USHER OF SPRING

Chilly but sunny on Wednesday 30th with visibility very good. The yellow flowers of gorse have been the only splash of colour around the country park over the last few weeks. A cluster of bushes are teetering on the edge of the cliff, so it is great to enjoy their colours at the moment, before the sea undermines the sandy cliff below them sometime in the near future.

The moth trap hasn't been put outside this year yet as the weather has been either too wet, too windy or too cold. However this fresh dotted border with its rich brown colours, was fluttering on the outside of the sitting room window, attracted by the lights inside the room. It's quite a common moth so I should see a lot more in the coming month.

It must have been a good evening for moths as this spring usher pictured below, was found resting on the side of the building during the day. Last year there were a handful that came to the trap in the middle of February, so hopefully there will be more of them to admire in the coming weeks. Finding this spring usher on a sunny day is an early sign that spring is just round the corner.

The main bird highlight on the park were some snow buntings on the beach at the Point with six present again for the second day. A couple of birdwatchers had seen a bigger flock totalling 20 birds on the beach in late morning but the 14 other birds had flown off by mid-day and were not seen again. This is certainly the largest group of snow buntings to have been reported on Mersea this winter.

The only thing of interest in the river Colne was a common seal swimming powerfully up-river. It had a very dark colouration and as it regularly came up for air as it swam along, it had me thinking it was a porpoise to begin with.

The tide was coming back in and by mid-day, there were big flocks of dunlin swarming back up the river. The incoming tide also forced about 200 knot closer to the shore.

The sunny weather meant you could see from the Point, at least three marsh harriers flying around Langenhoe Point. The bright markings of the male stood out in the sunshine even at a distance of over a mile away.

On the grazing fields, the usual 500+ wigeon were feeding in various parts, especially where there were pools of standing water in the old winding creeks. Fifty black-tailed godwits, 20 redshank, 30 golden plover, 50 lapwing and 25 curlew were the main waders present. A little egret was huddled up behind a hedge, enjoying the sun out of the cold wind.

Also enjoying the winter sun was a fox having his afternoon nap in his regular spot by the pond. The familiar ducks of recent days were still present with tufted duck, shoveler, gadwall and mallard being the main ones seen.

On Tuesday a brightly marked male sparrowhawk with its orange chest and slate-grey upperparts flashed low in front of the hide. After that threat had passed, ten long-tailed tits fed out in the open in front of the hide, perching on weed stalks as they looked for food.

There was a good count of grebes on Tuesday offshore from the neighbouring caravan sites with 300 great crested grebes and 3 Slavonian grebes seen. On Monday Michael Thorley had a red-throated diver in the river Colne and he also reported a brambling in his East Mersea garden. A couple of brambling have also been seen in a garden near the Dabchicks area at West Mersea.

The black redstart was seen at the Wellhouse Green development again on Monday by Richard Brown and has also been seen yesterday and again today by Alastair Cock.

Graham Ekins made his weekly visit to West Mersea on Sunday and saw 10,000 gulls, mainly black-headed gulls feeding on the sprats offshore. There was a distant view of a possible arctic skua amongst the gulls. Also seen were 14 shag by Bradwell, 2 kittiwake, Med. gull, 190 cormorant and 17 red-breasted mergansers. Over Old Hall were 2000 golden plover, peregrine and 2 marsh harriers.

On the nearby Langenhoehall marshes, 6 short-eared owls, barn owl, marsh harrier and 11 pink-foot geese flying south-west, were also seen on Sunday by Graham.

CHANGE OF SCENE

For a change of scene, gave the seawalls a miss today and had a walk on Monday 28th along a footpath in the middle of East Mersea, near Meeting Lane. There is an interesting mixture of arable and grazing fields, copses and hedgerows here, providing an undisturbed variety of habitats for farmland birds. Over the years there have been one or two interesting sightings in this area but it sadly gets often overlooked as somewhere for a walk.

I was interested in seeing if there was any large flock of fieldfares and redwings. There were quite a lot of fieldfares seen but in scattered groups either perched on distant tree-tops, or passing overhead, totalling about 100 birds. No redwings but a couple of song thrushes and several blackbirds.

There have been lots of wood pigeons feeding on the rape fields with one flock of at least 1000 in one field. In another field there was a surprisingly large mixed feeding flock of meadow pipits and pied wagtails that took to the air with about 70 birds seen, most being meadow pipits.


