MORE BEAUTIES

Bright blue skies on Thursday 2nd during the mid-morning. Ideal for butterflies and this painted lady was one of three seen around the country park. There was a good showing of a dozen painted ladies in one day earlier this spring, so these ones today are probably the offspring. The painted lady is not just an eye-catching butterfly when seen from above but has wonderful markings below too.

Two purple hairstreaks flitted around high up in some oak trees whilst down below commas, red admiral, peacock, speckled wood, meadow brown, small white, large white and hedge brown were some of the other butterflies seen.

The bird highlights were centred near the park pond where there was an interesting display of birds of prey in the space of ten minutes. First a sparrowhawk passed over the pond being harassed by some swallows, then the crows tried to chase off a female marsh harrier that was minding its own business flying leisurely over the long grass fields. A little while later I could see all the sand martins gather together but it took some time to locate their anxiety - a hobby. The bird climbed higher and higher above the pond and even reached out to snatch a dragonfly at 300- 400 feet up. As it disappeared to a tiny speck in the sky a second hobby drifted into view and headed high east over the grazing fields.

Two yellow wagtails flew over the park, a turtle dove purred beside the car park while the young sparrowhawks continue to call loudly from their nesting area.

Spot the moth above resting on the side of the tree. This is a rather worn Tree-lichen Beauty whose colours are just recognisable. The head has lost its colour and the pale area closest to the head has lost much of its original pale green colour. The same moth is shown below.

This small moth is a rare migrant to Essex from the continent in the summer and it is only really since 1991 that the moth has become a regular visitor to the shores of Britain. This was one of 40 species of moth found in the moth trap on Thursday morning.

The colourful ruby tiger was one of the more interesting moths, showing off his red front-legs in the picture below.

The starwort below is listed as a nationally scarce species found mainly around the English coast and a few inland sites too. It was recorded here at the park last year, so it's good to see the small population still flourishing here.


Other moths seen included the large oak eggar, poplar hawkmoth, rosy minor, setaceous hebrew character, feathered ranunculus, oak hook-tip, chocolate-tip, purple bar, lime-speck pug, chinese character, rosy rustic, early thorn and grey dagger.

Three of these large and striking carrion beetles or sexton beetles were attracted to the moth trap too. Their loud buzzing sound when they fly sounds like a hornet or a menacing wasp. One came into the house recently one evening and you are certainly aware of it as it crashes into lights and furniture.

KITCHEN BAT

Back to Mersea after a short break and straight into the wildlife watching at all hours of the day and night. There was a wonderfully bright moonlight casting its beam across the seas onto the beach beside the park at 1am on Wednesday 1st. The full moon really brightened up the place and the only sound at that time of the night - other than a passing common sandpiper, was the sound of the waves gently breaking onto the beach.

I wasn't alone that night as the park has several small pipistrelle bats hunting along hedges and bushes.
However I was a bit surprised to find this little pip. hunting up and down my kitchen at dusk! I know I have occasional problems with flies and mosqitoes in the house but I didn't think that the problem was so bad that even the local bats were drawn to the inside of the house to look for food! I don't know how the bat got in and it flew several times up and down the kitchen trying to find a way out. After getting its breath back on my carpet(photo below), I opened a French door and the bat headed calmly outside and into the night.

The moth trap was run in the park again and only about 25 species trapped of which the delicate maidens blush moth was the most interesting. This fairly common moth has a smudge of pink on its wings, as in the photo below, which liken it to the colour of someone's blushing cheeks.

Other moths of note included a poplar hawk, drinker, magpie, lesser swallow prominent, coxcomb prominent, latticed heath, common rustic and mouse moth.

The moth trap was run through the night and I noticed in the morning that the regular long eared bat was out hunting last night as he spat out the wings of dusky sallow (one pictured above) and poplar grey moths, leaving them scattered on the park's ladies toilet floor.
There was no bright sunshine at dawn but at 5am there was a cool blanket of mist hanging over many parts of the park and neighbouring fields. There has been no dawn chorus now for almost a month as most families have finished raising families. However the young sparrowhawks could be heard calling out to their parents at dawn and the sand martins were out hunting over the park early. The now resident yellowhammer sang briefly to an empty park and the quiet calls and croaks of the nightingale could be heard in the car park.


