END OF YEAR FLOCKS

The large and noisy brent geese flock made their presence known to the visitors to the country park and adjacent fields in East Mersea on Monday 31st. I was looking forward to having a close look at the geese grazing in the park's grazing fields but as I slowly approached along a nearby path, a carrion crow spotted something and its concerned calls spooked the whole goose flock. Over a thousand geese rose into the air calling loudly as they disappeared off into the distance.

After lots of flying round East Mersea, the geese settled down in fields near the Oyster Fishery, which is where the photo above was taken from the seawall. There appeared to be about 1200 geese present and a scan through this flock of the dark-bellied race of geese, revealed one pale-bellied brent goose.

I could see there were good numbers of wigeon in the fields too, so I looked forward to having a close look at them. However before I got anywhere near them, something else spooked them into the air and within a few seconds, hundreds of birds were fleeing in all sorts of directions. Some birds flew away from the fields but most appeared to return.

After twenty minutes or so, the wigeon were back onto the grass and I was able to count nearly 600 birds which is the most for this winter here. Also in the fields were 100 teal, 2 snipe and a stonechat.

The sun came out for a short while in the early afternoon and the calm water of the borrow-dyke emphasised the deep blue colour of the sky above.

Despite the calm river Colne, there was little of interest except for 15 red-breasted mergansers and a common seal. On the mudflats 50 avocets were seen on Langenhoe Point along with 1000 golden plover and 500 lapwing. A female marsh harrier sat on a bush on Langenhoe.

Usual waders close to the Point with 10 bar-tailed godwits and 20 black-tailed godwits, 2000 dunlin and 100 knot being the birds that caught the eye amongst the regular 12 wader species seen.

On the park pond 14 shoveler, 5 tufted duck, 12 gadwall, 40 mallard were the main ducks on show.

Andy Field noted a huge flock of golden plover with 2500 birds seen near the Strood. Meanwhile Glyn Evans had a very productive visit to the old grazing marshes just opposite the Island at Langenhoehall Marshes. He was treated to views of 2 short-eared owls, ringtail hen harrier, 3 marsh harriers, female merlin, barn owl, 2 green sandpipers, pair of stonechats and 3 corn buntings.

THE TWITE TWITCH

A very productive walk along the Pyefleet seawall on Sunday 30th with part of the walk being joined by Martin, Ann, Lyn - and some furry friends who weren't as keen at staring at mudflats!
Viewing conditions weren't as sunny as yesterday but at least there was no wind and as the tide was well out, there were plenty of waders around.

The first bird of the walk was a water rail flying across the dyke letting out a squeal as it landed(Steve Entwhistle told me that he also saw this bird later in the day).
At the eastern end of the Pyefleet 25 avocet were seen on Langenhoe Point, 12 red-breasted mergansers, 4 goldeneye and a pair of pintail. All along the edges of the Channel were good numbers of ducks with 1000 wigeon, 500 teal and 300 shelduck.

More waders arrived into the Pyefleet as the tide slowly came in during the course of the walk. The full scale of the birds in the area was appreciated late on when something spooked everything into the air at the eastern end of Langenhoe. Huge flocks rose into the air with 1000 lapwing, 2000 golden plover and 300 black-tailed godwits. Many of the regular waders headed up channel, joining up with existing birds bringing rough numbers to: 2000 dunlin, 400 knot 200 redshank, 150 grey plover, 50 oystercatcher.


This common seal was one of two seen along the Pyefleet. It spent all morning lounging on the mud on the far side, occasionally hauling itself round to lie in the opposite direction. The other seal was seen swimming towards us with its eyes staring at us from just above the water line.
While on the mammals, a fox was seen standing on the Langenhoe seawall and one brown hare crouched low in a Reeveshall grass field.

Wherever you looked, there was a marsh harrier to be seen both on Mersea and on the nearby Langenhoe Marshes. At one point eight birds were counted in a quick scan of Langenhoe and the final tally for the day was at least ten.
Whilst standing at this viewpoint at the seawall corner of Maydays pictured below, I was able to see a ringtail hen harrier on a field on Langenhoe. This is the first one this winter that I've finally caught up with. Twenty years ago the local wintering harrier scene was very different with marsh harriers very scarce but up to a dozen hen harriers roosting on Langenhoe.

I spent a bit of time scanning the distant Langenhoehall Marshes for short-eared owls without any luck. Four marsh harriers and the same hen harrier as earlier, four green woodpeckers perched up and a small flock of fieldfares could be seen.
Received news after my walk from Hugh Owen on Langenhoehall Marshes, that he didn't see the short-eared owls until 3.45pm when one was flushed by a marsh harrier. A further three short-eared owls appeared around 4 o'clock.