There was a good view of the female sparrowhawk appearing out of a copse, flying with its typical powerful wing-beats as it headed over neighbouring fields and hedgerows. A few finches were seen in small numbers along the route with greenfinch, goldfinch and chaffinch all noted. A great spotted woodpecker drummed on one tree at one end of the walk and a second bird was noted at the other end.
(Earlier in the day two male great spotted woodpeckers obviously had spring on their mind in West Mersea as one drummed in Firs Chase, answering the drumming coming from another male near Victory Road).

Scanning the Reeveshall marshes to the north, two female marsh harriers were following each other as they appeared to head over to Langenhoe. The bright white of a little egret was seen flying along the seawall. Grazing one of the Reeveshall grass fields were 600 brent geese, that were happily feeding quietly until something spooked them and they all rose up calling out loudly together.

The highlight of the walk was coming face to face with a fox. Having spotted one trotting towards me on the opposite side of the hedge, it then crossed the ditch only ten metres in front of me and was ready to appear on my side. It stopped dead in its tracks as it paused for a couple of seconds to stare at me and then decided to detour round, trotting along the ditch alongside me. My faithful Monty sadly missed the excitement unfold right under his eyes but at least I was spared his loud and very excitable yapping!

Along one of the rape field-margins were a couple of brown rats feeding out in the open, much to the bemusement of some moorhens.

Richard Brown reported seeing the black redstart again today at the Wellhouse Green development at West Mersea. Despite several people looking it could not be found yesterday, but it's obviously back today, along with all the diggers, trucks and workers!

REEVESHALL RAMBLE

Had to call into Maydays Farm on the north side of the Island on Sunday 27th, after which I stretched the legs along the length of the Reeveshall seawall. I walked along the side of the Pyefleet Channel, where I was able to watch the small flock of twite feeding on the saltmarsh. The rather poor picture above is of one of the skulking twite as it emerged briefly into view.

You can just about make out the yellow bill and the cinnamon colour on the throat in the photo. The eleven birds spent most of their time quietly working their way amongst the old glasswort plants, pecking at the seeds on the stalks. One of the birds was seen with a shocking pink coloured ring on its left leg, part of the twite ringing project in the English Peninnes. Occasionally the flock would fly off and appear to head to a nearby pool for a drink, before settling back down on the saltmarsh again.

I was pleasantly surprised to find myself stumbling across three snow buntings feeding on the side of the seawall path. As I walked slowly along, the buntings kept making short flights just ahead of me, until they decided it was easier staying put on the saltings, allowing me to pass them by.

A pair of green sandpipers flew along one of the ditches and later on there was another sighting, which may have been a third individual. Three stonechats were seen on the Maydays section with the usual pair seen near Shop Lane and a distant pair seen across the Pyefleet Channel on Langenhoe.

It seemed like there were two male nicely marked marsh harriers flying around the Reeveshall and Langenhoe areas. Not as many views of female or young birds today with only a couple seen, including a good view of a female hunting over Maydays. I was rewarded with two views of the ringtail hen harrier, the first one distant as it hunted over Langenhoehall marshes. The second view was much closer as it crossed the track in front of me near Maydays Farm as it headed east over Reeveshall.

Several kestrels were seen, with three at Maydays perched close to some of the set-aside fields. There were also three seen on Langenhoe, along with a sparrowhawk hunting low amongst the bushes.

No birds of note along the Pyefleet despite plenty of mud on show early in the walk. The usual waders of redshank, grey plover, curlew, oystercatcher, flock of 200 knot and also about 500 dunlin were seen. Along the water's edge were 200 wigeon and 100 teal with 4 red-breasted mergansers also along the Pyefleet.

Scanning the Maydays saltmarsh whilst following a group of 25 linnets, I noticed the large brown shapes of two common seals lounging on the marsh for the high tide period.


As I drove away from the Maydays Farm, I noticed this group of corn buntings perched on a bush near some set-aside. This group were part of about 30 birds seen flying around the fields.
Ten stock doves were seen feeding in one field near here and one brown hare lay close to the ground in the same field.
Over by the Reeveshall farm there were about 500 wood pigeons seen rise into the air but these were outnumbered by about 1500 starlings in the same area.

BUILDING SITE BIRDING

This is Adrian Kettle's close-up photo of the black redstart that was watched by several local birders on 26th Saturday on the edge of the new housing estate being built at West Mersea. This little unassuming brown bird blended in well with all the big mounds of earth. However a closer look at its orange tail, makes it no little dull brown bird.

We have sharp eyed Alistair Cock to thank for recognising the bird hopping around the building site, while he was driving his truck about during the week. It turns out the bird had been present for several days before the news got out and was confirmed.
Black redstarts are quite scarce on the Island with maybe one sighting every three or four years here.

