge swift passage was taking place. At least 400 were counted in that first hour of daylight in a continuous stream over the park as they headed west following the coast. Distant black specks of the birds were easy to pick out in the distance against this fiery orange backdrop.

What I wasn't expecting to see was the larger profile of a dashing falcon with the swifts, which passed over the car park at 5am as I headed back into the house. The hobby was in a hurry and must have decided that he needed to find some breakfast. He banked sharply over my back-garden and then raced back to the cliff-top where he no doubt would've hoped to have surprised the sand martins.

The moth trap was worth putting out for the six or so hours of darkness and managed to attract about 80 moths of 34 species which seems like a reasonable return. One of the biggest and chunkiest moths on the park paid the trap a visit which is this oak eggar moth pictured above. One or two came to the trap last summer during July and in some summers you can occasionally catch a brief glimpse of one of these large brown moths flying very fast during the day, maybe fleeing after being disturbed.

The largest moth in the trap was the privet hawk, also poplar hawk and elephant hawk too. A few first records for the year included scalloped oak, brown-line bright-eye (not to be confused with the commoner here, bright-line brown-eye!), common rustic, scarce footman, lunar-spotted pinion, several sharks and this colourful buff arches below with its intricate fine lines.

The weather during Saturday was fine sunshine which brought many of the butterflies out in force. A couple of purple hairstreaks were seen in their usual site high up in the oak trees, flitting between oak leaves. They have been present in the park for about ten years and rarely come down to ground level and their identification is best confirmed with binoculars.

Usual masses of meadow browns everywhere and good numbers of hedge browns too, while amongst the long grasses can be found small skipper and Essex skippers, as well as the small heath. Along the hedges and on the bramble flowers were seen red admiral, small tortoiseshell, some fresh commas, peacocks, speckled woods, several large whites and small whites and large skipper.

Anyone passing through East Mersea will have been struck by the large fields of the blue crop of borage. In recent years it has become more of a familiar sight and a very eye-catching scene making a change from the plain crops of winter wheat.

On such a still evening, a stroll along the Pyefleet Channel beckoned for the last two hours of the day. I passed one family in that time so the place was really busy! One or two yachts were anchored in the Pyefleet for the night but you had to look to the mainland for any signs of human activity anywhere, where the drone and dust could be seen from a couple of combines in the rape fields.

The walk along the seawall was enlivened by the typical coastal grassland chorus of several skylarks, meadow pipits and the jangling of corn buntings. The Reeveshall pool still has plenty of water in it and three non-breeding swans seemed to tower above four tiny shelducklings who looked a little lost with no sign of their parents nearby. A green sandpiper flew along the edge of the pool and three spotted redshank were the first returning birds of the summer to be seen here.

Walking to the halfway point of the Island, there is a good vantage point along the Pyefleet, although the summer evenings are not the best of times because of looking into the sun and the heat haze. However I did manage to spot two large brown cylindrical shapes lounging on the mud in the distance, which were two common seals. They seemed to have been absent from the area this spring which is unusual for them.
Marsh harriers as always catch the eye and at least four were seen on Langenhoe while a male and a female were seen flying over Reeveshall on the Island. Still looks as if there has been a nest here but need more proof from the adults, such as carrying food.

The receding tide had already uncovered lots of mud with a group of ten spotted redshanks in their dusky black plumage the main attraction. Twenty five avocets flew along the Channel with their black and white wings flickering in flight.

Having started the day with the sun-rise, I had to find out what the sunset would be like - and it didn't disappoint. At about 9.10pm the orange beam shone across the water and mud for a few minutes. As I headed home the regular summer roost of sand martins passed overhead with about 200 birds flying about. Four little egrets also headed east to their roost on the mainland and the lonely shelducklings were finally joined by their mum and dad on the pool for the night.

EVENING ENTERTAINMENT

For once we had a day without rain although Friday 6th was windy. A very productive walk around the country park in the early evening was much more rewarding than sitting in front of the TV.
In the car park the sweet chestnut trees are in full flower with masses of golden yellow strands like the old fashioned pipe-cleaners. There was a faint sickly smell from the flowers close up which was effective enough to attract a few flies and bees. My eye was caught by a butterfly high up in the tree flitting from leaf to leaf. Using the binoculars I was able to see it was a purple hairstreak which was good to see. This is the first of the season and seeing it in the car park is well away from their usual haunt in the park close to the oak trees.

Calling from the thick bushes on either side of the car park were a pair of nightingales who were easy to hear and locate but impossible to actually see. Even standing five metres away from the bird as it repeatedly called and croaked like a frog, it didn't want to come out into the open.

A sunny corner sheltered from the wind was where I saw the first hedge brown, or gatekeeper, butterfly for the year. This one pictured below was resting on the leaves of bushes and was content to keep its wings tight shut unless it flitted to another branch. Hedge browns are a very common summer butterfly all over the Island and especially along hedges and the edges of grassy fields.

Several other butterflies were seen including small tortoiseshell, red admiral, speckled wood, comma, large white, small white, small and Essex skippers, and masses of meadow browns.

Checked out the sparrowhawk nest and I could just make out the white down of one of the chicks. The previous day I had managed to see the female standing beside at least two downy feathered chicks, their sharp little beaks already very evident.