In the evening a walk along the north side of the Island near Reeveshall was a quiet way to end the day. The area was nearly deserted except for a tractor cutting one of the grass fields for hay as in the picture above. Enjoying the recently cut grass were a few curlews and a black-tailed godwit probing for worms.
On the Reeveshall pool a little egret stalked the shallows and three green sandpipers stayed almost hidden along one edge.

The still conditions made it easy to hear all the sounds the birds were making even some distance away. Two spotted redshank, greenshank, common sandpiper, two avocet, two red knot, twenty grey plover, ten dunlin, twenty lapwing were some of the interesting waders noted on the opposite side of the Pyefleet Channel.
Only two marsh harriers were seen hunting over the Langenhoe ranges, while in the Channel, three great crested grebes and a brood of three young shelducklings were noted.


Bright evening clouds reflected off a saltmarsh pool along the Pyefleet. As the sun set, the regular roost of swallows and sand martins seemed to number about 500 birds this evening. The birds swooped back and forwards along the Pyefleet, some passing just a few metres from me on the seawall at times.

As I drove along Shop Lane a tawny owl flew away from the top of a telegraph post and headed into the old Manwood Grove.

DRAGONS AND DAMSELS

Tuesday 24th was a day to dry out and the insects like this small red-eyed damselfly, were out enjoying the sunshine. The best place to look for them was in the shelter of bushes and trees that were out of the fresh breeze.

Small red-eyed damselflies have become part of the park's wildlife in recent years. In fact it is hard to believe that prior to 1999, there was no population at all in Britain, until its first discovery in this country just opposite Mersea Island on the Dengie. Since those early arrivals from the continent, this dainty and delicate damselfly has become well established in many areas across southern England.

The normal place to see them at the park is out in the middle of the watercourses, like ponds, wide ditches and borrow-dykes, especially if there is some floating algae for the males to rest on.
The park dyke this year is lacking in algae and other floating vegetation, so there may not be the large numbers that there were three or four years ago.
Today the damselflies were having a stint away from the water and about ten were seen basking in the sun on some bushes, sheltered from the wind.

Here the male and female are paired up whilst mating and during the pairing, they fly around in tandem. This group won't have far to fly to the water to lay their eggs, as they were only about 30 metres away from the park pond.

Also out enjoying the sunshine were lots of migrant hawkers with about twelve seen in various corners of the park. They were regularly hawking along paths or behind bushes sheltered from the wind. Every so often they would take a break and rest in a bush hanging down from a branch.
This male black-tailed skimmer with its blue abdomen was busy hunting small flies over the long grass.
The sunshine brought out the usual butterflies with this female meadow brown basking in the morning sunshine. Many of the meadow browns are already looking very tatty with chunks missing from their wings. There was a brief glimpse of a purple hairstreak high up in the oaks.

The bird highlight was a hobby at the pond that put on a fabulous display of how to hunt dragonflies. I felt like I was at Wimbledon watching the tennis as I found myself repeatedly turning my head from one side to another, as the bird made numerous passes over the water. It was probably my best hobby show and certainly the first dragonfly-hunting to have happened here.

The bird appeared to be a sub-adult as it lacked the bright red trousers of the adult and the dark grey upperparts. It was generally a dark brown bird above with a distinctive white face and with a pale forehead. It was very agile at swooping low over the water and several times it snatched at a dragonfly with its talons, then rose back up into the air to pick at the insect in its feet with its beak. The swoops were carried out at break-neck speed which seemed to terrify the ducks and the ducklings and even the little egret perched in the tree seemed rather alarmed too.
After about 5 minutes of continual swooping and passing over the pond, the hobby headed east and high over the fields.

At dusk, the nightingale by the park entrance called out quietly whilst above it the first of many pipistrelle bats were already out hunting along the hedgerows. Several were seen above and along the East Mersea road as the light faded.
Also in the fading light a barn owl flew over the road near Weir Farm, heading northwards.

THE PAIN OF RAIN

The juicy rowan berries in the car park of Cudmore Grove were being weighed down a bit in the early evening of Monday 23rd by lots of rain. Nothing of the scale that has inundated the west country in recent days. It may have been a wet summer here but water levels in the ditches have been falling rapidly in recent weeks.

Several rowan trees have been planted over the years around the park and the juicy berries are a real magnet for the birds during August. Several blackbirds have already started to gather beside the trees in the car park and soon the local mistle thrushes and starlings will join in the feast.

