MERSEA MUNTJAC

A few birds of interest seen at Reeveshall during an evening walk along the seawall on Friday 4th, including a young brood of shelducks pictured above on the pool, being closely guarded by mum from a curious swan. Also present on the pool were 3 black spotted redshanks, 2 green sandpipers, greenshank, 4 redshank, 2 black-tailed godwit and 20 lapwing. However the lapwing soon took off when a female marsh harrier flew overhead.

There was also a great view of a barn owl flying high over the pool an hour and a half before dark, carrying a vole as it flew from Reeveshall, across the Pyefleet to its nest in a small shed on the Langenhoe Ranges on the mainland. The owl was seen several times hunting over the long grass on Reeveshall, providing some very clear and close views. On one occasion the owl was watched crossing back onto the Island and had located and pounced onto a vole within a minute of beginning its hunt. It crossed the Pyefleet again taking the vole back to the nest.

The tide was well out along the Channel and wader numbers are slowly picking up. Sixty black-tailed godwits, 10 curlew, 10 grey plover, 20 redshank and 5 more spotted redshanks were all noted along the middle part of the Channel. Two little terns, 4 common terns and 3 great crested grebes were feeding along the narrow channel of water.

As the light began to fade and the 200 sand martins began to gather, a hobby flashed across the pool and perched on a small tree. It flew rapidly along a ditch and was soon lost to view. Surprisingly this is the first hobby I've seen this summer although there have been two other sightings made by other local birdwatchers in the last week on the Island.
The male marsh harrier was also seen hunting over Reeveshall late in the evening.

Three corn buntings sang from different points along the seawall, whilst beside the Oyster Fishery a yellowhammer sang from a hedgerow tree. In the small dyke also near here were 5 tufted ducks and a little grebe family, whilst over Langenhoe nine pochard were seen flying about.

Two brown hares sprinted off the saltmarsh near the Reeveshall Pool and back over the seawall as I walked along the path.

Earlier in the day at the country park, a couple of nightingales could be heard making their "wheet" and frog-like croaking calls from my back garden. The Bromans Lane turtle dove was also heard singing during the day. Sand martin numbers have increased in recent days with about 100 flying over the fields on Tuesday. A greenshank was heard calling from the mudflats on Wednesday.

There was a reasonable selection of moths in the trap on Thursday morning with around 40 species noted. As the trap hasn't operated for a fortnight, several new moths for the year were seen including this master of twig camouflage pictured above - the buff-tip moth. The main stars as always were the hawkmoths with 4 elephants, 4 poplars and a lime, all resting in the trap. Other moths seen were buff arches, scalloped oak, lunar-spotted pinion, riband wave, treble brown spot, brown-tail, yellow-tail, common footman, willow beauty, brown-line bright-eye and barred straw.

Two of these attractive common emeralds with the green wings were also found in the trap. Pictured below is one of several magpie moths that were seen, this one trying to remain hidden amongst the leaves and twigs on the ground. A couple of small magpies were also seen.

I finally managed to see a muntjac deer on the Island- a rare but not unsurprising sighting considering the increase in reports. This latest sighting was late at night driving along the East Mersea road past the Pick-Your-Own field where the deer was thinking about crossing the road as I approached in the car. The small deer paused momentarily as I slowed down to watch it in the car headlights, before it turned and headed back into the field.

As far as I know, muntjac have not bred on the Island but several individuals must have swum across the Channel to get here. I have heard of at least three muntjac corpses being found washed up by the tide over the last ten years. There have probably been half a dozen sightings in the last five years of muntjac in East Mersea. This year one was reported from Shop Lane and another sighting near the Firs Chase caravan site on the north edge of West Mersea.

On the subject of potential mammal colonists from the mainland, there was a possible sighting by one of the local residents of a mink seen swimming across a dyke near the East Mersea Point. Mink would not be welcome on the Island because of their impact on the local wildlife. The nearest mink have got to reaching the Island so far, was a corpse being found on the West Mersea beach last September.

SKIPPERS BY THE STROOD

Plenty of warmth and sunshine on Monday 30th for a walk along the Strood seawall. Amongst the various butterflies were a couple of large skippers - one pictured above. Lots of meadow browns and small heaths amongst the grass too with small white and large white seen as well.

Enjoying the sunshine in a nearby set-aside field were lots of ruddy darters, resting on the tops of some of the tall plants. Along the borrowdyke were the usual dragonflies with emperors, black-tailed skimmers, azure damselflies and blue-tailed damselflies all on show.

