LONE SEAL FOR COMPANY

I thought I was alone on the north side of the Island along the Pyefleet Channel on Sunday 28th - until this grey seal stuck its head up to look at me with a side-ways glance. I was pleasantly surprised to see it was a grey seal and not one of the common seals that are usually seen here.

It stared at me as I sat on the seawall corner beside the Maydays creek, only about 25 metres away from it.

The grey seal swam into the creek as the tide was coming in and seemed to be waiting for me to disappear before it hauled itself onto the nearby saltmarsh to rest, so I soon left it alone.

The two white-fronted geese, pictured at the front, were feeding at the back of Reeveshall, still present here over the last fortnight. They had been feeding with about fifty greylag geese and four Canada geese. Then the big flock of 3000 brent geese decided to join them in the same field, including the pale leucistic brent and a pale-bellied brent goose too.

Also seen on Reeveshall were two marsh harriers, 40 coot while 4 red-breasted mergansers were in the Pyefleet. On Maydays 100 linnet, 25 chaffinch, yellowhammer, 2 little egret and a common buzzard.

On the north side of the Pyefleet Channel on Sunday morning, Andy Field and Richard Hull were checking the Langenhoe marshes and noted 4 marsh harriers, stonechat and a kingfisher with a short-eared owl seen on Langenhoehall marshes.

Offshore from West Mersea three great northern divers, guillemot flying past and a couple of Slavonian grebes were seen by Steve Entwistle.

Amongst the big flock of brent geese feeding on Reeveshall on Saturday 27th was this very pale brent goose, a leucistic colour phase. It was very easy to pick out among all the black and grey coloured geese. The pale-bellied brent goose was also present too.

The flock of 3000 brent geese got very worried when a blue balloon, on the right of this picture, blew across the field. At the back of Reeveshall the two white-fronted geese were with 20 greylags and 4 Canada geese. Also 100 golden plover, 2 marsh harriers, 3 common buzzards, sparrowhawk and two little egrets seen over and around Reeveshall.

On the saltmarsh 200 redshank were feeding, with 1000 dunlin on the mud, while on the Pyefleet were four red-breasted mergansers and a great crested grebe.
At least a couple of siskins could be heard calling from Fishponds Wood in Shop Lane.

At the Youth Camp on Saturday, a little owl, 10+ lesser redpolls, 25+ siskins were seen by Steve along with a few redwings and fieldfares while a male pochard was seen at the country park pond and 4 red-legged partridge by Bromans Lane later in the day.

The common buzzard was seen near Bocking Hall by Steve on Saturday and also a kingfisher by the Strood.
Three corn buntings perched on wires by Chapmans Lane in the morning.