Luckily the soil in the park is sandy and free draining, so this waterlogged path was clear of water by the following morning. In fact all the large puddles in the car park had dried up by the following mid morning.

Whilst walking along this path beside the cliff-top, I heard the distinctive screeching sounds of swifts. I gazed skywards and saw a flock of about 100 birds wheeling round, screeching to each other about 200-300 feet up. I couldn't make out what direction the birds were heading but they seemed to let the wind carry them out to sea. There they drifted in the miserable conditions eastwards over the water to Point Clear. The earlier wheeling and circling by the flock above me might've been the birds plucking up courage before heading out to sea.

In the dull late evening light two of the young sparrowhawks could be seen perching beside the nest. They looked rather bedraggled as they sat still as the rain kept pouring down.

The only bright object at the park pond was the pure white outline of a little egret perched up in the weeping willow. It was all hunched up whilst surveying all the duck activity below. None of the ducks seemed bothered by the rain and the brood of tiny ruddy ducklings continued to perfect their synchronised diving as they went under for food.

Not much to see insect wise although this hedge brown was holding on tight to this grass stem. Elsewhere an Essex skipper rested on a yarrow flower and a meadow brown flew off a bush.

The very sad sight of a young rabbit is on its very last legs as it hopped along in the cold and the rain, thanks to the nasty myxomatosis virus. This virus strikes back every summer here and knocks the rabbit population for six. Rabbits are dropping dead all over the park and many of the dogs think that Xmas has come early when they realise that they can actually catch them for a change. Most years the population is knocked back by a third by late summer so the quicker it passes by, the better for everybody.

The local press came to photograph the avocet chicks for a short item in the Colchester Evening Gazette. The paper obviously agrees that these first ever Mersea avocet chicks is a bit of history. Three of the adults were present on the pool with one adult crouching over a chick to keep it warm, while two other chicks endured the cool weather themselves.

Andy Field visited Reeveshall earlier in the afternoon and saw 2 spotted redshank and 5 green sandpipiers on the pool.

ENJOYING THE SUN

Plenty of blue sky on Sunday 22nd was more than was forecast, as shown in the picture of a sea hogs fennel plant. This is a nationally rare plant that only occurs naturally in a small corner of north-east Essex and in north Kent. As part of a county biodiversity project to encourage a wider population, over 200 plants were planted earlier this year here on the park amongst the long grass and the success rate is almost 98%.

The flowering stalks have shot up on many of the plants to over a metre high in the last month and some flowers are still being swarmed over by little orange coloured soldier beetles feeding on the pollen.

The warm sunshine brought out all the usual insects to hunt and feed such as this red admiral butterfly sucking up nectar from this bramble flower with its long straw-like proboscis.
Other butterflies seen included peacock, comma, meadow brown, hedge brown, speckled wood, large white, small white and small and Essex skippers.
Several large emperor dragonflies were hawking insects over the long grass as was black-tailed skimmer while ruddy darters patrolled along paths.

The sun shone on the sand martin colony in the morning and many of the birds seemed to enjoy clinging onto the cliff-face to soak up some rays of sun. The beach started off peaceful for them but the crowds of people soon flocked to the beach in the afternoon, so the sand martins have learnt to spend a bit of time elsewhere.
Over a hundred hunted over the nearby grazing fields and many took to washing on the wing, flying low along the borrowdyke, the birds would dip themselves onto the water and then carry on flying. The split-second dip of the chest into the water would be the closest they get to a proper bath but it was enough of an eyecatching event, that even other passers-by were stopping to watch the strange behaviour.

Soaking up the sun on top of the cliff is this straggly low clump of everlasting pea. Its big showy pink flowers have been a familiar summer sight along the cliff-top here in recent years - almost everlasting in fact.

Common centaury can be found flourishing on the bare sandy soil along the base of the sandy cliff. It used to be widespread in the park twenty years ago amongst the poor grassland. Maybe the grasslands have become too thick and established with lots more scrub in recent years. The delicate pink flowers always stand out on the summer days.

MORE ALIENS

Living on an island is no barrier to foreign invaders and these alien harlequin ladybirds have been noted in large numbers in recent days by Michael Thorley in his garden alongside the East Mersea road. They are slightly larger than our common seven-spot ladybird and have a variety of colour combinations.

