CUDMORE GROVE WALK

A productive visit to Cudmore Grove Country Park on a very hot Tuesday 23rd, provided views of a nice variety of wildlife. A pair of common terns was being kept busy looking after three chicks on the island on the saltmarsh pool near the East Mersea Golfhouse.

One of the adult common terns with three chicks.

Also on this small island were half a dozen nesting pairs of  black-headed gulls and another nest on the nearby pool.

A pair of Mediterranean gulls passed overhead calling.

A pair of ringed plovers was looking after their chick on the beach close to the blockhouse fort near the Point.

The ringed plover chick was feeding on the mud near the blockhouse fort and is quite well grown but not fledged yet.

The ringed plover family will not be pleased with this new fencing being put up by the archaeologists on their section of beach and with machinery driving back and forth for the next few weeks.

On the beach round the back of the Point was a ringed plover still sitting on a nest, cordoned off from walkers. A second cordoned off nest with two eggs seemed abandoned. Four other adult ringed plovers and a fledged juvenile were seen in the area of the Point.

Thirty redshank were feeding on the mud, fifteen curlew flew over to feed on the mudflats and at least thirty oystercatchers were on the mudflats. Two great crested grebes were feeding in the river Colne.

A reed bunting was singing on the sea-blite bushes at the Point.

Along the park borrowdyke were five tufted ducks. Two Canada geese were in the fields and two shelduck on the saltmarsh. 

A mallard with her eleven ducklings were seen on the dyke.

A handful of Black-tailed Skimmers were patrolling their territories along the park dyke.

One Small Red-eyed Damselfly was sitting on vegetation on the dyke.

A water vole was seen swimming across the dyke.

A lesser whitethroat was feeding in bushes near the Golfhouse, while a song thrush was singing in the area too. Other warblers heard during the walk were two sedge warblers, three reed warblers and four whitethroats.

A juvenile great spotted woodpecker was in trees in the country park, with a second bird seen near the bus turning circle. A kestrel near the pond and four swifts flying west were also watched.

A cuckoo landed on top of an alder tree behind the park pond, spending several minutes surveying the scene. 

A Large Skipper was feeding on lime flowers.

Small Skipper also on lime flowers.

One of the very fragrant lime trees covered in blossom was buzzing with insects.

Clumps of Greater Knapweed were busy with several Small Skippers and the high-pitched buzzing of lots of Green-eyed Flower Bees.

The park cliff was also busy with bee activity such as this Green-eyed Flower Bee at its hole.

A couple of Bee Wolves were seen along the park cliff.

A Hummingbird Hawkmoth was darting back and forwards along one part of the cliff.

An ichneumon wasp busy at the cliff.

One of the species of Colletes Mining Bee amongst the vegetation at the Point.

Several Leafcutter Bees were flying about the Virginia Creeper by the Golfhouse, with some bees carrying away small cut-out leaf sections.

Dryad's Saddle bracket fungi on a stump near the Golfhouse.

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SAILING CLUB SWALLOWS

The swallows near the Dabchicks Sailing Club have been enjoying the sunshine in recent days with ideal conditions for hawking after insects. Six swallows were seen in the Dabchicks and Coast Road area on Monday 22nd.

Birds noted on a brief visit to the Strood seawall included common tern, four curlew, two sedge warblers, two reed warblers, three whitethroats, two reed buntings and also five swifts over the houses.

At East Mersea Martin Cock reported two common tern chicks on the Golfhouse saltmarsh pools on Monday.

On Sunday 21st a Small Skipper was seen in Feldy View, as were Meadow Browns, Small Heath and Holly Blue.

Twenty Ruddy Darters were gathered in one sheltered part of Feldy View on Sunday, all the males still immature yellow individuals.

Four reed buntings were singing along the Strood borrrowdyke on Sunday, also three sedge warblers, three reed warblers and three whitethroats noted. A yellow wagtail was heard calling overhead and a family of mute swans were in the dyke with five young, also grey heron by the dyke too.

In the Strood channel 7 shelduck, five curlew, five redshank and a common tern were noted, while at least 70 swifts were circling over the West Mersea houses.

A family of possibly-fledged mallard ducklings was by the Strood dyke on Sunday.

Andy Field photographed this male Black-tailed Skimmer along the Cudmore Grove borrowdyke on Sunday. A family of greylag geese could just be seen in the long grass of Cudmore Grove's grazing fields.

A Purple Hairstreak was photographed by Andy Field at Cudmore Grove on Sunday. 

