SHOP LANE- MEETING LANE DELIGHTS

A whitethroat perched along a hedge in East Mersea between Shop Lane and Meeting Lane on Thursday 2nd.

Another whitethroat was watched taking food into a nearby bush west of Shop Lane.

Three other whitethroats were heard singing between Shop Lane and Meeting Lane.

A male yellowhammer was singing beside the path to the west of Shop Lane, while another one was also heard singing nearby.

A male blackcap appeared briefly in the trees alongside the path - a couple of other males singing.

Also seen on the walk on Thursday were a buzzard, kestrel, two green woodpeckers, two Cetti's warblers, two chiffchaffs and a song thrush, while a male pochard was on a pond to the north-east of Shop Lane.

A muntjac deer was browsing in a field beside Shop Lane on Thursday.

Several butterflies were enjoying the sunny but breezy conditions such as this small tortoiseshell west of Shop Lane.

A painted lady was along the side of one of the fields near Shop Lane.

A handful of small heaths were flying in a grass field beside Shop Lane.

On Friday 3rd Andy Field walked some of the footpaths near Shop Lane and as it was quiet birdwise, there were some interesting flowers photographed such as this common spotted orchid in an area known as Dairy Lane. I think these are the first common spotted orchids to be found growing in the wild at East Mersea.

In the same field near Dairy Lane Andy saw lots of yellow rattle in the grassland - a parasitic plant on grass.

A grass vetchling photographed by Andy, has become more established in grassy areas in East Mersea in recent years.

A male broad-bodied chaser dragonfly was photographed by Michael Thorley in his East Mersea garden near Meeting Lane on Friday.

A pair of azure damselflies was photographed by Michael in his garden.

Also photographed by Michael in his East Mersea garden was this small tortoiseshell. There seem to be quite a few on the wing at the moment.

Off West Mersea a pair of Egyptian geese was seen by Martin Cock on Cobmarsh Island on Thursday morning.

At Cudmore Grove Country Park in the evening of Wednesday 1st, Steve Entwistle watched a barn owl flying over fields next to the car park before it flew back in the pond direction. On the pond were a pair of pochard, tufted duck, little grebe, female gadwall, Cetti's warbler, sedge warbler, while in the park were four whitethroats, two green woodpeckers and a common tern offshore.

Steve on Wednesday evening also saw a little owl perched on a barn at Bromans Farm and at Coopers Beach the breeding pair of mistle thrushes.

A hobby was seen flying over the country park on Wednesday morning by Simon Patient.

DAYTIME BARN OWL

A barn owl was photographed by Andy Field as it flew in front of the bird hide at Cudmore Grove in the morning on Tuesday 30th. The barn owl had been seen leaving the owl box behind the pond and then hunting the grazing fields, then doing a couple of fly-pasts close to the bird hide.

Other birds seen by Andy at the park included three sedge warblers, three reed warblers, two chiffchaffs, lots of whitethroats, little tern, four common terns, ringed plover with four eggs on the Point, 12 avocets, kestrel taking a vole back to its box, two barnacle geese flying west, seven pochard and twenty swallows.

A fox was sitting in the sun beside the park pond and photographed by Andy Field on Tuesday.

A muntjac deer was photographed by Shaun Bater on Tuesday, as it fed in the Golfhouse paddock in East Mersea.

Birds seen by Shaun on a Cudmore circuit included whitethroat, swallow flock over dyke, sparrowhawk, three kestrels, seven pochard, Cetti's warbler, green woodpecker, reed warbler, blackcap, oystercatcher, skylark, shelduck, six linnets, two mute swans, little grebe, little egret, nine avocets, redshank, lapwing, five sand martins, barn owl hunting the Golfhouse end of the park late morning, two greylag geese, stock dove and a cuckoo.

A wheatear along the Strood seawall seemed a bit late in the month to see a bird stopping off here on Monday 29th.

The wheatear was seen feeding along the outer side of the Strood seawall as well as on the path on top.

A male yellow wagtail was singing from a small bush beside the Strood seawall on Monday, two other yellow wagtails were seen too.

A sedge warbler was singing from the borrowdyke reeds and bramble bushes on Monday. Also four reed warblers singing, a corn bunting, whitethroat and two cuckoos chasing each other along the dyke.