The most notable bird was seen at the start of the walk, a male marsh harrier slowly hunting along the various ditches and dykes inside the seawall. The bird slowly quartered the long grass field too, before heading back over the wheat fields towards the Strood Hill. A second bird was seen in the distance flying low over the Feldy fields on the mainland.

The tide was out along the Strood Channel so lots of mud on show. Scanned the full length of the mud looking for waders and found a greenshank, spotted redshank, 90 redshank, 10 curlew, 4 oystercatchers and 5 lapwing. Amongst the various gulls was one little egret feeding in the channel.

Of interest inside the seawall were 4 singing corn buntings and 3 singing reed buntings, with about 3 reed warblers joining in too. A male yellow wagtail gave out a sort of song from a tall clump of wheat, and also noted were a pair of turtle doves flying off the Island and beyond Ray Island. A sedge warbler was seen also and 50 house sparrows appeared to be feeding on some of the ripening wheat at the south-western end of seawall.

Dittander is a typical coastal plant in flower at the moment, especially along the foot of the Strood seawall. Many areas of the saltmarshes are turning pale purple with the sea lavender coming into flower.

BACK ALONG PYEFLEET

After holidaying on the mainland for the last few days, it was back to business along the Pyefleet Channel on Sunday 29th. It was nice and warm along the Reeveshall seawall with patches of blue sky above. The tide was out but only a few birds of note on the mudflats.

As usual it didn't take long to notice a marsh harrier, with a female crossing the Pyefleet from Langenhoe. As I followed it, I noticed another one flying over the Reeveshall pool, frightening all the gulls and waders away. Two avocets, greenshank, 2 oystercatchers, 4 black-tailed godwits, 6 lapwing and 15 black-headed gulls all flew off. A male marsh harrier was later seen hunting further away over the Maydays fields.

Along the Pyefleet mud, there were 2 very black spotted redshanks amongst 18 redshanks and the only other waders of note were 15 more black-tailed godwits. A little tern hunted along the channel and 4 shoveler dropped onto the water from the nearby Ranges.

There must have been lots of insects high up as there were lots of swifts circling high over the fields with about 300 seen. Swift flocks of any size have been scarce this summer so far. Three sand martins also joined the swifts feeding lower down. Two kestrels were seen and two corn buntings were heard singing.

The pink flowers of the spiny rest harrow pictured above, add some colour to the side of the seawall, which helps you to notice the plant before you unwittingly sit down amongst the grass and feel the sharp spines.

A typical seawall walk in the summer, is always memorable for the numbers of brown butterflies disturbed from the grass as you walk along. The summer breeze kept many low down but there were good numbers of meadow browns, such as this male pictured above, lots of small heaths and a few small skippers. A few dragonflies noted were several common darters, black-tailed skimmer, azure damselfly and lots of blue-tailed damselflies.

Last night at the country park, I stumbled across a group of at least ten pipistrelle bats at dusk emerging out between the weatherboarding of the toilet block, ready for the night-time feeding. I've not seen this number roost in this building before, although I have watched a couple appear from the opposite side, about four summers ago.

AVOCETS RETURN

One or two things of interest at the east end of the Island on Thursday 19th. The field of poppies amongst the mayweed just at the end of the East Mersea road was one eye-catching scene.
The horse paddock next to the Golfhouse also caught the eye with a dense carpet of creeping buttercups across much of the field, pictured below.

On the saltmarsh pools opposite the Golfhouse was a surprising amount of avocets. Fourteen birds is a good count for here and four birds were sitting on nests. The first attempt to nest failed about a month ago and the influx of other birds now, may indicate that they failed somewhere else and are having a second attempt here. Fingers crossed the predators stay away and that the pools don't dry out too quick. The picture below shows 3 or 4 avocets and a couple of shelduck too

Elsewhere on the park today were noted the sparrowhawk, the nightingale calling near the cliff and an increasing number of sand martins with at least 40 nest-holes counted behind the beach.

The breeze kept many insects down although one sheltered corner had large skipper, holly blue, meadow brown and speckled wood. A red admiral was seen near to the flowering cotoneaster in the car park.

The last hour was spent along the Reeveshall seawall along the Pyefleet. I missed the best part of the sunset because a barn owl out hunting Reeveshall distracted me. You can never get enough barn owl watching done, even if there is a pretty sunset to admire!
The Reeveshall marsh harriers were flying about too with both male and females seen over the fields. The cuckoo was also heard here as were at least two singing corn buntings.

