GARGANEY TWITCH!

Great excitement at Cudmore Grove Country Park on Monday 30th when a pair of garganey was found on the park pond in the morning. A number of birders/ twitchers, mostly local, came along during the day to admire and photograph this rare visitor to the island. Andy Field took this photo mid afternoon of the pair when the male wasn't actually asleep. Both birds spent most of the day asleep, maybe they'd just had an exhausting migration north and needed a good rest here.

This is the first island record of garganey since Shaun Bater found a pair on the park pond on 14th April 2022. Prior to that was 2013 on the grazing fields in October.

Mark Thomson took these three photos of the male garganey awake.

Another picture by Mark mid afternoon.

Picture by Mark.

Steve Entwistle took this picture in the morning of the garganey swimming about.

Michael Thorley managed to photograph the male garganey flapping its wings.

My photo of the sleeping male garganey in the early Monday evening with the female resting nearby too. They did jump into the water when a bossy coot barged past but soon returned back to sleep. The male was heard calling the distinctive croaking rattle on several occasions.

Also on the park pond that evening were pair of tufted ducks, pair of gadwall, male pochard and a water rail heard calling. A little owl was heard calling to the north of the pond, and a chiffchaff was singing. On the grazing fields were 8 lapwing, ten wigeon, 15 teal, 3 shelduck, 5 greylag geese, 2 Canada geese, black-tailed godwit, pair of kestrels in the box and also a buzzard flying over the field at the back.

On the nearby mud were a bar-tailed godwit, 20 golden plover, 3 pairs of Mediterranean gulls and an avocet, while 8 great crested grebes were at the mouth of the Colne.

On Monday morning along the Strood seawall, birds noted included buzzard, two pairs of Mediterranean gulls, great crested grebe, stonechat and ten linnets. A chiffchaff and song thrush were by the Firs caravan park and chiffchaff was singing in Firs Chase.

A female Hairy-footed Flower Bee feeding at a red deadnettle along the Strood seawall on Monday. Surprisingly this species has not been reported from the island before, although there are lots of mainland records nearby.

A song thrush hopped onto the field beside Feldy View on Sunday 29th. Two chiffchaffs and a goldcrest were noted in the area with a third chiffchaff singing in Firs Chase. A sparrowhawk perched in a tree over The Lane. A buzzard, great crested grebe, 20 brent geese and two shelduck were the birds of interest seen during a brief visit to the seawall.

A flock of 200 golden plover was resting in a field at Maydays farm on a windy Saturday 28th, with some of the birds developing their black bellies of summer. Twelve lapwings were in the Reeveshall fields, two Cetti's warblers singing and a yellowhammer near the dyke. Three marsh harriers, four buzzards and a red kite were the birds of prey seen during the seawall walk.

Thirty redshank were feeding along the Maydays creek on Saturday. Five great crested grebes were feeding in the Pyefleet channel.

A common lizard was keeping out of the cold northerly wind on top of the Maydays seawall on Saturday. A common seal was resting on the Pyefleet saltmarsh during the high tide period.

Peter Marchington photographed this male kestrel on Friday 27th along the West Mersea beach near Shears Court. The bird turns up here from time to time on quiet days.

 

Another kestrel photo taken by Peter.

The kestrel on the ground, taken by Peter.

On Friday Rob Lee reported a chiffchaff in his garden at Barrow Hill, while Martin Cock reported five brown hares together at Maydays on Friday morning.

A pair of Mediterranean gulls was courting with lots of distinctive calling, along the Strood channel on Thursday 26th.

Three pairs of Mediterranean gulls in total were seen and heard calling as they flew along the Strood channel. The adults have the very white wings, almost translucent in the bright light.

Along the channel on Thursday at low tide were 30 wigeon, 15 shelduck, 8 teal, two great crested grebes and 11 black-tailed godwits.

A female reed bunting perched on a bush by the Strood seawall on Thursday. In the sunshine two pairs of buzzard on passage flew north high over Firs Chase and Feldy View, while two local buzzards circled over the fields calling. A stonechat, ten linnets, 30 jackdaws and two chiffchaffs were noted on the walk too. A sparrowhawk and two blackcaps were in the Firs Chase garden.

Michael Thorley photographed this knot on the mud near the East Mersea Point on Thursday.

Andy Field walked the Cudmore Grove circuit on Thursday and reported a blackcap, three chiffchaffs, goldcrest, three pochard on the borrowdyke, ten lapwings on the grazing fields, two greylag geese, 300 brent geese and two pairs of ringed plovers at Stone Point.

A male stonechat was feeding alongside the female down below the Strood seawall out of the strong wind that was blowing from the north-west on Wednesday 25th. Other birds seen battling in the wind were two marsh harriers, buzzard, 30 brent geese, 20 wigeon, eight teal, 3 greylag geese and a flock in the weedy fields of 20 linnets and four corn buntings.

A pair of avocets dropped into the Strood channel to feed on Tuesday 24th. The commonest wader seen that day were 150 redshank with just the one black-tailed godwit seen. One Canada goose flew past, a buzzard, two stonechats and a meadow pipit were also noted.  Five redwings briefly landed in Feldy View before flying off to the caravan site. A sparrowhawk and two blackcaps were in the Firs Chase garden.

Andy Field's trail camera captured three hedgehogs at their feeder, although there was a lot of argy-bargy going on between them during the night of Monday 23rd.

Stealing the hedgehog food the next night was this badger captured by Andy's trail-cam in his High Street North garden during the night of Tuesday 24th.