Monday 6 June 2016

STROOD TERNS

Several terns have been fishing along the Strood Channel during recent high tides. Pictured is a common tern which spent five minutes flying up and down a section of the dyke inside the seawall on Saturday 4th.

Several times the common tern dived down into the dyke after small fish. The tern headed back to the Strood where it continued hawking up and down the channel. Five common terns and three little terns were seen late morning along the Strood.

Also noted on Saturday was a calling cuckoo on Feldy, yellow wagtail, two grey herons, a pair of Mediterranean gulls, five male reed buntings in one rape field, dabchick in the dyke and a displaying meadow pipit on the saltmarsh.

In the Firs Chase area a sparrowhawk flew over the houses, the pied blackbird was feeding on a driveway, ten swifts and two house martins were overhead.


The saltmarsh in front of the Firs Chase caravan site has patches of thrift in flower at the moment.

Birds noted along the Strood seawall on Friday 3rd included 10 common terns, 5 little terns, pair of Mediterranean gulls, great crested grebe, 2 little egrets, pochard, six oystercatcher, 2 redshank, 4 male reed buntings, 3 reed warblers, 2 yellow wagtails, 20 linnets, ten swifts and a meadow pipit.

On Friday evening at the West Mersea Glebe, a hobby flew past, 15 house martins around Wellhouse Green, 10 swifts overhead and a cuckoo calling from Dawes Lane.

Seven clusters of these nationally scarce ground lackey moth caterpillars were found on the saltmarsh in front of the Firs Chase caravan site. Each cluster containing about a hundred caterpillars. The adult moth flight period is during July to August.

Butterflies numbers seem to be low after the recent cold spell with only a couple of small whites and a large white being seen along the seawall on Saturday.

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