SPOT FLIES STOP BY

A couple of spotted flycatchers turned up in the West Mersea area on Saturday 15th. One was first seen in a Firs Chase garden and then later in the morning this one pictured above was found by Andy Field and photographed by Jon Ward in Feldy View. These are the first two birds of the autumn passage on the island.

Jon Ward also photographed this chiffchaff in Feldy View on Saturday. 

A wheatear on the Strood seawall was photographed by Jon Ward on Saturday morning.

Andy Field also photographed the same wheatear on the Strood seawall on Saturday - the presumed same bird that has was first found here on the Tuesday before.

Andy also reported 3 greenshank, 4 corn buntings, stonechat, while two willow warblers and the chiffchaff were in Feldy View.

The first spotted flycatcher found on Saturday morning was this one seen in the Firs Chase garden - the first bird spotted after the curtains were pulled back in the back room overlooking the back garden. The bird perched briefly before disappearing and not returning. A willow warbler was also seen in the same silver birch tree.

Later on Saturday birds noted during a walk along the Maydays and Reeveshall seawall included 2     wheatear, 8 sand martin with 100 swallows over the fields, house martin, yellowhammer and yellow wagtail. In the Pyefleet were 2 Sandwich terns, 5 common terns, 15 little egrets, 3 grey herons, 13 greenshank, 40 grey plover, 2 whimbrel, 4 dunlin and a great crested grebe. A marsh harrier was flying over Langenhoe. 

A Chinese water deer, brown hare and a Clouded Yellow were seen on Reeveshall, while two common seals were in the Pyefleet.

At Cudmore Grove Country Park, Daniel Woollard reported a tit flock with chiffchaffs, blackcaps, lesser whitethroats, whitethroats, while a stoat and reed warbler were in his back garden at the park.

A Hummingbird Hawkmoth was photographed by Michael Thorley after it flew into his conservatory in his East Mersea house on Saturday evening.

The wheatear was still by the Strood seawall on Friday 14th - present for its fourth day here now. Also seen from the Strood seawall were a whinchat, 2 stonechats, 2 corn buntings, 4 yellow wagtails, 100 swallows with 4 sand martins. High over the Glebe were four buzzards circling with a hobby.

Along the Strood channel were Sandwich tern, 2 common terns, 5 Mediterranean gulls, 150 black-tailed godwits, 15 little egrets, 3 shelduck.

One of the four yellow wagtails noted by the Strood seawall on Friday.

Two greenshank were seen in the Strood channel on Friday, also 150 black-tailed godwits and a whimbrel.

The first flock of golden plover back this autumn in the Strood were 28 seen resting on the saltmarsh with their black bellies visible, on Friday.

In Feldy View three willow warblers and a reed warbler were seen.

A Red Admiral was seen by the Firs Chase caravan park on Friday, while 5 Brown Argus and 2 Common Blues were seen in the nearby Feldy View.

In the Firs Chase garden a willow warbler was present again, the ring-necked parakeet called and a Hummingbird Hawkmoth visited briefly on Friday.

A flock of 155 black-tailed godwits were on the Strood mud mainly by the Dabchicks sailing club on Thursday 13th.

Numbers of black-tailed godwits have been slowly building up here since mid July.

Many of the black-tailed godwits are still in their full summer plumage.

Some of the black-tailed godwits are seen to roost on the mud near the Dabchicks.

Other birds noted in the Strood area on Thursday were 2 common terns, whimbrel, sedge warbler and yellow wagtail.

During the hot Thursday in Feldy View, two willow warblers were seen, also a common lizard scuttling over a path. Butterflies noted included 2 Wall Browns, 2 Small Heaths, 10 Brown Argus and five Common Blues. A Clouded Yellow was near the Dabchicks sailing club while a Hummingbird Hawkmoth was in the Firs Chase garden.

A pied flycatcher was seen briefly by Martin Cock in his back garden on Thursday morning but not seen again.

At East Mersea a short-eared owl was seen by Lea Merclova being chased away by the common terns at Stone Point and heading off to the Strood.

A barn owl was seen by Carrie Horwood late on Thursday night at 11.30pm flying over her Fairhaven Avenue garden as she was watching the meteor shower.

The posts, ropes and signs warning about nesting birds were taken down from Packing Marsh Island and Cobmarsh Island on Wednesday 12th, as the nesting season has finished.

Birds noted around Cobmarsh at high tide included 15 ringed plover, 6 oystercatchers, ten turnstones, 5 common terns, Mediterranean gull, little egret, 6 linnets and a skylark.

Andy Field visited Feldy View on Wednesday and reported 3 willow warblers with one singing, chiffchaff and three lesser whitethroats.

An attempt to capture the partial eclipse on the Wednesday from the Coast Road area - the picture taken of the sun projected onto cardboard through a pin-hole.

