BATHING BRENT

There were more brent geese on the park fields on a sunny Saturday 28th with several of them enjoying a bathe and a drink. The morning started off with lots of sunshine although there was a chilly breeze blowing from the north.


There were 1000 brent geese grazing the park fields and then they moved onto the nearby field at Ivy Farm, pictured above.

At the Point it was a nice surprise to see 22 snow buntings fly onto the beach during the morning as they hadn't been seen here for over two weeks. The birds were very flighty and never seemed very settled, only spending a minute or so on the ground before flying off and landing further along. They weren't seen again after this mid-morning brief visit to the Point.

Four marsh harriers were seen during a 30 minute spell flying up the river from Colne Point towards Langenhoe. Later in the morning there were at least ten marsh harriers flying over the lagoon at Langenhoe Point.


Lots of teal were at the pools in the grazing fields with around 250 birds noted. Many of the birds were feeding while others like this pair pictured above, were resting. Also here were 20+ snipe, 10 shoveler, 70 curlew, 20 redshank while in the other field were 400 wigeon, 50 black-tailed godwits and 500 golden plover.

This grey heron was perched on a tree overlooking the pond for the second day running and it may've spent that whole time on the same branch. The image above is a bit washed out in the bright sunshine.

A water rail was flushed out of the ditch at the back of the pond by a fox again with the bird landing in the safety of the reeds. At the end of the afternoon the water rail was feeding along the outer edge of the reeds beside the grass. Three green woodpeckers were seen in the area. At dusk the sparrowhawk flew into the copse resulting in 300 wood pigeons flying out the other side as well as 30+ stock doves.

At high tide in the afternoon there were 65 mallard and 5 red-breasted mergansers offshore from the park. Martin Cock noted from Coopers Beach 8 Slavonian grebes, 7 red-throated divers and 300+ great crested grebes offshore on Saturday afternoon. Steve Entwistle saw the great northern diver from the Esplanade at West Mersea on Saturday.

On Friday afternoon at the end of a very calm day, grebes could be seen across the flat sea. In the waters roughly opposite Fen Farm were 18 Slavonian grebes in two small flocks and also a red-throated diver. Stretching across the waters into the distance were at least 370 great crested grebes and no doubt more further out. A male sparrowhawk flew low along the beach at high tide to Fen Farm at dusk.

FLOCKING TO THE FIELDS

After the early morning rain on Thursday 26th, the park's grazing fields were certainly nice and wet. In places the meandering old creeks in the fields have filled with water, as can be seen in the picture above. As the tide on the nearby mudflats started to cover most of the mud, a number of waders began arriving on the fields.

The most impressive flock was the 1500 golden plover, that arrived in several smaller groups onto one of the fields, although when they got spooked, the whole flock rose as one into the air. The pools in the other field have got topped back up again after the rain and 300 black-tailed godwits found this attractive. Around 100 redshank, 50 curlew, 30 turnstone, 70 lapwing and 5 dunlin were enjoying the water to feed, rest and to preen too. Also amongst the pools were 50 common snipe, which is the most for a few weeks. The jack snipe hasn't been reported from here for about 3 weeks.

The ducks were also enjoying the wetter fields with 500 wigeon, 300 teal, 20 shoveler, 25 mallard and 2 gadwall noted while only ten brent geese were present. Three little egrets stood in the field for a while and 20 meadow pipits were also seen feeding.

On the nearby pond 15 tufted duck, 10 gadwall and 10 shoveler were the main ducks seen while 2 water rails scuttled through the reeds while doing some squealing duets. Late in the afternoon 60 greenfinches flew around waiting to roost in the bushes and 27 goldfinches gathered in the car park.

Offshore 5 red-breasted mergansers were seen from the park along with a few shelduck and great crested grebes. No sign of any of the record report of 19 Slavonian grebes seen off shore at East Mersea yesterday.
The only birds noted yesterday on Wednesday were a pair of goldeneye flying past the Point and also a water rail calling from inside the sea-blite bushes at the Point.

Andy Field and Martin Cock had another impressive count of harriers seen from Shop Lane going into the Langenhoe roost. A site record of 29 marsh harriers were counted and 5 hen harriers were seen at the end of the afternoon.