Not the most attractive of habitats for birds but this black redstart was happy using all sorts of look-out perches such as clods of earth, stacks of pallets and steel fencing - as in the picture above. The bird would flash its orange tail as it swooped down to pick an insect or grub off the ground. It would return back up to vantage point and give the tail a quick quiver.

Whilst I was on the new land of Wellhouse Green soon to be sports pitches, I took the opportunity to have a quick walk over the site. A brand new hedge has been planted all round the edge and I was able to walk along the grass strip round the perimeter of the sports field which is soon to be earmarked as a public path.

The rough grassland was providing feeding for about 30 linnets, which flew around every few minutes before they dropped back down to search out more weed seeds. In the newly sown grassland for one of the sports pitches, a small group of 9 skylarks were happily feeding. It will be interesting to see what wildlife uses this big field in the coming months and years, having been a big arable field for many previous years.


One of the colourful winter sights in East Mersea at this time of year, is the colourful display of winter aconites and snowdrops at the East Mersea church. It feels like spring is just round the corner when these flowers are in full bloom.

In a field near the church beside the East Mersea road, was a big flock of 100 redwing and 300 fieldfares. In the bright sunshine, the colourful markings of these thrushes really stood out, as they hopped across the field. There were also 12 stock doves and a couple of song thrushes here too.

HANGING AND QUARTERING

Masses of geese came raining out of the sky when I walked along the Strood seawall on Friday 25th. On a rather windy day, it was just the thousand brent geese and myself in the area - well nearly just us.

I laid down on the side of the seawall and enjoyed slowly scanning with my binoculars back and forwards through the flock. I then noticed some of the geese sticking their heads up, indicating that they were anxious about something. I scanned around and slowly flying along the edge of the field above the reeds in the dyke, was a marsh harrier, edging its way closer towards me.

I stayed lying low hoping it would pass along the dyke in front of me only 25 metres away. The strong wind allowed it to hang in the air as it quartered the reeds and rushes just below it. It probably got as close as about 50 metres when it hovered and then dropped suddenly down. A couple of big flaps of the big brown wings and it was airborne again and nearly continued towards me, when it veered sharply away. It must have seen me, as it turned and flew right over the brent geese.

As it passed over the flock it dropped an object from its talons which must have been a water vole. Dropping an object onto the geese was rather like a bomber shedding a bomb onto the various targets below. Needless to say, all the geese quickly took to the air, causing a bit of chaos and it took me a while to relocate the harrier.

The marsh harrier slowly flapped its way low over the far wheat fields , before returning back to the same dyke but just further along. It quartered the reedbed for a few minutes, passing just above the height of the reeds, before rising high and crossing the Strood Channel, heading west to Feldy Marshes.

Most of the geese returned to the field after the harrier had passed, while others headed to the water in the Strood Channel. The tide was well up and the last of the mud was nearly covered over. Along the edges were small numbers of lapwing, redshank, dunlin, curlew, turnstone, teal and wigeon. One single little egret was all hunched up against the saltmarsh bank, trying to shelter from the fresh wind. Around forty shelduck bobbed around in the choppy waters.

Close to the Dabchicks area, were about 6 dabchicks, a handful of bar-tailed godwits and one black-tailed godwit. Hovering beside a fishing boat were up to 150 big gulls hoping to pick up some fish scraps being thrown overboard. The gulls were mainly herring with a few great black-backed gulls circling round too.

Small birds seen along the seawall walk were rock pipit, meadow pipit, couple of reed buntings, five linnet and five greenfinches.

Two Slavonian grebes were reported today from just east of the boat moorings at West Mersea.

THE WETTER, THE BETTER

Recent rains have left large pools of water in the fields. A walk to the East Mersea Point for the last hour of daylight on Thursday 24th, confirmed that the wetter the fields, the better it is for ducks and waders. There seemed to be birds wherever there was a bit of water.

As always the noisy 600+ wigeon seemed to enjoy their bit of "whistling whilst nibbling". The continuous calling from the wigeon was the main sound coming from the fields, bringing the whole area to life. In smaller groups were 70 teal close to the marshy areas as were a few mallard, while in the central ditch were 10 shoveler.

A long white neck of a little egret was sticking out from the clumps of rushes as it stalked the back of the fields. Seventy black-tailed godwits and 50 curlew were probing for worms in the waterlogged soil, in various scattered groups but few other waders here.

