XMAS BIRDS

A very happy Christmas to the followers of Mersea Wildlife - I trust you had a great day.
I managed to fit in some birdwatching from the Firs Chase kitchen window in West Mersea while the turkey was cooking in the oven. The bird feeders had been topped up and there was soon plenty of action here to keep me distracted from the important job in hand!

Pictured above was one of the resident song thrushes which was feeding on the ground underneath the feeders. It should start singing soon within the next fortnight or so, ready for the new breeding season. They bred successfully here earlier this year in the spring, producing a couple of youngsters.

Always nice to see our regular friend the pied blackbird still visiting the garden, here he was as usual just outside the front door on the drive. Luckily he's a very wary bird and has his wits about him, what with the perils from local predators such as cats and sparrowhawks.

A pair of greenfinches dropped down to feed on the peanuts, as the female was doing here.
Also noted on the peanuts, fat-balls and sunflower seeds were blue tit, long-tailed tit and great tit.

Hopping around the branches and the feeders were a couple of robins, one photographed here through a dirty window. Also noted on the ground were dunnock, jay and collared dove.

The country park enjoyed some sunshine in the middle of Xmas day and these wigeon pictured above happily snoozed in the morning sun on the edge of the grazing fields. About 300 wigeon and 200 teal were noted with little egret and 6 greylag geese also in the fields.

At the park pond 5 tufted duck and 40 shoveler were present along with 12 gadwall and 50 mallard.

After the wet and windy weather of recent days, it was nice to see the sun breaking through the clouds early in the morning on Xmas Day, here across the mud at the country park.
Noted from the Point were 200 golden plover, goldeneye, red-breasted merganser, 2 great crested grebes and a rock pipit, while resting on the mud at Langenhoe Point were 300+ avocets.

On Tuesday 24th at the country park a marsh harrier flew over the Point, 100 bar-tailed godwits flew past to feed on the Mersea Flats, 100 brent geese fed on the nearby mud and a male goldeneye flew upriver.

There was the interesting flock of at least forty blackbirds and two song thrushes feeding alongside the hedge at the back of the park's grazing fields. Two water rails called from near the park pond

This satellite moth was attracted to the lit window at the country park on Tuesday shortly after nightfall. Other than a few winter moths still on the wing, this maybe the last moth of the year for the park.