On the Pool was one very smart looking spotted redshank, completely black all over except for some fine spotting on the wings. Four other spotted redshanks were also seen but not quite in their full breeding plumage. One greenshank, four green sandpipers and six black-tailed godwits have also come back from their northern breeding grounds. A dozen lapwing may be local birds, while 2 wigeon, 3 teal and 3 pochard have been present all summer.

Along the Pyefleet were 3 more spotted redshank, 40 grey plover, greenshank, 30 black-tailed godwits, 4 turnstone, one dunlin, which all appear to have arrived in the last week. The annual mid-summer pre-roost gathering of sand martins took place over Reeveshall and Langenhoe with about 300 birds flying around.

Driving along Shop Lane at dusk a tawny owl was seen perched on top of a telegraph pole and headed into the wood. A short while later a barn owl swooped over my car on the East Mersea road near the pub.

DAINTY DEMOISELLE

It threatened rain at various times during Wednesday 18th but the wind kept the clouds moving along. The wind whipped up the sea, creating choppy conditions for the one or two boats including the restored fishing smack Pioneer, as they sailed out of the river Colne, photo above.

The most unusual wildlife sighting was a very colourful male banded demoiselle damselfly near the East Mersea Point. The insect was taking refuge from the wind behind the seawall and each time it beat its dainty looking dark-blue banded wings, it got blown back again. It had to make do with sheltering amongst the shrubby sea-blite bushes beside the seawall.

These male banded demoiselles appear to have quite an urge to travel a few miles in search of new waterways as they don't breed anywhere near Mersea Island and yet this is now the third record for the park in the last 8 years. They normally require the moving waters of rivers for egg-laying and the nearest regular colony is along the Roman river about 5 miles to the north of the Island.

Dragonflies seen over a sunny park yesterday included the large emperor, one or two black-tailed skimmers and a female broad-bodied chaser. Although not specifically looking, the only butterfly noted were a couple of meadow browns. One of the notorious Harlequin ladybirds was found for the second week running at the park, so they seem to be well established here.

The moth trap was run through Tuesday night and the haul resulted in about 30 moths of 12 species. Four elephant hawkmoths were the main colourful sight inside the trap. Other moths included the first grey dagger of the season, pictured above, also spectacle, latticed heath, lots of marbled minors and shuttle shaped darts, dark arches, heart and darts and hebrew character.

The white-point moth pictured below displaying the a white dot on each wing, used to be regarded as quite scarce but in recent years it has become more widespread in Essex.


Haven't had much of an opportunity to look for birds in the park in recent days and it has just been the regular residents on show. On the grazing fields a little egret and grey heron were out stalking the ditches, lapwing, tufted duck, reed bunting and three reed warblers were noted.
Over the main park, the kestrel was seen, a few swifts passed over, 20 of the resident sand martins, skylarks singing and meadow pipits calling.

On Tuesday night the little owl perched on top of a roadside pole near Bromans Lane while a brown hare jogged along the road in front of the car at dusk.

Despite several visits by local birders to the Reeveshall pool over the last week, the garganey have not been seen again. Birds of note here have included 5 green sandpipers, 2 spotted redshank and a couple of greenshank as well as 70 black-tailed godwits.

DUCKS AT DUSK

Martin Cock had me scurrying down to the Reeveshall pool for the last hour of daylight on the evening of Wednesday 11th to have a look at a drake garganey. Armed with telescope, it didn't take long to locate the bird but I was pleasantly surprised to find it resting alongside a second drake garganey. Both ducks eventually got in the water to feed and the photo above shows two distant brown lumps (garganey), either side of the swimming gull. Both birds still had the fine white stripe above their eyes and also the long drooping scapular feathers hanging over the side of the grey flanks.

Garganey are one of the rarest breeding wildfowl in Essex and some of these birds are only brief visitors to Mersea in some springs. Most of the few Mersea records over the years have come from Reeveshall but birds never stay around long and breeding has never been confirmed.

There was a nice selection of birds on the pool with 3 wigeon, 2 pochard, 3 teal, 2 gadwall, 2 shelduck, 4 mallard, 6 avocet, 10 redshank, 8 lapwing, green sandpiper and two little egrets. A singing corn bunting was heard from a nearby grass field.