A buzzard, four common terns, two Mediterranean gulls, 14 curlew, grey plover were along the channel, while thirty swifts were over the houses and 16 house martins were hunting over Firs Chase.

On Saturday 28th Steve Entwistle was lucky enough to see a white stork and a great white egret fly over his Empress Drive garden. Thanks to Steve's wife, Kate, she alerted Steve to a big bird circling high south-west over the back garden which turned out to be a white stork. Some missing feathers in the feathers suggest this is same bird seen at Abberton reservoir recently. A few minutes later Kate spotted another large bird flying over which turned out to be a great white egret going low west to east.

Earlier on Saturday Steve visited the Strood seawall and saw a pair of gadwall, pair of shoveler, pair of reed buntings, two little egrets, common tern and eight swifts.

A little owl perched on posts alongside a paddock at Maydays farm on Saturday 27th.

A male yellowhammer was seen on a bush at Maydays on Saturday, also a sedge warbler, four reed warblers, four whitethroats, two yellow wagtails, two cuckoos on the Mersea side and another two calling on Langenhoe. A Cetti's warbler was singing at Haycocks farm and also one heard on Langenhoe - where a loud chorus of marsh frogs carried over on the northerly breeze.

A little egret and a grey heron stood on the Maydays seawall on Saturday.

Four marsh harriers and three buzzards were noted. A pair of greylag geese on Reeveshall had three goslings beside them.

A pair of gadwall on the Pyefleet channel was unusual for the spring season, another four birds were seen chasing each other earlier. Three great crested grebes, a common tern, four Mediterranean gulls and ten lapwings were seen mainly on Pewit Island. Three common seals were resting on a saltmarsh at the top end of the Pyefleet at high tide.

HIGH AS A KITE

Two red kites flew north-west over the Firs Chase garden on Friday 27th. The local carrion crows alerting me in time for me to see the kites passing over.

One of the red kites passed quite low before circling up high where it then followed another red kite already really high up and appearing just as a tiny speck in the sky.

 

The local carrion crows chased after the lower red kite, making it climb higher into the sky.

A hobby and a cuckoo were seen from Andy Field's house in High St North on Friday, while a sparrowhawk, buzzard and five swifts were seen over Steve Entwistle's Empress Drive garden.

A boat trip with Stacey Belbin on her Lady Grace boat with Steve Hunting helping the RSPB count breeding birds on the shingle islands revealed four pairs of lesser black-backed gulls nesting for the first time on Packing Marsh Island. Lots of herring gulls nesting on Cobmarsh and Packing Shed, as well as several oystercatchers and a three ringed plover pairs.

Other birds noted included a pair of Egyptian geese and two brent geese on Cobmarsh, three great crested grebes, 10+ common terns fishing, dunlin and 9 ringed plover on Packing Marsh. No little terns seen anywhere.

A barn owl perched nicely for Andy Field to photograph beside the Cudmore Grove pond on Thursday 26th in the morning. It had been hunting the pond meadow before perching on the post to eat something. It's probably nesting in the nearby nest-box in the tree behind the pond - viewable from the bird-hide.

Also seen by Andy at the country park were the female kestrel in its nestbox, lots of whitethroats, six reed warblers, sedge warbler and lesser whitethroat.

The knot was seen again at the Point on Thursday and photographed by Andy Field.

Steve Entwistle visited the Point on Thursday and saw a little tern, sanderling, common tern and also three Sandwich terns passing close to the Point as they flew up-river. A female marsh harrier hunted the Golfhouse dyke, five sand martins also, while a red-legged partridge was in Bromans Lane.

Shaun Bater also visited Cudmore Grove on Thursday morning and noted cuckoo, three pochard and coot with a chick on the park pond, on the dyke were a pair of mute swans, three sand martins, six swallows, mallard and four ducklings and a coot with two chicks, also six avocets on the Golfhouse pools and a large flock of swallows.

A common blue butterfly was feeding beside the East Mersea boating lake car park on Thursday 26th.

On the Rewsalls marshes and side lake were a pair of avocets, three little egrets, whimbrel, pair of shelduck, also a cuckoo heard, buzzard, three whitethroats and eight common terns offshore.

A Cetti's warbler was singing on the north side of Waldegraves, from Cross Lane were three sparrowhawks, six swifts, five house martins along with two blackcaps and two whitethroats singing in the area on Thursday morning.

