CONFIDING CUCKOO

An obliging cuckoo has been seen on the East Mersea Point saltmarsh for a couple of days running. On Friday afternoon it flew over the lagoons spooking the wader roost as they thought a sparrowhawk was passing over. On Saturday morning it perched on a fencepost for several minutes before switching to this perch pictured above, on a shrubby sea-blite bush. I gather it was also seen on Friday morning in this area by Andrew Tilsley.

Four cuckoos were seen recently at Maydays farm by Steve Entwistle.

There was a nice selection of birds on the saltmarsh lagoons near the East Mersea Point late afternoon on Friday 7th which included this group of seven avocets with some black-tailed godwits.

It looks like the avocets have given up trying to breed with the sight of two chicks seen briefly late June being the only ones produced. Those chicks weren't seen again.

The black-tailed godwits are coming back in numbers from their Icelandic breeding grounds with 110 of them roosting on the saltmarsh island. Some of the godwits flew onto the grazing fields' pool to feed as well as the mudflats in front of the park.

After the common terns were seen to lose a chick at the beginning of the week, it was a relief to see a chick still being fed on the small island on Friday late afternoon. One of the adults kept watch while the other went off to fish. Any passing crow or large gull were chased away, as were some starlings that landed in the grass next to the chick.

Redshanks have also bred at these lagoons with one of the two half grown chicks seen wading round the edge of the water, seen here to the left of a lapwing. Three chicks from two broods were seen last weekend. Eight lapwing were seen hiding in the saltmarsh as was an oystercatcher and a shelduck.

At the Point on Friday two ringed plovers, one dunlin, six linnet and a brent goose on the mud were seen. As the tide receded 50 curlew and 75 redshank were seen arriving to feed early evening.

A large number of sand martins gathered over the grazing fields as the evening went on, starting with fifty late afternoon soon rising early evening to about 300 birds. At one point they all swarmed together when a sparrowhawk swooped unsuccessfully into them. Twenty swifts were passing westwards during the day and around 20 swallows have been present through the day too.

On the dyke three broods of tufted duck were noted with one of 7 young, another of four small ones and also one half grown-up duckling. Three teal and two shoveler were on the main pool in the fields.

Three kestrels were perched on their tree - presumably the three recently fledged youngsters. In the nearby copse 17 little egrets were perched high up during the afternoon high tide. The roost seems to have picked up numbers this week with 20 birds seen at the park pond on Monday morning.

TREECREEPER TREAT

There was a little bit of excitement when a treecreeper was discovered by Andy Field in Fishponds wood in Shop Lane on Wednesday 6th. In typical fashion it was creeping up the sides of some of the trees close to the path by the old bunker. The bird was heard calling a few times with the thin high pitched call of a typical treecreeper. The bird posed long enough for this shot taken by Andy.

Treecreepers aren't resident on the Island because of the lack of suitable woodland. The last one seen was also in Shop Lane but at the south end in Manwood Grove just over 25 years ago, in late 1990. One was also seen in the 1980's briefly in West Mersea.

Flying over the Fishponds wood on Wednesday were 3 common buzzards while on neighbouring Reeveshall were 2 green sandpipers, yellow wagtail and a young marsh harrier.

A hobby flew across the park on Wednesday 6th, upsetting the flock of ten swallows as it sped west along the coast.

A female ruddy darter perched on a grass stalk for Andy to photograph by the seawall.

The warmer weather has brought many of the meadow browns and skipper butterflies out at the park, such as this small skipper above. Around 25 skippers of both Essex and small skipper were seen at the park.

Half a dozen ringlets were on the wing, their colonisation in recent summers continuing around the park.

Some of the meadow browns and skippers were feeding on this big clump of greater knapweed.

A patch of ox-eye daisies add some colour to one of the meadows.

A new plant to show at the park, and I believe the Island too, is this vipers bugloss. Maybe it has seeded itself with seeds carried somehow across the estuary from Colne Point. A handful of skipper butterflies were enjoying a spot of nectaring on the blue-ish flowers.

Having been away for a fortnight, it was great to see the red squirrel at our feeder in Firs Chase on our first day back home early evening on Monday 4th. The supply of peanuts had lasted well. The squirrel then ran along the roof of our house, down onto our lawn and scampered into the neighbours garden via our bird-bath.

Following a top-up of the feeder after this visit, the red squirrel was back again the following morning at 7am for at least five minutes.

Of rarer interest in our garden, it appears the hedgehogs have now got young, as one was discovered by our terrier Ben late on Wednesday night! Luckily the young one curled up to a size only a bit bigger than a tennis ball and survived the encounter.

The hedgehogs have made their home under an old wooden pallet tucked away in the back of the garden.

A slow-worm was on the garden compost heap on Monday 4th.