OVERGRAZING GEESE

A small group of brent geese were helping to turn this field of rape into a muddy field on Monday 23rd alongside the Strood seawall. Most of the grazing damage was done a few weeks ago when there were more brent geese around. At the moment the main flock of brent geese in the area of the Strood seem to be feeding on a field adjacent to the Ray Channel.

During the high tide in the middle of the day, 18 ringed plovers were feeding in the bare areas of this rape-field, while in the nearby field 250 golden plovers roosted. A corn bunting sang from a bush near the seawall which seems an early setting up of a territory here. Other small birds noted were 20 skylarks, 5 meadow pipits, 4 reed buntings, 2 linnets, while on the saltings were 2 rock pipits. A fieldfare was seen feeding under an apple tree near the caravan site.



The high tide covered most of the saltmarsh such as this area near the Dabchicks sailing club. Feeding amongst these saltings were 100 brent geese, while ten dabchicks were seen in the Strood Channel. There seemed more shelduck along the channel than previous years with about 120 birds noted. Two pintail flew over the Hard and there was the nice sight of a sanderling scuttling along the narrow bit of sand in front of the Hard car park at high tide.

A dozen or so house sparrows chirped from the West Mersea Yacht Club garden and in the nearby Firs Chase the pied blackbird was seen again and the song from a stock dove was an unusual sound here.

Martin Cock noted a lapland bunting, kingfisher and a spotted redshank during his visit to Maydays farm on Monday morning.

WINDY WEEKEND

The wind picked up in strength when I walked along the park seawall on a very blowy Sunday 22nd. At times you needed to really lean into the wind while making sure your legs weren't whipped away from under you. The river Colne was too choppy to see much other than lots of gulls.

The grazing fields had 500 wigeon, 300 teal, 200 golden plover as well as a few lapwing, curlew, black-tailed godwits and snipe. A flock of 30 linnets flew to the central ditchline-hedge late in the afternoon. A flock of twelve long-tailed tits flew across an open part of the park to reach the nearest bush.

During the last hour at the park pond, the water rail was seen feeding out in the field almost 10 metres from the reeds. A sparrowhawk flew into the copse and 100 wood pigeons beat a hasty retreat out of its way. The pair of muntjac deer made another appearance behind the pond although not straying far from the hedgeline. One fox sat on the bank overlooking the pond while another fox was seen trotting into the middle of the grazing fields.

In West Mersea Adrian Kettle saw two great northern divers from the Esplanade in the morning while later Steve Entwistle watched a Mediterranean gull in the same area.
A little egret roosted in a bush beside the St Peters reedbed and there was a sparrowhawk flew over Firs Chase around noon.


The afternoon walk along the Strood seawall on Saturday 21st was a breezy one. The dull conditions were brightened up by a nice selection of birds. The brightest bird on show was a kingfisher seen flying along the ditch with the typical blur of blue wings as it flew away. This is the same ditch where I saw one last month, so it obviously likes this area. A little egret was also feeding in one of the other ditches while 30 linnets flew past.

A few birds of prey were on show with a peregrine hunting low over the mudflats near the Strood causeway swooping down into the channel to try and flush out a bird. It gave up and headed east over the road as did a ringtail hen harrier a short while later. It had been seen flying across the Ray saltings probably on its way to the Langenhoe harrier evening roost. Four marsh harriers were seen at various times too also over the Ray saltings and making a steady flight east wards towards Langenhoe. At the end of the walk a sparrowhawk flew over the houses near the Dabchicks.

All the raptor activity kept many of the wader flocks in the air with 500 lapwing catching the eye. The noisiest flock was the big group of 2000 brent geese that were feeding on the mainland fields of Feldy. They made a couple of trips between the Ray Channel and the nearby fields. Flying to roost in the trees on Ray Island were 200 wood pigeons at least.


Several small birds have been feeding along the hedges at the park during the week with 2 goldcrests joining the mixed tit flocks including the 12 long-tailed tits. Finches around the park have been 15 chaffinches, 20 goldfinches and 25 greenfinches, while in the grazing fields 50 linnets were noted on Thursday afternoon.