At the park pond the usual mix of ducks with 12 gadwall, 24 shoveler and 12 tufted duck were the main ones of interest.
As dusk approached, wood pigeons gathered in the copse behind for the night and there was also the loud child-like squealing noise of two foxes squabbling nearby.

The walk to the Point was again rewarded with a surprise view of eight snow buntings feeding on the beach. I didn't know they were here and I nearly stepped on them. I hadn't spotted them until they took to the air, flying a short distance before landing back down to feed along the strandline. Like little mice, they scurried along the beach, very well camouflaged in the fading light. The birds took to the air again, flashing the white patches in the wings and then landing back down, where I left them to feed undisturbed.


On the mud near the Point was a nice group of 100 ringed plovers busy feeding on the recently uncovered mud. In their usual spot was the large roost of 1500 golden plover with a few knot and bar-tailed godwits and redshank.

In the river Colne there were a masses of gulls mainly common and black-headed gulls, feeding and flying low over the water. They appear to be attracted to the masses of sprats in the river. Apparently fishermen at West Mersea have been reporting some huge catches with nets struggling to haul them in.
A pair of red-breasted mergansers flew rapidly out of the river to feed, as dusk approached.

Earlier in the day a male sparrowhawk swooped low over the car park as it headed north. A song thrush appeared in my back garden, which was nice to see. One has been singing recently near the park entrance when I open the park-gates in the mornings.

Richard Hull reported seeing the great northern diver on Tuesday 22nd near the entrance into the West Mersea quarters. He also enjoyed seeing a peregrine the same day at the Strood whilst waiting in the bus, for the high tide to drop down.

HIGH SOCIETY

Welcomed members on Sunday 20th, of the Colchester Natural History Society to East Mersea for their annual winter visit. Following all the unsettled weather of recent days, it was nice that the rain held off for our walk round the seawall.

First stop along the walk was at the park pond where gadwall, tufted duck, mallard, shoveler, little grebe, coot, moorhen and mute swan were all admired. Gazing out to sea at high tide produced very little except a handful of great crested grebes to the west and a small number of turnstones flying past.

There was the usual variety of hundreds of waders and wildfowl on the grazing fields, providing plenty to look at. The numerous wigeon were also the most musical as they whistled loudly to each other. There were good views of lots of teal too and a handful of shoveler and shelduck as well.

One of the little egrets took to the air and was joined by a second bird, as they flew across the fields. At the back of the fields a female kestrel was watched as it perched on a tree, while behind it, hurtling fast and low over the fields was a sparrowhawk

We were able to enjoy watching a selection of waders arriving onto the newly uncovered mud near the Point, photo above. As always there were lots of dunlin and a few redshank and ringed plover too, while one or two bar-tailed godwits and grey plover were also arriving. Whizzing low across the Point were up to ten sanderling amongst various groups of turnstones. Flying out of the river were the sleek profiles of a few red-breasted mergansers.

Progress along the wall near the Oyster Fishery building pictured above, had to be halted while we all admired the bright yellow colours of a male yellowhammer sitting in a bush - one of the colourful highlights of the walk. Other birds of interest noted around some of the fields were 3 stonechats, fieldfare, 5 pied wagtails, 2 stock doves, reed bunting and one or two meadow pipits and skylarks.

As with the local RSPB group that visited a fortnight ago, we headed to the sheltered section of Reeveshall seawall to have our sandwiches. After Monty had checked we had no more scraps left, we were on the verge of heading home when a fleeting glimpse of some small finches was seen. We turned to track them down and whether they were the small group of goldfinches I had seen a short while earlier, I don't know.

However a short walk onto the very squelchy saltmarsh, proved to be the right decision as 11 twite rose into the air, circling round in their distinctive bounding flight. They soon settled back down out of sight and although the birds were typical little brown jobs in the poor light, it justified the long walk to our lunchtime stop.

Four marsh harriers including a well-marked male, were watched flying around the reedbeds at the end of Langenhoe Point. There was little else of note along the Pyefleet other than the wigeon, teal, shelduck and the usual waders. The main group of dark-bellied brent geese were grazing a grass field at the eastern end of Reeveshall. In amongst these 600 geese was one with whiter flanks, which was the pale-bellied race of brent geese.

One or two wader species caught the eye with 1000 lapwing and 2000 golden plover rising into the air above Langenhoe. There were good views of up to 70 bar-tailed godwits along the muddy sides to the Pyefleet with one or two black-tailed for comparison. The only knot seen were a group of about 50 feeding on the mud back near the Point.

As always, it was a rewarding walk with great views of the typical wintering waders and wildfowl.