DIVING DUCKLINGS

There were still four broods of diving ducklings along the borrowdyke at the country park on Sunday 8th. This tufted duck had six ducklings while another female had seven ducklings.

Two broods of pochard were along the park dyke with one of seven and the other of eight.
Also that Sunday two sand martins were flying over the park fields with 30 swallows. A Mediterranean gull and two little egrets were seen too.

The previous day a male marsh harrier was hunting over the fields by Shop Lane, also 2 sparrowhawks and a mistle thrush flew over Bromans Lane.

On Monday 9th four little egrets roosted during high tide at the park pond and a reed warbler sang from the reeds. Four sand martins flew over the park fields with a few swallows on Tuesday 10th and five little egrets were at the park pond.

At Reeveshall in the early evening of Tuesday 10th, a pair of lapwing was on the pool although no sign of any young, also a black-tailed godwit, grey heron and little egret. A big mixed flock of 500+ rooks and jackdaws were feeding on the Reeveshall fields. Fourteen little egrets and 3 common terns were along the Pyefleet and a marsh harrier was on Langenhoe. A muntjac deer was by Fishponds Wood.

Andy Field visited the Reeveshall seawall on Monday 9th and saw the very small lapwing chick on the pool, also an adult avocet with two recently fledged young, also 20 black-tailed godwits, 2 common terns in the Pyefleet, 41 little egrets on Pewit Island, 2 marsh harriers, corn bunting on Reeveshall and also 3 yellowhammers. Two red squirrels were seen by Andy in Shop Lane, one by the wood and the other on the lane.

A hobby flew over the park heading west early on Wednesday 11th.

The purple hairstreaks continued to show well at the park in the early evenings with twenty seen on Sunday 8th in various places, while twenty were seen fluttering around the oaks in the park corner with the pillbox on Thursday 12th.

A red squirrel was seen by John Feaveryear visiting a feeder at Coopers Beach on Sunday 8th.

Another of John's photos of the red squirrel at Coopers.
A red squirrel was seen in Bromans Lane on Wednesday 11th by Annie Gordon.

The hot weather has brought jellyfish into the Mersea waters and this compass jellyfish is often seen each year, photo by John Feaveryear, along with the commoner moon jellyfish.

Over 500 macro-moths of 60 species were at the moth trap by dawn on Monday 9th at the country park. The prettiest was this large emerald, a moth that only occasionally gets seen here.

The orange moth was another colourful moth, the second one of the season here.

Other moths of interest were festoon, peach blossom, white-spotted pug, elephant hawkmoth, poplar hawkmoth, ruby tiger, silver-Y and beautiful hook-tip.

A female stag beetle was found by Maisie Cock and photographed by Megan Cock on the 16th June in lower Kingsland Road near the telephone exchange. It has been several years since I've heard of a stag beetle in West Mersea. The little colony must still be surviving somewhere in the middle of the village.