STOOD RED KITE

A red kite spent a bit of time flying around one of the Strood fields on Tuesday 16th. It provided some good views for once and even landed - all of the previous red kite sightings on the Island have all been flyovers.

The red kite flew over a recently cut hay crop and dropped down twice onto some kind of carrion, before being chased off by a local crow. On a third attempt the red kite landed in the field between the rows of hay and spent a few minutes plucking at what might have been a dead moorhen or maybe an oystercatcher.

The red kite then circled over the fields and seawall before drifting west over Ray Island and to Feldy Marshes.
The male marsh harrier was seen hunting over the fields as usual, also a common buzzard and a kestrel. Four common terns were in the Strood channel, while two yellow wagtails, three reed warblers and a singing lesser whitethroat were noted from the seawall.

A Sandwich tern was heard calling by Ian Black near Cobmarsh Island on Tuesday.

The family of stonechats was feeding close to the childrens playground at Coopers Beach on Monday 15th. Three recently fledged youngsters were seen - one pictured above with the streaky head and shoulders, while the female was seen carrying nesting material to start a second brood.

Two of the streaky stonechat youngsters seen here, seemed very independent and able to find food for themselves, although the male did have a break from singing to feed two of the young.

Also at Coopers Beach were three singing reed buntings, a singing reed warbler, eight linnets, cuckoo, Mediterranean gull, five little egrets and a buzzard.

A walk along the beach at Fen Farm on Monday 15th revealed this neatly arranged set of bones of some big old type of cow. The bones appeared to have been covered in mud and had been laid out to dry on the beach. Most of the thin bones are ribs but a femur and other bones were seen. A couple of years ago an old cow's skull was uncovered on the beach in front of the Cosways caravan site, while a bison skeleton was found in the nearby mud about ten years ago.

Birds noted in the Fen Farm area on Monday included a pair of yellow wagtails in the wheat field, Mediterranean gull, five little egrets and six sand martins hunting over the mud. There was no sign of any ringed plovers on the beach.

At Maydays Farm on Monday Martin Cock reported a new sedge warbler singing making it the sixth around the ditches and dyke this spring - also several young sedge warblers seen. The cuckoo, lesser whitethroat, whitethroat, three singing yellowhammers, corn bunting, two buzzards, reed warblers "all over the place" and a yellow wagtail seen.
A large skipper was on the wing and plenty of meadow brown butterflies.

Four common terns flew over Ian Black's house in Mersea Avenue on Monday.

A red squirrel visited the Passfield's Yorick Avenue garden on Monday 15th - both pictures by Phil Passfield.

The red squirrel has started revisiting the feeder in the Passfield's cherry tree, now that the great spotted woodpeckers have finished nesting there. The female great spotted woodpecker made an appearance on the tree after an absence of a fortnight or so.

This female red squirrel with the shiny dark coat and tail was a new visitor to the feeder in the Firs Chase garden in the afternoon of Monday 15th.

Earlier on Monday 15th, this male red squirrel with dark ear tufts was a new visitor to the Firs Chase garden feeder. Lately there have been regular visits by a male with no ear tufts and a scruffy tail.

A strikingly patterned scallop shell moth was the highlight of the mothing evening in the Firs Chase garden on Monday 15th. This is the first record for the island - elsewhere in Essex it appears to have become much scarcer in recent years.
Two pine hawkmoths and three elephant hawkmoths were also of interest that night.

Steve Entwistle took this picture of the poppies in the field near Cross Lane on Monday 15th.