ADDER PLIGHT

The BBC Essex radio car came to Cudmore Grove Country Park on Wednesday 9th to help highlight the plight of adders. According to the national survey being carried out by the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust since 2007, the once widespread adder has only been found in 7% of reptile surveys carried out. The ongoing threats of development and disturbance, have led to the decline of adders and that they're in need now of "serious conservation attention".

The park's adders didn't disappoint on the day they needed to show and despite the cloudy and cool weather early in the morning, one adder was lying in its usual spot near some young blackthorn. Listeners to the radio heard an excited reporter describe live that he was standing and admiring this adder "only about two feet away!" I think maybe a few feet got missed off his description in his excitement.
Later in the morning after the sun had come out, the second adder was also out in its usual spot by the track.



The moth trap was put out at the park for the first time this year on Tuesday night. For a change it stayed dry, there was a bit of cloud at times and the temperature hovered about 5 degrees above. As soon as the trap was switched on in the early evening, a handful of March moths, one pictured above, fluttered towards the light. By morning the same number of Marches were seen resting on the trap.



There was just the one clouded drab, pictured above, found in the trap, no doubt the first of several that will come to the trap this spring.

A couple of these Hebrew character moths were seen in the trap in the morning - again another common spring moth. The only other moth noted was the common quaker with three individuals.

Birdwise around the park it has been pretty much the same as recent weeks. There were about 600 brent geese feeding in the fields on Tuesday along with 50+ golden plover, as well as the usual roost of 150+ black-tailed godwits. In a nearby horse paddock there was a mixed flock of 15 fieldfares and redwings.

SCANNING THE SKIES

A rare day with blue sky from dawn till dusk over Mersea on Monday 7th. Spent a couple of hours in the middle of the day walking along the Reeveshall seawall on the north-side of the Island. Despite the welcome sunshine, there was a cold easterly breeze blowing.

The sunshine brought a few birds of prey into view with five species noted. Three common buzzards were noted as they drifted eastwards along the Pyefleet where they were joined by a fourth bird and a male marsh harrier aleady circling over Langenhoe. There was the typical showing of marsh harriers over Langenhoe with about 7 birds noted either quartering the marshes, perching on bushes or soaring high in the sky.

A peregrine was seen flying high over Langenhoe while flying closer to the ground were a couple of kestrels. On Reeveshall a sparrowhawk flashed low down a few metres past me, whilst I stood on the seawall. Just the one marsh harrier was seen over the Reeveshall reedbed before drifting over Maydays farm.

The tide was coming in along the Pyefleet Channel with a female scaup flying up-channel the highlight. Also of interest were 4 red-breasted mergansers, great grested grebe, 100 shelduck near Pewit Island and 2000 dunlin along the water's edge, whilst flying over Langenhoe were 4 pochard and 2 tufted ducks.

A common seal drifted up channel with the tide, occasionally sticking its head above water, meanwhile a fox was trotting along the saltmarsh behind Pewit Island flushing lots of wildfowl.

On the Reeveshall pool were 25 teal, 3 redshank, cormorant, grey heron with 9 stock doves feeding on the nearby field. In the nearby Shop Lane 3 siskins perched in a tree above the popular bird feeders next to the conifer wood.



There was a colourful end to the day with a bright sunset seen from the Hard at West Mersea. Over the Feldy fields 400 brent geese noisily flew around before settling back down. On the nearby mud were a typical selection of waders with oystercatchers, curlews, redshank, dunlin and turnstones all present.

A late afternoon walk along the Strood seawall on Sunday 6th provided views of at least 28 lapland buntings in the weedy field with 25 of the birds seen heading over to the mainland field on the east side of the Strood causeway, presumably to roost for the night. Also flying around the weedy field were 4 linnets, skylark and 5 reed buntings. A barn owl was seen flying along the seawall at the top end of Ray Channel. Amongst the many regular waders along the Strood, 100 knot were of note.

Martin Cock saw the female scaup still on the Strood fishing lake on Sunday as well as one in the Pyefleet from Maydays.

Two adders were seen basking at the country park today as they were yesterday too.

FIRST ADDER

This was the first adder of the spring found at the country park today on a sunny Friday 4th. There was still a cold northerly breeze blowing across the park but this female adder had found a sheltered spot where it could soak up the sunshine. No adders have been found so far in the main dell area near the car park despite searching whenever it has been sunny in recent days.

The first adder sighting in the park last year was a very late 17th March, whereas the previous four years had seen the first adder appear during the last week in February.



During the middle of the day high tide, there was a good wader roost in the grazing fields with a big flock of 250+ black-tailed godwits and 100 redshank, some pictured above. One of the black-tailed godwits was already in its summer plumage with full ginger underparts and neck. Also in the fields were 20 turnstone, 25 dunlin, 20 snipe, 30 lapwing and 70 curlew.