The harlequin is also known as the multi-coloured Asian ladybird as it is native to Asia and first arrived in the UK in 2004 in Essex. It is described as "the most invasive ladybird in the world." The first one on the Island was found nearly two years ago in the garden near the East Mersea church by Trevor Hearn.

A distant shot with my small compact camera of the avocet family near the East Mersea Point showing a chick on the right with two adults just left of centre. Checking the pools on Saturday morning, revealed three young from one pair and a single from the other. The little chicks fed continuously, sweeping their little up-turned bills from side to side as they waded through the shallow waters. The parents every so often would rise up in the air with lots of loud calling as they escorted gulls away from the airspace over the pools.

A common sandpiper flew low along the dyke and out onto the mudflats, while a bar-tailed godwit flew overhead as it changed feeding grounds. Reed warblers, linnets and meadow pipits were noted too along the seawall.

In the grassland strip between the dyke and the seawall are lots of pink clumps of the spiny rest harrow. A widespread plant especially around the Essex coast, it possess lots of sharp spines amongst the pretty pink pea flowers. Growing beside clumps of yellow slender birdsfoot trefoil provided a colourful contrast.

I wasn't expecting to see this drinker moth during the day, clutching onto a dead clover flower beside the path. If it could stay still for only another twelve hours, it will survive another day. It is quite a common large moth in the summer here and the large caterpillars are often seen too.
A six spot burnet moth was also seen flying past with a blur of its rapidly beating red wings.

The cloud and breeze restricted many of the butterflies to sheltered spots but peacocks, red admiral, meadow brown, hedge brown, skipper sps, speckled wood, small white and large white were all noted. Only ruddy darter and black-tailed skimmer and blue tailed damselfly were the only dragonflies noted.

HAWKS AND LEOPARDS

The end to another day at East Mersea on Wed 18th with yet more exciting news on the breeding bird front to report. Local birdwatchers Martin Cock, Andy Field and Steve Entwhistle have enjoyed recent views of a pair of bearded tits amongst reeds in the dyke at Maydays Farm on the north side of the Island. A female and the male were seen flying into a dense stand of reeds, which seems to indicate that they maybe feeding young here.
It is almost 20 years ago since they last bred here following some severe winters in the late 1980's. There has been a small population on the nearby Langenhoe Marshes for the last ten years, so it has only been a matter of time that they wuld return here.

Andy was also able to report that the family of marsh harriers on Reeveshall appear to have at least three young, compared with just two young that I saw briefly last weekend.
The two pairs of avocets continue to look after their young chicks on the saltmarsh pools near East Mersea Point. Although each pair nested on separate pools, they have now all teamed up, presumably to use their collective resources to protect their four tiny youngsters.

On the mudflats at low tide, up to fifty black-tailed godwits many with ginger bellies, twenty dunlin in the distance and five little egrets stalking the mudflat rills and pools.

On the park pond a young grey heron was seen being chased off by a female mallard who was desperately trying to protect her one and only small duckling - successfully this time. Mallard numbers seem to have increased a little as the ducks go into moult with thirty noted. Also the young broods of ruddy duck and tufted duck continue to thrive.

Other birds on the park of note include the young sparrowhawks still at the nest, up to 40 sand martin holes now in the cliff by the beach, a male yellowhammer sort of singing near the hide and the occasional brief call of the nightingale in the car park.

Forty species of moth were noted at the trap on Thursday morning with these three big hawkmoths the main attraction. These are the three P's - pine hawk (left) and privet hawk above with the poplar hawk below. It was just as well that I scanned the short grass at 4.30am around the trap as the privet and poplar were resting motionless nearly ten yards from the trap, while a second pine hawk was only discovered when I went to carry the trap away.

This strikingly marked moth with lots of black spots is the suitably named leopard moth. Only one was seen last summer so this might be the only record this year here. The first ruby tiger of the summer was also seen and hopefully not the only one for the year.

Other moths noted included 3 drinkers, common emerald, 30 latticed heaths, 10 scalloped oaks, shark, dun-bar, lesser swallow prominent, 2 silver Y and buff ermine.

Two peppered moths turned up at the trap but each one showing different colour forms - the pale one and the black one. The pale form is the commonest one here at the park and if we have recorded peppered on about a dozen nights over the last two months, all have been pale ones.