SAD NEWS FOR TERN PAIR

Andy Field was keeping a watch over the park wildlife over the last couple of weeks whilst I went away for some proper sunshine. He supplied me with a selection of wildlife shots taken from the park recently.

The great news that common terns had bred for the first time at the park was tempered by the sad news that the only chick was seen being snatched by a carrion crow on Sunday 3rd. The picture above which shows the small brown chick on the left side was taken only an hour before Andy witnessed the snatch.

Nearby on the same saltmarsh pools were at least three sitting avocets with up to 20 birds present in total. Three redshank chicks from two different families were also seen.

Two kestrel chicks could be seen inside the nestbox at the back of the park fields on 21st June. At least three chicks have since fledged from the box.


A hobby was seen over the horse paddocks to the north of the park around the same date.
On the 15th June a hobby was also seen over the park's grazing fields and then at the end of the day a barn owl was hunting fields to the north of the park.


Near West Mersea a pair of turtle doves were seen in Cross Lane by Martin Cock in late June.

A young grey heron has been a regular sight at the park over the last month or so.

The mute swan family still have all seven cygnets along the park dyke.

Several pairs of coots have young with some pairs onto their second brood already.

Several common whitethroats can still be heard singing from the tops of bushes at the park.

Reed warbler numbers have been down in numbers this year, this one singing from reeds along the park dyke.

Several skylarks can still be heard singing in the skies over the park, and sometimes they can be seen feeding on the ground too.

The recent wet weather has been kind to song thrushes as they're able to find more food such as worms and snails.

The first ringlets seen at the park this year was on the 3rd July. A clouded yellow was seen near the Oyster Fishery on the same day

Lots of blue-tailed damselflies can be seen resting on vegetation near the water as well as alongside some of the paths in the park.

This mining bee was spotted on the seawall near the Point covered in pollen.

Another of the mining bees without pollen.

This bird pellet was found on top of a kissing gate on the seawall near Reeveshall which when pulled apart, was found to be full of earwigs, probably ejected from a bird like a crow.

SOME LOCAL BIRDS

A bright male yellow wagtail perched up nicely along the footpath in East Mersea between Shop Lane and Meeting lane on Wed 8th, photographed by Martin Cock.

The short-eared owl was showing well again on the Rewsalls marshes near Coopers Beach on Wednesday, pictured by Martin.

The short-eared owl has now been present for about three weeks now.
Also seen in the area was the little owl chick in a tree near the Youth Camp entrance and a cuckoo.

This male reed bunting was photographed singing by Andy Field along the Strood seawall on Sunday 12th.

The female reed bunting has a brown head instead of a black head like the male has.

Several reed warblers can be heard singing from the reedbeds along the Strood, here photographed by Andy.

Sedge warblers have become harder to find now they have stopped singing, this one found by Andy along the Strood dyke.
Other birds noted in that area were a little tern, corn bunting and a yellow wagtail.

TERNING UP TO BREED

Great news on the Island's breeding bird front with a pair of common terns now nesting on Mersea for the first time for many decades. The common tern is pictured above on its nest close to a nesting avocet, near the East Mersea Point, seen on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th. The tern's mate soon appeared and dropped down alongside. This pair of common terns has been present in this area for almost three weeks now.

It seems to be a better season for terns around Mersea with 17 little terns and three common tern pairs seen on Cobmarsh Island on Friday 10th by Daniel Carne and Steve Hunting during an RSPB survey of the Mersea and Tollesbury Quarters.
It is important that boats don't land on these shingle beaches for the next couple of months so as not to disturb the nesting birds, especially these terns.

When the avocet stood up, two eggs could be seen underneath. There were six nesting avocets amongst the group of 12 avocets in the area. Last year the birds failed twice, once because of high spring tides, the second occasion no reason for failure of nine nests was found.

Also present at the lagoons were a pair of oystercatcher, pair of redshank and a single black-tailed godwit.

For a few days the swan family seemed to have lost a cygnet early on. That seventh cygnet did a good job at hiding as it has now reappeared and the family had the full complement on show in the dyke near the Golfhouse on Friday. As in previous years here, two of the cygnets have a much whiter down than the others.

Three different mallard broods were feeding either in the dyke or in the fields. This is the largest brood around with nine very young ducklings feeding along the main dyke on Friday. A second brood was seen with six ducklings, while a much older brood also still has six half-grown ducklings.

In the nearby grazing fields, two large lapwing chicks were seen and a flock of 22 greylag geese on Saturday while 5 gadwall were on the main pool on Friday.
The Cetti's warbler was singing as were a couple of lesser whitethroats and two singing reed buntings.

A group of ten shelduck were resting on the beach at the Point, some pictured above.
Also seen here on Friday were two pairs of ringed plovers, although no sign of nesting.

On Thursday 8th a pair of Mediterranean gulls flew over the park calling.