Amongst the wildfowl were 25 shelduck, 200 teal, 200 wigeon and 400 brent geese with a few shoveler and mallard too. At the pond 10 tufted duck and 8 gadwall were the main ducks while feeding on some marshy ground nearby were 2 snipe and a curlew.

Around the park 2 or 3 skylarks were in full song in the sunshine, singing high in the sky. Small numbers of chaffinches and goldfinches were present as usual in hedges and trees near the pond.

On Wednesday Richard Brown's father saw two swallows fly over West Mersea, which I believe might be the first Essex sightings of the spring to be reported.
Earlier in the day I had to slow the car down whilst driving along the East Mersea road near Bocking Hall, to allow a male hen harrier to fly across the road. The elegant looking bird swooped low over the road about 30 metres in front of the car, allowing fine views as it continued to hunt the nearby fields.

Simon Cox reported seeing six Mediterranean gulls on the West Mersea beach near Seaview Avenue and the female scaup on the fishing lake by the Strood on Monday.

EYECATCHING CATKINS

After a rainy Saturday, it was nice to see the sun shining on Sunday 27th and spring inching closer. This cluster of the lambs-tail catkins on a hazel tree in Bromans Lane near the country park are becoming more eyecatching with each sunny day. Some pussy willow catkins have also turned into their distinctive yellow clusters while many of the alder trees are covered in their long catkins too.

The BBC CountryFile programme about the Cudmore Grove geology is now going to be shown a week later than planned - now Sunday 13th March.

At the park pond 2 pochard and 12 tufted duck were the main ducks of interest here along with a few gadwall. The pair of swans rested on an island,a pair of dabchicks called to each other while two water rails were heard calling from the back of the pond.

As the light faded at the end of the day, two muntjac deer came out from the copse at the back of the pond to feed in the corner of the grazing field. This is the first time two have been seen together since the spring last year. I've also heard from Gerry Mason that he also saw a muntjac in this same area ten days earlier.


There was a nice variety of the usual waders and wildfowl on the fields with 500+ brent geese, 200+ teal, 300 wigeon, 70 redshank, 50 black-tailed godwit, 50 lapwing, 16 snipe and 30 curlew.

At the end of the day 100+ wood pigeons roosted in the copse behind the pond along with a few stock doves. Forty greenfinches also roosted in a thick hedge near the pond with a few chaffinches, while the usual 30+ goldfinches gathered by the car park. Two little owls were heard calling from different locations to the north and west of the park pond.


At West Mersea 40 lapland buntings, barn owl and the female scaup were seen by the Strood in the afternoon by Andy Field and Steve Entwistle. Sean Nixon had counted 47 lapland buntings in the weedy field on Saturday. Earlier on Sunday, by the East Mersea pub there was a mixed flock of 70 fieldfares and redwings in a rape field. Another sign of spring was the sight of a corn bunting on the usual "song-post" bush near Bocking Hall farm and 70 linnets were also in a field here too.

OLD FOSSILS

BBC TV's CountryFile visited the park on Friday 25th to do a story about the local geology. Beside me wearing the scarf is Matt Baker the presenter, with Steve Boreham from Cambridge University's geography department, along with his colleague Chris on the right.


Matt is holding a thigh bone of an extinct straight-tusked elephant discovered under the beach at Coopers Beach here in East Mersea about 80 years ago. East Mersea has been known for almost a hundred years as a place where 100,000 year old animal bones have been found.


This huge thigh bone of a straight-tusked elephant was borrowed from Colchester Natural History Museum where its jawbone is kept on permanent display. These elephants were almost twice the size of today's African elephant and weighed up to nine tonnes. They died out at the beginning of the last Ice Age.


Two other animal bones from East Mersea pictured above, on the left is a hippopotamus tusk alongside a molar tooth of an extinct narrow-nosed rhinoceros. The climate 100,000 years ago was probably similar to that of the current south of France.
Also found in the past at Coopers Beach, referred to by the geologists as the "restaurant site", were the bones of spotted hyaena and the giant deer whose males carried a massive three metre wide antler span.


At the base of the park cliff, Steve is boring down into the clay and gravel layers hoping to reveal the presence of small shells which would indicate a much older estaurine bed. Research on the Cudmore Grove beach and cliff has been going on for 25 years and one rich organic layer was meticulously dug out in the mid 1980's. Amongst the 1500 mammal bone fragments were found macaque ape, wolf, brown bear, beaver, red squirrel, lots of voles and shrews.