Marsh harriers seemed to be all around both over Reeveshall and over the nearby Langenhoe ranges. Most of the ten birds seen seemed to be adult birds looking very tatty with one count being 8 birds in the air together over Langenhoe well after sundown.

Also on Langenhoe was a barn owl hunting, cuckoo singing, 300 starlings gathering to roost as were 30 sand martins.

Not much seen along the Pyefleet despite the tide ebbing fast. Ten curlew were the only waders waiting for the tide, although avocets kept swopping the mud for the nearby Reeveshall pool.

Martin Cock had watched a hobby on a Reeveshall gate on Tuesday, the first sighting this summer for the island. Michael Thorley counted six avocets back on the saltmarsh pools near East Mersea Point on Tuesday.

Earlier on Wednesday at the park, the nightingale continued to sing by the car park and hawking over the park were some swifts, house martins, swallows and the only park hirundine residents - the 20 or so sand martins.

The noisy great spotted woodpecker chicks are still in their nest hole alongside Bromans Lane but must be ready to leave soon. The pair of little owls were both by the Lane at dusk on Tuesday evening, with one perching over the road on some wires. A couple of birdwatchers who hoped to hear the grasshopper warbler went home disappointed although they heard the Bromans Farm turtle dove singing.

Recent sunny weather has brought out the first common blue butterfly and the first meadow brown of the summer. Speckled woods and small heaths are the only other two regularly encountered at the park at the moment.

The moth trap has been running over the last few nights with several hawkmoths being found, including this lime hawkmoth dressed in its desert camouflage. Like the good haul last Saturday, elephant, poplar and eyed hawks have continued to show although cream spot tigers have petered out. Thirty-four species during Sunday night, 27 during Monday and 24 during Tuesday night.

Other moths have included the shark, light brocade, lychnis, cabbage, light arches and dark arches, buff-tip, green silver lines, pale oak beauty, common white wave and broken barred carpet.

BATTY ABOUT MOTHS

Our familiar friend the long-eared bat, has been leaving signs of its presence at the park during recent nights. For nearly ten years it has regularly rested up in the park's toilet block, munching through one or two moths that it has caught outside. In the morning various moth wings litter the floor under the ceiling light where the bat hangs from in between its foraging forays.

After several late-night trips into the ladies loo in recent weeks, I finally found the little chap as pictured above - its great long ears curling back towards the head.

Saturday 7th was National Moth Night and so the moth trap was switched on at the park under the shelter of a gazebo to keep any rain off the equipment. There had been continuous rain for most of the day but luckily it ceased in the early evening just in time for the moth-trapping. A handful of species arrived within the first hour although the only excitement was a cream-spot tiger. However by dawn at 4am, a great variety of moths had appeared with 40 species found.

The star attractions were four species of hawkmoth pictured above with elephant(top), poplar (top left), privet(bottom right) and eyed(bottom left) all discovered at dawn.

This elephant hawkmoth dropped onto some long grass and stayed motionless with its wings partially open to reveal the pink hindwings. Other moths of note were cream-spot tiger, white-point, shears, archers dart, lychnis, pale oak beauty, green pug, swallow prominent, maidens blush, silver Y, peppered, shoulder striped wainscot, green silver lines and cream bordered green pea.

I was passed this young grass-snake by a lady who had found it dead on the Strood seawall. It was only the size and length of a pencil but showing the distinctive pale yellow collar on the neck.

Sadly another creature found dead on Sunday was this hedgehog by the side of the East Mersea road. This one is showing off its fine set of sharp teeth.

One of the stranger discoveries underneath the Skinner moth trap was the sight of two earthworms happily locked together mating, until I had to take the trap away. The faintest touch of a nearby grass stalk, triggered an immediate de-coupling, with each worm rapidly disappearing down their own holes.

After the soaking on Saturday, Sunday stayed sunny all day. Birds are becoming harder to track down as their song period comes to a close and they busy themselves with raising their young. However the nightingale, lesser whitethroat, whitethroat and skylarks still fill the air with their songs around the car park.
There was the welcome sound at dusk of a nightingale singing by the pond - the first time it has been heard this spring here. The entrance bird was also singing although the cliff-top bird hasn't been heard for over three weeks, although the calls have been heard here.
By the cliff a dozen sand martins were seen flying around while meadow pipits, skylarks and linnets flew out of the long grass in various places.

The main butterflies seen were several small heaths and speckled woods, while several black-tailed skimmer dragonflies were hunting over the grasslands.