One of the birds that I was hoping to catch up with on the walk was the twite - making this a sort of twite twitch!They weren't on the Reeveshall saltings of recent days, so maybe they had moved to the Maydays saltings - a mile to the west. No sooner had I arrived at this point pictured above, when I found a dozen small finches feeding on some saltmarsh plants. They flew off to feed further away but I managed to get the telescope on them, to confirm them as twite, seeing their distinctive cinnamon throats and yellow bills. They soon disappeared from the area but this group may've returned to the Reeveshall saltings as I flushed a small finch flock off and later Steve Entwhistle also saw what he thought were the twite here.

A very unexpected find along the seaward side of the seawall were a pair of snow buntings. These could be the same birds seen at the park last month. Scanning the seawall on the north side of the Pyefleet, a tiny flash of blue beside a sluice outfall turned out to be a kingfisher.
Seven stonechats were seen in several locations close to the seawall, while at least 3 green sandpipers were noted flying out of various ditches.


The muddy creeks and channels of the Maydays saltmarsh were popular feeding grounds for several little egrets, some very nervous and noisy redshank, a couple of rock pipits and a flock of 25 linnets.

The view to Maydays Farm looking along a strip of game cover between some thick bushes. This area was teeming with small birds such as finches, buntings and thrushes. Just before I reached this spot on the seawall, there was the bittersweet moment of seeing all the birds suddenly scatter and disappear from view - but then there was an excellent view of a peregrine that was checking out the birds before I did.

The peregrine banked sharply away and flew over the fields, picking up speed as it reached some tall trees. It lunged at a small bird which was probably a fieldfare, catching it with the talons and then proceeded to pluck it as it flew along. Feathers could be seen dropping down and after a minute or so, the peregrine appeared to discard it, as it then carried on flying normally onto West Mersea.

The small birds slowly returned to the game crop and bushes with rough counts for this site and adjacent fields being - 100 fieldfare, 10 redwing, 2 song thrush, 20 blackbird, 50 chaffinch, 20 linnet, 30 corn bunting, 20 reed bunting, 5 yellowhammer and 10 greenfinch.

Flying over set-aside fields were a couple of sparrowhawks tussling with each other. It may have been one of these birds an hour later that crossed high over the Pyefleet. Two kestrels were also seen on the walk, bringing the raptor tally to a noteworthy five species for the day.
At the end of the walk, a duet was heard between two little owls as they called to each other near ShopLane.

Nick Green reported that he had seen from West Mersea 2 great northern divers, 3 red-throated divers, Slavonian grebe, common scoter, 2 eider and 5 shags.

HARRIER HARASSMENT

Last hour of daylight was spent on the Reeveshall seawall on Saturday 29th. There was no mud on show along the Pyefleet as the walk coincided with high tide, pictured above.

What was really handy were all the marsh harriers flying over the marshes and saltings of Reeveshall, also along the Pyefleet but mainly over Langenhoe Point, disturbing all the other birds wherever they went. The main concentration of marsh harriers was just at sunset when six female / immature birds circled and tussled with each other above the reedbed of Langenhoe Point. Not quite sure what the collective term for harriers is but a "harassment" of harriers sounds very suitable. The harrier tally for the afternoon was probably about eight birds.

One of the early harriers to cross over the reedbed flushed out about 50 shelduck into the air. On Reeveshall a female crossed over a field where 1000 golden plover and 500 lapwing had been roosting. Up they all went with big flocks dispersing over to the nearby Pewit Island in the Pyefleet Channel. A little while later, a second harrier over Reeveshall was pursued by some carrion crows which was eventually forced to drop the small prey item it was carrying. In this case the harrier was being harried!

There was only a brief view of a single male marsh harrier quartering the reedbed at the back of Reeveshall, before it disappeared over some fields. Another female harrier was seen leaving Reeveshall for the evening roost on Langenhoe and on its way, it just happened to pass over Pewit Island where lots of waders and wildfowl were gathered.

The golden plover and lapwing made up the bulk of the birds but small flocks of dunlin, redshank, oystercatcher, wigeon and teal, all rose into the air as the harrier passed by.
There were several small groups of wigeon and teal scattered along the Pyefleet during the high tide.

The Reeveshall pool was deserted although a dunlin and redshank were seen checking the area out. No sign of any twite on the nearby saltmarsh and the only small birds noted were 3 skylarks, one rock pipit and a reed bunting.

Walking through the Shop Lane wood at the end of the walk, a sparrowhawk swooped swiftly into the cover of the trees as the light began to fade.

HARD CIRCUIT

Breezy but bright on Friday 28th for a brief visit to the Hard at West Mersea. The main concentration of birds was on the Packing Shed Island, pictured above, where 1500 golden plovers stood along the muddy edge. This little muddy island appears to have become a favoured roosting site for them this winter.

Despite scanning of the channels there was little of interest seen, other than the usual scattering of about 12 dabchicks amongst the various boat moorings. Along the channel fringes were groups of brent geese and one or two shelduck.

Most of the regular Hard wader species were noted without too much difficulty, feeding on mud at various points adjacent to the Coast Road. Waders seen included curlew, oystercatcher, redshank, bar-tailed godwit, black-tailed godwit, dunlin, grey plover, ringed plover and turnstone.
Roosting on the mud at the southern tip of Ray Island were 200 lapwing.