The various amphibians and reptiles such as tree frog, pool frog, terrapin great crested newt and aesculapian snake have given us huge clues as to the landscape of East Mersea 300,000 years ago. Knowing their various habitat requirements where they still live today, suggests to us a freshwater river, flowing into a brackish lagoon surrounded by marsh, grassland, scrub and woodland all fairly close to each other. The forty-eight species of beetle discovered here also tell us there were plenty of oak, alder, pine, ash and silver fir trees on East Mersea between the last two Ice Ages. Lots of other smaller plants have been identified by pollen remains.

Matt Baker is helping to pull a very powerful ground-penetrating radar across the park. Steve is following behind watching the laptop for the images the radar provides it of the different layers of sand and gravel underground. The sand and gravel cliff was thought to have been laid down by the river Thames /Medway 300,000 years ago when it flowed north over Essex. However a recent re-assessment helped by this radar suggests the gravels were probably laid down by the very early Colne and Blackwater rivers. This research is still ongoing.

The date for the programme transmission has now been scheduled for Sunday 13th March - a week later than initially planned.

MORE TOADS

Lots of rain fell during Wednesday 23rd and into the evening which enticed a few more toads and frogs to crawl and hop to their ponds. This toad above was on its way to the pond near Firs Chase. David Nicholls also reported seeing toads and frogs visiting his West Mersea garden pond on the 10th February - my first date too.

Found a trail of these little muntjac footprints along one of the muddy paths along from the hide. It turns out one was spotted a week earlier from the hide as it fed in the field near the pond.

On Thursday 24th a big flock of 700 brent geese flew off the grazing fields when a sparrowhawk passed overhead. When the geese flew across to Brightlingsea, there appeared to be a much larger gathering of 2000 birds here at the mouth of the Colne. Also in the fields were 250 teal, 300 wigeon, 15 snipe, 20 black-tailed godwits and 1oo lapwings, while a grey heron was also noted.

By the pond 6 siskin flew over while 25 fieldfares and 10 redwing landed in a hedgeline to the north of the park. On the pond were 9 tufted duck but no sign of the 3 pochard or snipe seen on Tuesday.

Offshore 3 eider flew out of the river on Thursday while 2 red-breasted mergansers flew up-river. A little egret flew over the mudflats at low tide on Friday 25th.

Glyn Evans noted along the Pyefleet on Tuesday 22nd, 8 marsh harriers, 2 peregrines and a common buzzard over Langenhoe while an Egyptian goose flew east and round to the Point. At West Mersea the female scaup was seen later that day at the Strood fishing lake. Alan Shearman saw at least 2 lapland buntings in the field by the Strood along with 10 reed buntings on Wednesday. Graham Ekins noted great northern diver, 2 Slavonian grebes, 1 eider and 36 great crested grebes off West Mersea, along with the scaup near the Strood on Friday 25th.

GARDEN VISITOR

Andy Field took this photo of a sparrowhawk which perched in his West Mersea garden one day last week. Sparrowhawks have become regular visitors to most gardens throughout the year with 3 or 4 pairs now breeding in West Mersea and at least another couple of pairs in East Mersea too.


Walked along the Strood seawall from West Mersea to the fishing lakes at the bottom of the Strood Hill on a dull Monday 21st. There was just the one female scaup present which spent most of the time snoozing but no sign of the second female. Also seen here were 14 tufted duck, a vocal great crested grebe, 6 mallard, one wigeon and at least 20 coot.

In the Strood fields at least 3 lapland buntings flew around the weedy field calling, with Roy Hume and his son seeing another couple of laplands in flight a short while earlier. There was no sign of any lapland flock this morning with the only other small birds seen being 25+ skylarks and about 10 reed buntings. A rock pipit on the seaward side was the only other small bird of note on the walk.

The flooded arable field lured lots of waders in for the high tide roost with 500 dunlin, 50 ringed plover the main birds although at least 3 knot were seen flying about, while oystercatcher and curlew were also noted. No doubt more waders gathered here as it got nearer to time of high tide.
A little egret flew out of the ditch, 3 stock doves flew away from the weedy field and a kestrel was seen perched up.

Along the Strood channel with the tide coming in, a greenshank and a spotted redshank stood along the water's edge about 50 metres apart. These are the first ones to be seen on the Island this year so far. Other waders included 15 bar-tailed godwit, 50 knot, 300 redshank, 50 lapwing along with the usual grey plovers, curlews, oystercatchers but just the one black-tailed godwit. The regular wildfowl flocks were the brent geese, wigeon and shelduck with a few teal too.

Two sparrowhawks tussled with each other over the Ray saltings whilst by the Strood causeway, a marsh harrier was seen hunting on the mainland side.
Martin Cock saw a merlin at Maydays Farm on Monday with 150 linnets being the only other birds of note during a gloomy and dull visit there. A Mediterranean gull was seen on the Victoria Esplanade greensward on Sunday afternoon.