The sun as the partial eclipse passed over the West Mersea causeway by the Hard on Wednesday early evening.

A young swallow was waiting to be fed on a caravan in the Firs Chase caravan park on Tuesday 11th.

A family of three young swallows were waiting to be fed in the Firs caravan park on Tuesday. Twenty swallows were seen in the area.

A willow warbler was feeding near the front of the Firs Chase caravan park on Tuesday, three others also seen in Feldy View with a swift also seen flying over. 

A wheatear was seen by the Strood seawall on Tuesday, sometimes perching on some old pallets in the nearby field. Two corn buntings, yellow wagtail, marsh harrier, ten black-tailed godwits were seen from the seawall.

Butterflies noted included a Clouded Yellow near the Dabchicks, while in Feldy View were Wall Brown, Small Copper, 15 Brown Argus and 8 Common Blues.

Michael Thorley photographed this Tachnid fly in his conservatory of his East Mersea house on Tuesday.

Tachnid fly photographed by Michael.

On Monday 10th at the East Mersea Water Park, there were five turnstones on the beach at high tide, also a swift over with ten swallows. A little owl called next to the Waldegraves golf driving range and was seen perched in the hedge. 

On the shingle island offshore from Waldegraves on Monday 48 common terns and 70 Mediterranean gulls began arriving just after high tide. A willow warbler was heard calling at Waldegraves, also yellow wagtail over, as were 70 swallows, ten house martins and four sand martins. A sedge warbler, reed warbler and song thrush were in Cross Lane.

A Peacock butterfly was feeding at a big buddleia bush at Waldegraves, as were five Painted Ladies and a Red Admiral on Monday.

Steven Mcdonough reported two wheatears on the Shop Lane seawall on Monday.

Moths of interest in the Firs Chase moth trap in the last week included this Large Thorn on the 14th - the first one here for four years.

The coastal speciality Rosy Wave was on the 14th.

Waved Umber

Chinese Character.

L-album Wainscot.

FELDY PIED FLY

A pied flycatcher was found in the Feldy View cemetery on Sunday 9th. Several birders came along to see the bird - including Simon Patient who took this photograph.

Another of Simon's Pied Flycatcher photos. The bird was first seen mid-morning in a lone birch tree, before flying to the main group of trees where it stayed for the rest of the day.

Simon also took this picture of the Pied Flycatcher. In the afternoon the bird spent long periods sitting still, probably due the very hot temperature.

Andy Field took this picture of the Pied Flycatcher. This species has been stopping off at Feldy View nearly on an annual basis in recent years during the late summer / early autumn period.

The Pied Flycatcher spent most of the time perching and feeding inside the birch and oak trees in Feldy View.

Two lesser whitethroats were also feeding in Feldy View on Sunday, also 2 willow warblers, chiffchaff, blackcap a brief visit by a reed bunting and a yellow wagtail flying over, while Steve Entwistle saw the sparrowhawk and great spotted woodpecker there. Four whitethroats were down the side of the nearby caravan park and forty black-tailed godwits were by the Dabchicks sailing club.

Mid-morning Sunday a very tatty buzzard was seen by Martin Cock flying east over his West Mersea house.

On a very hot Saturday 8th a family of 12 shelduck was seen in the Pyefleet channel, four of the young pictured here in the heat haze. Also seen during the walk along the Maydays and Reeveshall seawall were three common sandpipers, three great crested grebes and a common tern. A hobby was seen briefly over Langenhoe, as were a sparrowhawk, four kestrels, marsh harrier and a buzzard.

Other birds noted were a male yellowhammer, ten linnets, three whitethroats, four sedge warblers and a lesser whitethroat. Three brown hares and five Clouded Yellows were also seen.

On Friday 7th Andy Field visited Cudmore Grove and photographed this juvenile yellow wagtail. Four of them were seen with the cattle in the grazing fields. Also seen were 2 or 3 young sparrowhawks, 12 common terns on the mud behind the Golfhouse saltmarsh pools, Sandwich tern off the park, 2 Mediterranean gulls, 25 black-tailed godwits, "numerous" reed warblers, blackcaps, whitethroats, lesser whitethroats, sedge warbler and Cetti's warbler.

A grey squirrel was reported by Jack Hoy on the clifftop path at Cudmore Grove on Friday morning.

A caterpillar of the Vapourer moth was photographed by Andy Field in his greenhouse in his West Mersea garden on Saturday.

A family of four whitethroats was feeding in bushes near the Strood seawall on Friday. Birds noted along the Strood channel included a knot, 200 redshank, 3 whimbrel, 4 grey plover, 52 black-tailed godwits, 20 turnstone, 2 common terns, ten Mediterranean gulls, while sparrowhawk and buzzard seen over the fields.

In Feldy View were three willow warblers and a lesser whitethroat, while four swifts were flying over the houses.

