COUPLE OF CROSSBILLS

Spent an hour along the Reeveshall seawall on a hot Monday 28th. The tide was out along the Pyefleet Channel so waders were thinly scattered across the mudflats. Fifty black-tailed godwits were seen as well as 5 golden plover but other than a few redshank and oystercatchers, not much else of note here.

A hobby raced along the seawall to snatch a small insect presumably a dragonfly which it proceeded to eat. It then circled slowly round, gaining height until it disappeared as a tiny speck in the sky and was lost to view.

On the Reeveshall pool pictured above, a ruff was of interest, also 5 green sandpipers, 2 redshank, 3 black-tailed godwits and 15 lapwing present.

A female marsh harrier was seen hunting over a nearby field, while on Langenhoe a juvenile harrier was seen catching some prey from an adult male while a fellow juvenile sibling eagerly followed close-by.

Had to disturb some of the local sheep from a footpath, that were enjoying the cool shade under the trees from the heat of the mid-day sun. As I passed through the Shop Lane conifer wood, I recognised the loud chipping calls of a crossbill nearby. The bird flew a short distance but I was unable to see it in flight.

Luckily the bird landed in another section of pine trees and after some careful scanning of the tree-tops, I located a female crossbill perched high up. The distinctive feature of its' cross-bill could be made out, as the bird called repeatedly. Having watched it for only five or so seconds, the bird flew off, being followed by a second bird, they disappeared off to the south-east, calling as they went.

The last crossbills that were seen on the Island were about five years ago when a group of ten were seen in West Mersea. This summer in the last few weeks there have been quite a few sightings of crossbills across Essex, presumably part of an influx from the continent.

SKIPPERS IN THE SUN

The sun shone all day on Saturday 26th at the country park, ideal weather again for many butterflies such as this Small skipper, pictured above. Both the Small skipper and the Essex skipper occur on the Island and both look similar to each other. One of the ways to tell them apart is to check the antennae tips which are orange in the Small but black in the Essex.

These two skippers are commonly found at the park especially during July. They love the grasslands where they lay their eggs but they also feed on any flowers in the area such as thistles, brambles, ragwort and clover.

Other butterflies seen included red admiral, peacock, comma, meadow brown, hedge brown, speckled wood, small white and large white. One or two six-spot burnet moths were also seen.

The path around the north side of the park provides a mix of sunny spots, shady areas and shelter from the breezes. Where the bramble is flowering, many of the butterflies could be found.

Not many birds were noted around the park in the hot conditions although 25 sand martins flew around the cliff, 50 black-tailed godwits were out on the mud, a pair of goldfinches fed on thistles and a stock dove were all noted. A sparrowhawk flew past the car park carrying some prey to the cliff-top so maybe they are nesting near here after all.

Later in the day a group of us were ferried out to Packing Shed Island on Saturday evening for a very worthwhile fundraising function and was able to enjoy the Mersea Quarters as the sun went down. The photo above shows the old oyster pits on the Island in the foreground, looking back towards Coast Road in the background.

The gulls were very noisy with a few herring gulls presumably nesting on the shell and shingle banks. Towards Salcott Creek were lots of the black-headed gulls nesting on Sunken Island. A distant marsh harrier could be seen over Old Hall marshes, while a little egret fed along the water's edge. Several noisy oystercatchers flew past.

Martin Cock visited Reeveshall and saw on the Pool a little ringed plover, greenshank, 8 green sandpipers while a ruff was seen on the nearby mudflats.

Andy Field and Richard Hull visited the nearby Langenhoe MOD ranges and noted wood sandpiper, 10 green sandpipers, 5 common sandpipers, 4 whimbrel, 18 greenshank, Cetti's warbler, 28 little egrets, hobby and 9 marsh harriers.

IDEAL FOR INSECTS

Another warm and sunny day on Friday 25th was ideal weather for many of the insects to be on the wing. This eye-catching dragonfly pictured above with the bright red body is the male ruddy darter. It's quite a common dragonfly along the seawalls - this one was seen resting on top of the Strood seawall.

Some of the ragwort plants have several cinnabar moth caterpillars with the distinctive yellow and black markings, stripping the plants of their leaves. Also on some of the ragwort flowers were half a dozen six-spot burnet moths, with their colourful red and black wings. The other day-flying moth seen was a single silver Y, amongst the long grass.

The late afternoon breeze kept many of the butterflies down but meadow brown, hedge brown, small and Essex skipper, small white, large white and peacock were all seen.

There are lots of clumps of the golden samphire in flower along the seaward slope of the seawalls. The flowers are often popular with some of the regular seawall butterflies.

Not many birds seen along the Strood walk as it was high tide but a little egret, reed bunting, linnet, skylark and meadow pipit were some of the usual birds seen in the area.
A weasel scuttled across the path on the top of the seawall, quickly disappearing into the long grass.