From the path alongside the Firs Chase caravan site, 500 brent geese could be seen further along the side of the Strood Channel feeding in a wheat field. A dozen curlew were seen feeding in the field at the top of the slope near the houses, whilst 3 meadow pipits dropped down to feed in the long grass of Feldy View field.

WINTER WALK

It was grey and overcast at the country park on Thursday 27th, a change from the bright sunshine of yesterday. One corner of the park in recent days that has been favoured by various thrushes has been alongside this path pictured above. The regular group of a dozen blackbirds were joined by five fieldfares and two song thrushes, who have been looking for food amongst the thick leaf litter.

At the park pond there appeared to have been an influx of shoveler with 25 birds present with the white patches on the males, making them stand out on the dull day. Three tufted duck were also present amongst the regular mallard, teal and gadwall.

In the grazing fields there was the regular flock of 200 wigeon feeding on the grass with a dozen black-tailed godwits for company.
On the mudflats near the Point 25 avocets were noted, some snoozing in a small group while others continued to feed along the water's edge as the tide came in. In the river Colne 12 red-breasted mergansers were either involved in a bit of diving for food or displaying to each other.

On Langenhoe Point a mass of waders were gathering for the high tide roost with 1000 lapwings being the most numerous.

Along the seawall near Ivy Farm dock were a pair of yellowhammers, the regular pair of stonechats, while over the saltmarsh flew 8 skylarks and 2 rock pipits.

BOXING DAY

Ideal weather for a box-ing day walk along the Strood seawall, walking off the excesses of the previous day. At the start of the walk a sparrowhawk swooped around the bushes near the Firs Chase caravan site, flushing out ten fieldfares and a few blackbirds in the process.

Most of the mud was already covered by the incoming tide so there weren't many waders on show. The regular large flock of golden plover could be seen squeezed onto the last patch of mud near the Strood causeway with at least 1000 birds present.
Small numbers of both black-tailed godwits and bar-tailed godwits were seen with the bar-tails looking very washed out in the bright sunshine.

Along the edge of the Channel were scattered groups of brent geese feeding as well as a few wigeon too.

Feeding amongst the various weeds on the side of the seawall were 20 linnets, while 10 greenfinches were seen feeding on the clubrush seedheads in the dyke. Two corn buntings crossed onto the Island from the Feldy Marshes direction and two rock pipits were seen flying about.


This part of Coast Road by the Hard was inaccessible at the peak of the high tide. Just as well the weather conditions were calm today! There was little birdlife amongst the boat moorings other than the regular dozen or so dabchicks. One male goldeneye could be seen at the back of one of the channels and I was informed later by Andy Field that the great northern diver was present near the floating pontoon.

It was still calm at East Mersea in mid afternoon, as seen with this yacht at Ivy Farm dock. A water rail was heard squealing from one of the ditches near the seawall here.

The section of borrow-dyke near the Golfhouse reflected the blue sky onto the calm water, except when for the couple of dabchicks busily diving under and then coming back up again.

Not the clearest of pictures but it's the closest I could get to a clump of wild mistletoe sprouting up a poplar tree near the Golfhouse. Several white berries can be seen in this clump - and it wasn't surprising to see a hungry looking mistle thrush perching in the neighbouring tree, watching over this clump and another one nearby. Mistle thrushes are credited with helping this parasitic plant spread from tree to tree because they love eating the white berries.
At the top of the lane another mistle thrush was noisily trying to ward off starlings and other birds from a variegated holly bush that was laden with bright red berries.

Hugh Owen reported that he had fantastic views of the short-eared owls again on the Langenhoehall marshes with 6 flying about or resting on fenceposts in the middle of the afternoon. He also saw a hen harrier and 3 marsh harriers yesterday over the same marshes.

BUILDING AN APPETITE

Managed to fit in a morning walk to East Mersea Point to help build up an appetite for the lunch on Tuesday 25th before the rain set in. There was still an area of mud not covered by the incoming tide where there was a large concentration of waders. The picture above shows some of the golden plovers flying around . Twenty avocets caught the eye as they stood along the edge of the water. Ten sanderling were seen along the beach at the Point and a couple of red-breasted mergansers in the river Colne.

Having just savoured the spectacle of masses of birds on the mud, the whole lot suddenly went flying off in panic with lots of anxious calling. The only clue as to the cause of the mass disturbance was given by a carrion crow which had pursued a small raptor. There was a split-second glimpse of what may've been a sparrowhawk diving into the thick cover of the sea-blite bushes at the Point, clutching a small bird. The crow gave up the mobbing once the raptor had dived into the cover and it appeared to stay down for some time after, presumably enjoying its hard earned Xmas lunch.

In the grazing fields the usual flock of 150 wigeon and 10 black-tailed godwits were feeding close to one of the flooded creeks. There were a few more wigeon at the rear of the fields and also a small group out at sea. Twenty goldfinches were also seen on the fields as the drizzle started to set in for the day.