The pied blackbird in Firs Chase posed briefly for this photo, taken through a venetian blind. This male blacky has been present since last autumn and shows a striking white head and rump.
The recent sunny days have seen a few chiffchaffs at the park with one heard calling from the park pond today Thursday 22nd. There were two birds calling from here yesterday with a third one seen in the car park. The first chiffchaff heard was on Tuesday when was was singing near the Golfhouse. Martin Cock noted a wheatear on the Reeveshall seawall on Tuesday.
A Mediterranean gull called from the mudflats today and two were seen circling over the car park on Tuesday. A little owl sat up calling at dusk by the car park today while on Tuesday afternoon a common buzzard flew west over the car park. There was the rare rasping sound of a grey partridge calling from the field to the west of the park on Saturday 17th at dusk.
Today there were 14 tufted ducks and 4 pochard on the park pond while on the fields 25+ snipe and 10 pied wagtails caught the eye.
Butterflies noted have been a couple of peacocks in the car park on Tuesday and a small white just to the north of the park.
The moth trap had a better catch than expected considering the clear skies on Wednesday night and a very heavy dew by Thursday morning. This clouded drab pictured above was one of fifty moths noted along with red chestnut, common quaker, hebrew character and oak beauty.
A dozen of these small quaker moths were seen in the trap, a better than average catch here for March.