Called into the East Mersea Pick Your Own field where there were several peacock butterflies feeding on some of the flowers.

MOTHING FRENZY

The moths at Cudmore Grove Country Park must've felt very confused on the night of Tuesday 22nd. Eighteen members of the Essex Moth Group descended on the park and like the moths that night, they had a choice of eight moth lamps in a variety of different spots to flutter round.

The weather conditions were perfect for insects to take to the air, as there was no wind, there was also good cloud cover and it was very warm and muggy. It was just as well that some of the very knowledgeable veteran Essex moth enthusiasts such as Don Down, Joe Firmin and Ian Rose were on the scene, as there were many micro-moths that needed identifying.

The visiting moth enthusiasts enjoyed a very rewarding evening, admiring a bumper variety of insects. This has been in stark contrast to a generally disappointing season in the county for moth-trapping, mainly due to the poor weather. Following the departure of everyone at midnight, I kept my two lamps going until dawn at 4.30am, when both traps were inspected and emptied.

This stunning creature was resting inside one of the traps at dawn, the garden tiger moth. At rest this large moth shows only the bold black-brown markings on its forewings but when it's disturbed, it flashes the bright orange hind-wings, marked with blackish-blue spots and tiger stripes. A once common moth throughout the county, numbers have dropped sharply in recent years. This individual is the first record for the park.

One of the largest moths seen was the oak eggar, this female was one of two noted. Other big moths included 2 pine hawkmoths in the first part of the night, while by dawn an elephant hawkmoth and 6 poplar hawks were found in one of the traps.

Also discovered at dawn was this herald moth, pictured above, a widespread moth in the county, although the only previous sighting at the park was one found resting one day inside the park's toilet building a few years ago. This individual wanted to hold its wings at a different angle to most other moths when at rest. On a flat surface it tilted its wings at an angle, whilst in the picture above, it turned to face downwards but holding its wings away from the tree, presumably to appear like some loose bark.

This iron prominent pictured above, is another widespread moth. Close-up it has some wonderful iron-red markings on its wings and also a small tuft along its back, giving the moth its name.

Between the eight traps, around 90 species of the larger macro-moths were identified with a possible 20 species of the micro-moths seen too. One of the more unusual moths seen was the archers dart, a coastal moth which has been found on the park before, but was the first time some of the members had seen one.

Amongst the other moths found were, leopard, reed dagger, pug-V, buff arches, ruby tiger, peppered, oak hook-tip, mouse, bird's wing, pale prominent, pebble prominent, copper underwing, lackey, least carpet, small blood-vein, fen wainscot, lunar-spotted pinion, small scallop and lots of dark arches and dusky sallows.

Amongst the other insects noted were two of the very big and scarce silver diving beetles. Also the bulky dor beetle was found inside one trap, while several summer chafers were attracted in by the lights.

It has been quiet on the bird front recently although a barn owl was seen flying over the East Mersea Road near the pub at dusk on Wednesday. At Maydays Farm on Wednesday Martin Cock saw 3 young marsh harriers flying around over Reeveshall, also greenshank, whimbrel and 10 yellow wagtails. The following day he saw 5 green sandpipers on the Reeveshall pool.

DISTANT SPECKS

There was enough sunshine in between the cloudy periods for Sunday 20th to be a warm summer's day. The beach at the country park, pictured above, was relatively deserted in the morning, before the summer crowds arrived.

The sand martins are still busy using the nesting holes in the cliff with around fifty holes looking as if they've been used. Some birds may be on their second brood, while others could've come to the area late to nest. The local sand martins have been flying low over the park and going back and forwards. For the last week there has been a very noticeable sand martin migration occuring over the park with passage birds flying higher and generally all heading in the same westerly direction.

Opening the park gates the great spotted woodpecker was seen pecking on a high up branch, the local Bromans Lane turtle dove could be heard singing, while flashing overhead was a nice male sparrowhawk that perched briefly in a tall tree.

The sunshine brought out the usual assortment of butterflies such as red admiral, peacock, comma, large white, small white, meadow brown, hedge brown, speckled wood, small skipper and Essex skipper. The first southern hawker dragonfly of the summer was hawking along a section of path, while a black-tailed skimmer was seen amongst the tall grass.

At the end of the day had an enjoyable stroll along the beach and seawall, the picture above showing the sun setting behind the park borrowdyke. It was a challenge to try and identify the distant specks on the mudflats with it being low tide. The last rays of sunshine highlighted the orange chests of the black-tailed godwits with about 200 birds seen, especially along the outer edge of the mud.

Also on the edge of the river there was a distinctive group of 8 avocets feeding with lots of side-ways bill-sweeping. The bright white plumage of 3 little egrets feeding in different spots, was also highlighted by the last rays of the sun. Lots of redshank, oystercatchers, curlew and small groups of dunlin could be seen too.