Earlier in the day Andy reported 2 or 3 White-letter Hairstreaks beside Fishponds Wood in Shop Lane and a Hummingbird Hawkmoth. A green sandpiper was in the borrowdyke near the Shop Lane seawall.

Michael Thorley reported a blackcap singing in his East Mersea garden on Sunday, also a whitethroat noted too.

A handful of Green-eyed Flower Bees were making their characteristic high pitched buzzing noise as they visited flowers in Feldy View on Sunday.

There was one less Green-eyed Flower Bee in Feldy View after being pounced on by a crab spider Xysticus species.

On Saturday 20th an adult song thrush was feeding snails without their shells to its well grown youngster in the Firs Chase garden. The male has been singing loudly from nearby gardens for the last month.

Also in the Firs Chase garden on Saturday was this chiffchaff, spread-eagled on a garden table, soaking up the sunshine. 

In the early hours of Saturday a young tawny owl chick was heard calling from nearby gardens. The long-staying ring-necked parakeet was heard squawking in a nearby garden in Firs Chase on Friday.

Four Wool Carder Bees were seen visiting flowers in the Firs Chase garden on Saturday.

Three yellowhammers were heard singing along the seawall at Maydays farm on Saturday, also singing were three sedge warblers, three reed warblers, two whitethroats with a pair of yellow wagtails flying off the saltmarsh and flying into a nearby field.

A pair of oystercatchers was making a lot of noise as I walked along the Maydays seawall and soon spotted their chick trying to hide in vegetation close to the bottom of the seawall.

A distant brood of shelduck-lings was seen further along the Pyefleet channel, ten curlew, ten redshank and 8 oystercatchers noted along there too. Two marsh harriers and a buzzard were seen, with ten sand martins seen flying about.

Three common seals were seen basking on the mud in the Pyefleet channel opposite Maydays farm on Saturday.

Rob Lee saw a barn owl fly over and land on a fence at the bottom of a meadow near the Mersea Barrow on Saturday morning.

Mollie Kirk and Daniel Woollard had an evening walk at Cudmore Grove on Saturday and reported two little terns, eight common terns and lots of sand martins moving through Stone Point. Two red squirrels keep visiting the garden of the bungalow at Cudmore Grove but no youngsters seen yet.

On Friday 19th Steve Entwistle counted 3 little terns, 2 Sandwich terns and 25 common terns mainly flying west offshore from the Esplanade during the evening.

A brief walk from Feldy View to the Dabchicks provided views of a great crested grebe in the channel, 15 swifts over the houses and five linnets by the seawall.

Butterflies noted included Painted Lady, ten Meadow Browns, five Small Heaths, 3 Small Skippers and two Small Whites. Five Green-eyed Flower Bees were first noticed in Feldy View.

A pair of Egyptian geese landed briefly in one of the very dry Strood fields on Thursday 18th.

A family of mute swans with five cygnets has arrived in recent days to the Strood borrowdyke. No indication of where this family nested, as no adults were present here during the spring.

A grey heron was seen by the Strood dyke on Thursday, also two little egrets seen. Two marsh harriers, two common terns, singing birds included two sedge warblers, two reed warblers, two whitethroats and two reed buntings were all noted, while fifteen swifts were over the houses. A painted lady and small tortoiseshell were the butterflies of note.

Andy Field reported that one of the swift eggs in his swift box had hatched on Thursday morning, although the other egg was seen being ejected from the nest-cup the week before.

In East Mersea Martin Cock saw two or three White-letter Hairstreak butterflies in Shop Lane on Thursday, also a cuckoo still calling and a buzzard seen.

Carrie Horwood photographed this Lesser Stag Beetle in Cross Lane on Thursday.

Recent mothing highlights over the previous week from the Firs Chase garden moth trap included up to 22 Elephant Hawkmoths on the night of the 22nd.

The first Privet Hawkmoth of the summer was seen on the 20th.

A Rest Harrow was an unexpected moth for the back garden. The only other record for the island was at Cudmore Grove in 2015. The species appears to be on a gradual increase in Essex.

Common Emerald.

Plumed Fanfoot

Clancy's Rustic.

Orange Pine Tortrix.

An unexpected spectator at the moth trap at 1.30am was this juvenile blackbird. Definitely the early bird catches the worm - or in this case, the moths! Up to six common pipistrelle bats were circling over the garden late at night on the 19th, trying to intercept the moths as they came down to the light.