A cuckoo flew over the East Mersea road near Bocking Hall on Wednesday 8th while the day before a little owl perched again on a road-sign in Chapmans Lane early in the morning.

Three adders were enjoying the warmth at the park on Saturday 11th.

TIGERS IN THE TRAP

Several moth enthusiasts joined in a mothing evening at the country park on Friday 9th as part of National Moth Night - the annual celebration of moth recording. Luckily the weather was favourable, staying dry and with a light breeze blowing. Six traps were placed at various spots close to the car park area, this one pictured belonging to David Barnard.

Over sixty species of macro moth were recorded during the night which was a good tally considering how poor the spring has been for moths up until a couple of weeks ago.

The highlight was the number of cream-spot tiger moths -fourteen of them dropping in during the first half of the night. Pictured above is the full set of them, posing nicely for a team photo!
It was reassuring to see that most were freshly marked individuals and that the cold spring hadn't affected the numbers too much.
Cold springs in recent years has led to a decrease in numbers being seen at the park. The last double digit catch was almost eight years ago when twelve were noted in one night.

This year's target species for National Moth Night were the hawkmoths and it was good to see a few of them on the night at the park. The first hawkmoth to show was the lime hawkmoth, followed a bit later in the night by a second one.
The poplar hawkmoth also showed up before midnight, with three being noted by dawn.

One eyed hawkmoth was found in one of the traps at dawn, sadly missed by those who'd gone home at midnight.
Just after midnight three of the brightly coloured elephant hawkmoths made an appearance.

A green silver lines dropped in early in the evening, providing a splash of green colour to the proceedings.

The beautiful hook-tip seems to have become more established at the park in recent years.

The sand dart is noted each year at the park, a coastal species round the UK, it's larvae feed on various sand-dune plants.

The saltmarsh plume has a very distinctive posture with its long front legs and narrow wings pointing forwards.

Other macro-moths noted on the night included common swift, oak hook-tip, figure of 80, treble brown spot, common carpet, purple bar, pine carpet, common marbled carpet, sandy carpet, common pug, clouded border, brimstone, scorched wing, peppered moth, willow beauty, pale oak beauty, clouded silver, light emerald, yellow belle, swallow prominent, pale prominent, marbled brown, pale tussock, bufftip, buff ermine, white ermine, cinnabar, least black arches, heart and dart, shuttle-shaped dart, large yellow underwing, ingrailed clay, setaceous Hebrew character, nutmeg, shears, bright-line brown-eye, white-point, common wainscot, shoulder-striped wainscot, poplar grey, grey dagger, knot-grass, angle shades, dark arches, marbled minor, middle-barred minor, rustic shoulder knot, Vine's rustic, mottled rustic, snout and straw dot.

WHITE SWALLOW

This very pale swallow was seen near the Dabchicks Sailing Club on Saturday 4th by Mark, and Molly Dixon who took these photos. The creamy colouration suggests a leucistic form of plumage, rather than the much whiter plumage which would suggest an albino bird.

Mark emailed me to say - "Just been watching a pale grey swallow that is hunting and flying round between Wyatts slipway and Dabchicks. Got very clear sighting as it settled only 5m from us ( self and daughter Molly who first spotted it). Has a pink bit on the throat, no long tail feathers and grey/ very light blue back and paler to the white underneath. Has been hanging around all afternoon with the regular swallows."

Mark emailed me today the 11th, to say the pale swallow was still in the same area over the last couple of days. Should be a very striking bird to see in flight as well as when it perches.

Several red squirrel reports from around West Mersea over the last week. Sue Howlett was very pleased to see this one she photographed eating from her bird feeder in Estuary Park Drive on Thursday 9th just after mid-day. At the end of the afternoon presumably the same squirrel was seen at a bird feeder in the Seaview Caravan site alongside Cross Lane.

Earlier in the week a red squirrel was seen in Empress Avenue in the garden of David Titmuss on Monday 6th, probably the same individual mentioned above.
There was also a report of two red squirrels seen in Reymead Wood at the beginning of the week.

A muggy night on Tuesday 7th saw the moth trap being switched on in the Firs Chase garden for the first time this year - and it didn't disappoint! About 6o moths of 20 macro moth species were noted by 2am on Wednesday.

Probably the most colourful of moths, the elephant hawkmoth turned up as did a second individual.


Other moths noted included brimstone, light emerald, spruce carpet, riband wave, common pug, green pug, clouded silver, common marbled carpet, willow beauty, poplar grey, snout, fanfoot, least black arches, white ermine, heart and dart, flame, shuttle shaped dart and marbled minor.

The most impressive count of the night was of a small micro-moth - the diamond-back, pictured above. At least 200 of these small moths were gathered around the trap as well as inside the trap too. This is by far the most I've ever seen in one night - an impressive sight. There has been a massive influx into the country from the continent over the previous week or so of many thousands of them.