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.

MARBLED WHITES

A Marbled White butterfly was seen resting on the stem of an ox-eye daisy in Feldy View cemetery on Wednesday 17th. The first island sighting was only seven years ago - also in Feldy View, but no further sightings here until now, although elsewhere there have been singles seen in recent years in the Strood fields and at Maydays.

Pleasing to hear that another Marbled White was also seen on the island, photographed here by Carrie Horwood at the East Mersea Water Park the previous day on Tuesday 16th.

Other butterflies seen at Feldy View on Wednesday were 3 Small White, 2 Skipper sps, 2 Holly Blue, Painted Lady, 10 Meadow Brown, 5 Small Heath and a Comma.

A Rose Chafer was feeding on a cotoneaster bush in Feldy View on Wednesday.

Birds noted on Wednesday on the Feldy View to Dabchicks circuit included 20 swifts over the houses, a pair of oystercatchers in the field below Feldy View calling out anxiously as their chick wandered among the young maize shoots, two sand martins flew north west off the island, a female cuckoo called beside the Firs caravan park, buzzard and marsh harrier over the Feldy Marsh seawall.

Steve Entwistle visited Feldy View on Wednesday and saw green woodpecker, 3 Holly Blues, 8 Meadow Browns, 5 Large Whites, 5 Small Skippers.

Later in Shop Lane a Southern Migrant Hawker, Brown Hawker and 2 White-letter Hairstreak in their usual location near Fishponds Wood. In another walk Steve reported that from the East Mersea Golfhouse to the seawall corner, there were 12 ringed plovers including one youngster, 4 sedge warblers, Painted Lady and a female Ruddy Darter seen. 

Andy Field saw two White-letter Hairstreaks in Shop Lane near Fishponds Wood on Wednesday morning, also a pair of avocets on the Reeveshall pool.

A Wool Carder Bee was photographed by Carrie Horwood in her Fairhaven Avenue garden on her Lambs Ear plant on Wednesday.

A Wool Carder Bee was photographed in the Firs Chase garden feeding on salvia.

A second Striped Hawkmoth of the year for the West Mersea garden - and island, dropped into the Firs Chase moth trap in the early hours of 1.30am on Wednesday. This seemed a smaller individual than the one recorded two weeks earlier. I believe this is the eighth Striped Hawkmoth of the year for Essex, so a good year so far for this scarce immigrant moth from southern Europe.

On Tuesday 16th two Egyptian geese flew down the Strood channel, a hobby was watched circling over the Peldon seawall hawking insects, 3 common terns, 6 shelduck, great crested grebe and a lapwing were along the channel. Inside the Strood seawall were a pair of mute swans, buzzard, singing birds included 3 sedge warblers, 4 reed warblers, 3 whitethroats and 4 reed buntings, also 12 linnets present.

Also seen on the walk were a Painted Lady and a Small Tortoiseshell.

A great crested grebe in the Strood channel on Tuesday.

Sedge warbler singing along the Strood borrowdyke on Tuesday.

Two Large Red Damselflies were in the Firs Chase garden on Tuesday.

Michael Thorley photographed this Lasioglossum sps of Sweat Bee on his corn marigolds in his East Mersea garden on Tuesday.

Carrie Horwood reported 15 swifts over her house in Fairhaven Avenue but sadly no interest yet in her new swift box on the house.

The regular female hedgehog is still visiting Carrie Horwood's garden in Fairhaven Avenue. It had been visiting her feeding station several times a night up until a week ago, then no sign of her, but for the last three nights she's been spending thirty minutes devouring everything. Maybe she has some hungry hoglets to feed!

A Meadow Brown photographed by Carrie in her Fairhaven Avenue garden on Monday 15th.

Swollen-thighed Beetle photographed by Carrie in her garden on Monday.

A Long Hoverfly photographed by Michael Thorley in his East Mersea garden.

A Marmalade Hoverfly photographed by Michael in his garden.

A young great spotted woodpecker with the red crown was photographed by Chris Conway on his bird feeders on Monday.

Birds noted during a circuit of Feldy View and the Dabchicks Sailing club on Monday morning included a marsh harrier, two kestrels, 2 common terns, 2 great crested grebes, Canada goose, reed warbler, two whitethroats, also ten swifts over the houses.

In the Firs Chase garden a Hummingbird Hawkmoth made a fleeting visit, Holly Blue and Meadow Brown butterflies also noted.

A colourful male linnet perched beside the Firs Caravan park on Sunday 14th. A marsh harrier was over the Strood fields, three kestrels noted, four common terns and three little egrets in the Strood channel, while 18 swifts were over the houses.

A whitethroat family of five, with recently fledged youngsters, was feeding in Feldy View on Sunday. 

Three Meadow Browns were in Feldy View, also 3 Small Heaths, Comma, 2 Small Whites, Common Blue and a Small Skipper. 

Half a dozen Rosemary Beetles were on a lavender bush in Feldy View.

A Spotted Longhorn beetle was feeding on feverfew flowers in the Firs Chase garden. Two Holly Blues and a Meadow Brown also noted here on Sunday.

Several caterpillars of the Toadflax Brocade moth are feeding on the Purple Toadflax in the Firs Chase garden.

At Barrow Hill on Sunday, Rob Lee watched a barn owl flying over just after 8am, and then again at the end of the afternoon a barn owl seen heading towards the Strood Hill fishing lake area.

 

A ringed plover chick was photographed by Andy Field at East Mersea near the old blockhouse fort on Saturday. 

Andy photographed this common tern - one of two on an island on the Golfhouse saltmarsh pools on Saturday. Also 2 avocets on the pools, an agitated redshank presumably with a chick nearby, 2 turnstones, red kite over, barn owl hunting the grazing field near the country park, plenty of reed warblers and two sedge warblers.

Red-tailed Bumblebee photographed by Carrie Horwood in her garden on Saturday.

White-tailed Bumblebee photographed by Carrie in her garden.

On Friday 12th at Maydays farm, Martin Cock reported yellow wagtails flying over, four yellowhammers, buzzard, marsh harrier, common tern, three common seals and a Chinese Water Deer.

Over the Strood fields on Thursday 11th was a hobby seen chasing a small bird which managed to escape by diving into the hedge by the central ditch. Also three common terns and two great crested grebes in the Strood channel, and ten swifts over the houses.

A few moths noted over the last week in the Firs Chase garden moth trap included this first Swallow-tailed moth of the summer.

Barred Yellow.

Delicate moth.

Poplar Grey.