A reed warbler, willow warbler and a hummingbird hawkmoth were in the Firs Chase garden on Friday.

Several Firebugs were found on Common Mallow plants at either end of the Strood seawall on Friday.

Butterflies noted in Feldy View on Friday included a Wall Brown, ten Common Blues and five Brown Argus.

Hummingbird hawkmoths were seen on Friday feeding in Carrie Horwood's garden in Fairhaven Avenue and also in Michael Thorley's East Mersea garden. Steve Entwistle has seen one most afternoons over the previous week.

In Feldy View on Thursday 6th, a couple of wood pigeon families are still using nests with this one still sitting on hers, with two young in another nest being fed by parents.

Four willow warblers, 2 lesser whitethroats, reed warbler and 2 chiffchaffs were also in Feldy View, while two swifts seen over the houses. A peregrine flew past Feldy View and along the front of the Firs Chase caravan park heading west. Two buzzards, yellow wagtail, common tern, whimbrel and 55 black-tailed godwits also noted.

Lavender clumps in Feldy View are one of the few nectar sources still in flower on Thursday with this Common Blue one of eight seen.

Fifteen Brown Argus were in Feldy View on Thursday.

This very dark Small Copper shows more brown than usual. Two Wall Browns were also of note.

A green woodpecker perched in a tree beside the Firs Caravan park on Wednesday 5th. In the nearby Feldy View at least eight willow warblers, 2 reed warblers and two chiffchaffs with a yellow wagtail flying over, while three swifts were high over the fields and houses.

Twenty black-tailed godwits, three common terns, 3 grey plover, yellow wagtail, ten linnets and 15 goldfinches were noted during a brief walk along the Strood channel to the Dabchicks.

Three swifts flew west over the Firs Chase garden, also a Willow Emerald damselfly seen resting high up on a bush.

Martin Cock reported two little owls in the hedge at the back of the Waldegraves golf driving range on Wednesday.

Rob Lee had two barn owls fly over Barrow Hill within twenty seconds of each other as they headed east back to barns east of the barrow early on Wednesday morning.

A Jersey Tiger moth was photographed by Jack Hoy in his house in Mersea Avenue on Tuesday 4th.

Jack also reported seeing a dead red squirrel on the East Mersea road near the Fox pub on Tuesday.

In East Mersea Martin Cock reported 30 brown argus, blackcaps, chiffchaff and young buzzards calling during his walk along the path on Tuesday between Meeting Lane and Gyants Marsh.

Two willow warblers were in Feldy View on Monday 3rd with just one swift seen flying over the nearby houses. Ten Brown Argus and 6 Common Blues were seen in Feldy View. Later a Clouded Yellow was seen in Feldy View by Steve Entwistle. One was also seen feeding along a ditch behind the Dabchicks.

Two corn buntings were perched on a bush near the Strood seawall on Monday. A peregrine flew over the channel flushing all the birds off  which included 200 redshank, greenshank, 45 Mediterranean gulls, 66 curlew, 37 black-tailed godwits and three common terns.

Three yellow wagtails were feeding along the Strood seawall on Monday. 

On Sunday 2nd Martin Cock visited Maydays farm and reported 3 common sandpipers, greenshank, whimbrel, 12 grey plover, stonechat, yellowhammer and four yellow wagtails.

 

On Saturday 1st a male yellowhammer was singing on bushes near the Maydays seawall. A corn bunting, yellow wagtail, house martin and five kestrels were seen flying over Maydays. In the Pyefleet were two greenshank, 100 redshank, common tern, 8 black-tailed godwits, two great crested grebes and a family of ten shelduck. A marsh harrier and two buzzards were over Langenhoe.

Lots of butterflies were enjoying the sunshine along the Maydays seawall including 70 Small Whites feeding on the Golden Samphire flowers. Four Clouded Yellows and four Painted Ladies also noted. A Chinese Water Deer was seen beside Broad Fleet on Reeveshall.

The Sea Lavender has nearly finished flowering on the saltmarsh at Maydays farm.

Steve Entwistle spent an hour in the bird-hide at Cudmore Grove on Saturday in the middle of the day and saw a garden warbler, willow warbler, 2 greenfinches, 5 long-tailed tits, 5 whitethroats, 4 goldfinches, 20 little egrets and 2 stock doves.

Peter Mann photographed a Jersey Tiger moth in Shop Lane, East Mersea on Saturday.

Mothing in the Firs Chase garden in the last week has included sightings of this Lime Hawkmoth on the 3rd.

Marbled Clover on the 3rd - same date as one last year.

Broad-barred White on 3rd.

Marbled Beauty on the 3rd.

Nicely coloured Campion on the 4th.

Toadflax Brocade on the 8th.

Rosy Rustic on 8th.

Interested to find a couple of Variable Cockroaches in my moth trap. A species that appears to be slowly spreading in Essex. A handful were seen in the moth trap here last autumn.