Beyond the mudflats a flock of 40 common terns were seen feeding at sea on a small shoal of fish, judging by the amount of circling around and diving into the water. Later the terns flew overhead as they headed to roost up the river Colne.

SUNSET SWARM

Spent the last hour of daylight along the Pyefleet seawall at Reeveshall on Saturday 19th. The tide was well out and although there was plenty of mud on show, the light was fading fast.

Feeding amongst a small group of black-tailed godwits was a ruff which was an unexpected find. The main waders along the Channel were redshank, curlew and black-tailed godwits but other waders were rather absent. Only 3 spotted redshank and two whimbrel were of note.

In the Channel 6 great crested grebe were seen and there was still the shelduck family with four ducklings. One or two common terns and little terns were hunting along the Pyefleet.

On the Reeveshall pool were 4 green sandpipers, 12 lapwing and a grey heron but little else.

The main bird activity over the Reeveshall fields were the large numbers of sand martins and swifts. Birds were swooping low along the seawall, hawking back and forwards across the Pyefleet and flying around the fields, sometimes high up sometimes low down. It was difficult to estimate how many there were but it seemed like there were a few hundred sand martins.

However a good half hour after the sun set, the martins flocked together into a vast swarm high above the Reeveshall reedbed. The flock had become more cohesive and twisted and turned like a column of smoke blowing in the wind. It seemed like there was now a couple of thousand sand martins gathered in this roost flock. After a few minutes of circling around, the birds soon dropped quickly down into the reedbed of Broad Fleet, where they would spend the night.
Earlier in the day there had been a noticeable sand martin passage occuring over the park around mid-day with about 200 birds flying west during a fifteen minute spell.

Also at Reeveshall two male marsh harriers left the Island after sunset, crossing over to Langenhoe. Just before I left the area, the regular barn owl was seen hunting over the big grass fields of Reeveshall.

A brown hare sprinting away over a grass field, was one of two seen during the evening.

The moth trap was switched on for Saturday night and a few moths were found the next morning inlcuding this close-up picture above of the common drinker moth. Several of these have been found on recent mothing sessions and is a very noticeable moth when it comes crashing into the trap. Drinkers soon settle down and fold their wings high up over their body like a tent, as in the picture below.
The weather conditions weren't ideal with a cool north-west breeze, clear sky and a bright moon shining all conspired to keep the moths away. About 90 moths of 19 species seemed a low tally for mid July. Moths found included buff-tip, magpie, brown-line bright-eye, common footman, scalloped oak, dark arches, light arches, buff ermine and common emerald.

The distinctive brown band on this female lackey moth, caught the eye as the moth lay resting near the trap.

One of the commonest moth at the moment is the dusky sallow, one pictured above. Around 20 were found inside and around the trap by early morning.

BAGGING RAGWORT

Have spent a couple of sessions over the last couple of days in the park grazing fields removing all the ragwort plants. The bright yellow flowers make the plants easy to spot although getting a hold of some of them by hand proved tricky amongst all the thistles.

The weather has been overcast but reasonably warm so many butterflies were flying around the flowering thistles especially the hundreds of meadow browns at their peak at the moment.
Several meadow pipits and skylarks were seen with a few goldfinches and linnets too.

Various birds were taking a short-cut over the fields as they flew between the Colne and the mudflats especially just after high tide. Fifty curlew many in heavy moult, 25 redshank and 20 black-tailed godwits flew overhead, while 8 common terns flew north over the fields.
On Thursday 17th at low tide there were around 200 black-tailed godwits on the mud in the evening, some very close in and others on the far outer edge of the mudflats.

The central ditch in the fields still has plenty of water in it this summer although not much waterfowl using it. The pair of swans were present but there was no sign of any cygnets. Amongst the reeds fringing this ditch and the dyke were at least six pairs of reed warblers, some of them singing. A little egret stalked one of the muddy pools in the field.

In the park on Friday the sparrowhawk flew over, two adders were under the tin sheet as usual and a small copper butterfly was seen.

Spent some time in the hide by the pond on Thursday evening where there was a great sight of 300 sand martins and 200 swifts circling over the fields. There had been a steady flow during the day of swifts flying over the Colne and heading west over the park.

On the pond a female tufted duck was keeping a close eye on her young brood of four dark brown ducklings. The little grebes were also looking after their two small hungry chicks. Twenty mallard here and also the first teal of the autumn.

As dusk approached a fox was seen crossing the fields and when the light was nearly gone a badger made a brief appearance. No owls were heard during Thursday evening but a tawny owl was seen perching alongside Bromans Lane at dusk on Wednesday evening and nearby the little owls could be heard calling.