A marsh harrier flew over the car park on Wednesday. Martin Cock had a very successful late afternoon harrier watch with a visiting birder on the Shop Lane seawall. In total 6 hen harriers were seen flying into the reedbed roost on Langenhoe Point, which included two adult males too, which was good to hear. There was also an impressive gathering of 23 marsh harriers which included the sight of 14 in the air at the one time.


Enjoyed the sunrise at about 7.45am on Tuesday morning, here looking out from the country park. It stayed bright for most of the day although not much birdlife of note seen at the park. The water rail was seen from the hide as it fed at the edge of the reeds. At the end of the day 30 red-breasted mergansers were seen offshore from the prk.

Martin Cock noted a common buzzard on Reeveshall on Tuesday and a merlin and green sandpiper at Maydays on the Monday as well as the 2 white-fronted geese flying eastwards.

PARK WADERS

Alan Reynolds kindly passed these pictures of some waders he photographed at Cudmore Grove during his visit to the park on Friday 13th.
The redshank pictured above, with it's distinctive "reddish" legs is a common bird around the coastline especially in the winter.


There have been more sanderling this winter along the beach, best looked for around high tide.


The black-tailed godwits are often seen feeding in the grazing fields either on the grass or wading through the pools like these birds pictured above.


The big curlews with their long downcurved bills are often to be seen roosting in the fields during the high tides.


Some of the recent golden plover flocks in the fields have involved 800 - 1000 birds. Sometimes the flocks can be seen resting on the nearby mudflats.


The markings of the common snipe help them blend in with their surroundings with around 30 to be seen on or near the pools in the fields.

ALAN'S ALBUM

Alan Reynolds took this set of photos during his visit to the country park on Friday 13th.
This male teal pictured above, is one of 300+ teal feeding and roosting on the muddy pools in the grazing fields.


Two pairs of wigeon and a curlew are often seen in front of the hide feeding in the field. In the nearby main fields there are currently about 400 wigeon grazing the pasture.


The brightly marked shelduck is usually seen out on the mudflats with 70 seen on Monday.


Plenty of black-headed gulls can be seen throughout the year although during the winter time they lack the "black-head".


The local foxes are always out on the prowl at the back of the fields even during the daytime.

LOCKED FOXES

Never seen a mating pair of foxes lock up like dogs before but this pair were certainly feeling frisky on the saltings near the Point in the bright morning's sunshine on Monday 16th. It's very unusual to see two foxes in mid-morning out on the open saltmarsh here and even rarer here to see them so engrossed in mating! The dog-fox on the right in the picture above, was seen mating several times over a ten minute period. It was during one of these couplings, that the vixen locked-onto the dog-fox, presumably ensuring there would be a successful fertilisation.


The fox pair looked uneasy and after a while looked over and could see me trying to digi-bin them from about 70 metres away. They had caught me peeping! After it seemed they weren't going to un-couple anytime soon, I gave up and started to turn away at which point they broke free and then sprinted off the saltmarsh and onto the grazing field. Ten minutes later the female was still trying to interest the male by raising her tail to him. A third fox stayed sleeping at the edge of the field close-by.



The blue sky and calm waters on the borrow-dyke provided a nice setting for this mute swan.


The five snipe as usual were feeding in the grass by the pond but it was nice to see them only ten metres from the hide in the afternoon. The water rail was obliging again walking along the outer edge of the reeds. After disappearing into the reeds, it was later seen flying a short distance into some more reeds.

A marsh harrier flew low over the pond staring intently down as it glided slowly over. All the waterfowl panicked and flew off although the harrier headed harmlessly off to the Golfhouse where all the brent geese were spooked. Later on a sparrowhawk sweeping low towards the pond-copse sent masses of wood pigeons clattering away along with 15+ stock doves.

The pale-bellied brent goose was feeding with the 600 brent geese in the fields near the Golfhouse. There was no sign of the 2 white-fronted geese that Martin Cock had seen earlier in the morning at Maydays farm flying up to East Mersea.


The large molten orb of the sun dropped down below the horizon, here looking west towards Bradwell on the Dengie peninsula One last look out ot sea at high tide revealed an impressive gathering of 45 red-breasted mergansers but little else other than a couple of great crested grebes.