The other bird of prey highlight was a male marsh harrier that suddenly appeared over the pond resulting in lots of loud anxious squawking from the waterfowl. The female tufted duck seemed to shout the loudest but then she probably had the most vulnerable brood with seven tiny ducklings. The harrier turned away and headed back over the grazing fields, flying low over the ditches and creeks for 5 or 10 mintues, maybe hoping for a young coot or duckling.

The colours of the clouds and the sky became very eyecatching late on in the evening. The photo above was in the last hour of daylight while the one below was closer to sunset but with a very different colour tone.

As the light faded I stood and watched a male kestrel feeding into the darkness as it caught summer chafer bugs that were buzzing around the tops of the bushes and trees. The kestrel perched on the car park signs scanning the nearby bushes and then it would dash out and snatch one of these small but chunky bugs with its talons. It would fly onto another perch to feed on the bug before carrying out more scanning for supper.

I noticed that the local barn owl came into the park once the gates had been closed and the site was empty of people. It could now hunt the long grass in peace.

Whilst walking along the seawall I noticed this large hairy brown caterpillar of the ground lackey moth, close to the ground. Last summer I found a group feeding on saltmarsh plants such as sea purslane and sea lavender nearby to this same spot. It is listed as a nationally scarce moth as it is mainly found only on the saltmarshes of the south-east of England and one or two coastal sites in the south west. Hopefully I will get one of the adults at the moth trap later in the summer, as happened last year.

It has been really good news seeing the sand martins returning to the sandy cliff to nest. The colony seemed to get abandoned last spring probably because it was so cold. Signs didn't look promising for this spring but since early June, there has been a small flock around. This evening there looked like there were about 30 holes in use and actually flying over the nearby fields were about 100 birds.

Whilst on the trail of breeding birds I went to look at the avocets on the saltmarsh pools near the Golfhouse as there was a report that the birds were possibly sitting on nests. Sure enough on one pool there was the distinctive black and white head with the long upcurved beak, neatly concealed amongst a colourful clump of sea lavender. The male was happily feeding in the shallow water close-by. In the neighbouring pool the second pair were also doing the same thing with a female sitting tight while the male did a spot of feeding before having a snooze.

One or two plants caught my eye along the beach such as sea rocket and this big clump of sea kale. This plant maintains a tenuous toe-hold on the Island as it flourishes just above the high tide mark making it very vulnerable to high seas. Sea kale only returned back last year to the park beach after an absence of about 20 years.

SUMMER COLOURS

When the sun shone it felt very warm and summery and at this time of the year the old part of West Mersea along The Lane looks very picturesque. Many of the old cottages have lots of hollyhocks, red valerian and evening primroses in flower with lots of the buddleia bushes starting to attract insects.

A walk out onto the Strood seawall on Monday 2nd provided views of several kinds of butterflies enjoying the sunshine. Peacock, comma, large white, small white, meadow brown and small tortoiseshell were all in evidence although the breeze kept many close to the ground.

As one group of yellow flowers starts to die back, another species takes its place. It is now the turn of the bristly ox-tongue to line the seawall and provide more splashes of yellow. On many parts of the saltmarsh, the colour is the eye-catching purpley-blue of the sea lavender.

One of the notable bird flocks seen was a group of about fifty house sparrows feeding on some ripening wheat. Large flocks of house sparrows are becoming scarce on the Island these days and especially around fields, although there are still house sparrows in many gardens in West Mersea.

The usual reed warblers, sedge warblers, reed buntings, corn buntings, linnets and yellow wagtails were all busy flying about, singing or gathering food for their young along the walk.
A common tern tried his luck at fishing along the borrow-dyke with some success as he swooped down to pluck some small fish fry from the water.

In the distance the large outline of a male marsh harrier could be seen crossing near the Strood causeway as it left the Island, being harassed by some oystercatchers. The incoming tide had nearly covered the mud although one or two little egrets, a few curlews and some redshank did some last minute wading.

BACK TO SEA LEVEL

After a week in the Lake District dodging the rain and trying to get used to climbing up hills, it was back to Mersea to find out what wildlife changes there have been. Top of the list was to check out the small clump of common spotted orchids growing in Willoughby Car Park in the middle of West Mersea.

Five flowering spikes were just visible amongst the tall grass with the majority all fully out and at their peak. Apart from a neighbouring garden, this is the only site on the Island where these common spotted can be enjoyed.

On a nearby clump of thistles there were a few small white butterflies, meadow browns and a small skipper making the most of the short sunny periods between the showers.

The stiff breeze whipped up the sea and at high tide in the early afternoon, waves were crashing onto the beach.
Visited the hide overlooking the park pond and was amazed at the population explosion of tufted ducks that appears to have taken place in recent days. A week ago it was only three or four adults to watch, normally dozing around the edges. Today three proud mums kept watchful eyes over three different broods of about seven fluffy balls each. All the little dark brown ducklings were busy diving down for their food with ease as if they had been doing it for months previously. Tufted ducks have bred here before but never three families all at once. What was also unusual were all the other tufted ducks that were also on show with about 15 adults enjoying the scene.

One little grebe family were busy feeding a noisy chick, while a pair of moorhens also fed their two young chicks. Towering over all these small youngsters were the six week old swan cygnets who have grown noticeably over the last week and a half.

Darting over the water surface were various dragonflies and damselflies, the latter trying to stay sheltered from the stiff breeze. Emperor and black-tailed skimmers hawked along the edge whilst azure and common blue damsels could also be seen.

Around the park there were less butterflies to be seen as the wind was too strong. However a few meadow browns, small whites, comma, red admiral and small skipper were all noted.