On Wednesday 25th at Cudmore Grove a lapwing was watching anxiously over a young chick in the long grass in the grazing fields. Another lapwing chick from another pair was being watched over on the saltmarsh pools by the Golfhouse, a slightly older and bigger chick than the one in the fields.

Eight avocets were on the Golfhouse pools including a pair watching going through the prolonged mating ritual, also two redshank present. On the nearby mud by the Point were five sanderling, a knot, 12 ringed plover, ten dunlin, four turnstone, while in the Colne a little tern flew up river and two common terns seen.

A pair of pochard was on the park pond and a pair of tufted duck too but no sign of the greylag goose that had been sitting on a nest. A pair of greylag geese flew east over the park. The kestrel was perched in the tree at the back of the fields, a reed warbler, sedge warbler, two Cetti's warbler were heard but only six sand martins seen.

At Coopers Beach Steve Entwistle on Wednesday watched a mistle thrush taking beak-fulls of worms to a nest in a tree among the caravans. Three avocets flew over Rewsalls marshes and two linnets seen.

Steve Entwistle photographed some of the green-winged orchids still in flower in the Chadwicks garden on the Esplanade on Tuesday 24th. Several common spotted orchids were also in flower too.

A painted lady was seen along the Strood seawall on Tuesday 24th.

Birds noted were cuckoo, five whimbrel, three curlew, house martin, sedge warbler, three reed warblers, four yellow wagtails, buzzard, a sparrowhawk and ten swifts over the houses, also a nightingale heard singing in the distance from the bushes on Ray Island.

Andy Field reported his pair of swifts nesting in the box on the side of his house in High Street North had laid their second egg on Tuesday morning.

A maiden's blush moth was in the Firs Chase moth trap on 25th May.

WARBLERS IN THE REEDS

A reed warbler perched in the reeds beside the Strood seawall on Monday 23rd.

Three reed warblers were heard singing in the reeds, also four sedge warblers in the same area of the dyke beside the Strood seawall. Three yellow wagtails and a corn bunting were seen along the seawall while a whitethroat and lesser whitethroat were heard by the Strood reservoirs. Fifteen swifts and a sparrowhawk were seen over the houses while two cuckoos were heard calling.

Along the Strood channel on Monday morning were three avocets, five whimbrel, two curlew, two common terns and a ringed plover.

A little egret was feeding along a section of the borrowdyke by the Strood seawall on Monday.

A second little egret was feeding on the mud in the Strood channel.

At East Mersea on Monday morning Martin Cock reported seeing at Cudmore Grove a knot, three grey plover, four turnstones, four ringed plover, eight curlew, whimbrel, three Cetti's warblers and two sedge warblers.

On Sunday 22nd a buzzard was mobbed by carrion crows as it flew over the Firs Chase garden, also a cuckoo was heard calling, a Mediterranean gull flew over as did two swifts. A green hairstreak, four holly blues, orange tip and a red admiral were seen in the garden.

A brown hare was photographed by Andy Field near Shop Lane on Saturday, while waiting for the nightingale which didn't sing or show itself. A spotted flycatcher was seen by Andy perched briefly beside Fishponds Wood, a hobby flew over, also a large long-tailed tit flock with lots of youngsters. 

On the seawall from Reeveshall to East Mersea Point Andy noted two or three largish lapwing chicks were on the Reeveshall pool, two buzzards, two male marsh harriers, ten whitethroats, lesser whitethroat, six pochard, three reed warblers, four common terns and a little tern.

The covey of released helmeted guineafowl which used to reside at Bower Hall, has now taken up residence recently beside Haycock Lane at Maydays. These eight were seen on Saturday 21st.

A pair of grey partridge was flushed off the Maydays saltmarsh whilst walking the nearby seawall. 

Also seen along the Maydays and Reeveshall seawalls on Saturday morning were a gadwall, pochard, two cuckoos, three great crested grebes, three lapwings, two grey plover, four whimbrel, two curlew, two common terns, three marsh harriers including a pair doing a food pass to each other over the Pyefleet, four buzzards, two sparrowhawks, two Cetti's warblers, four reed warblers, six whitethroats and nine house martins over the farmhouse.

Four painted ladies were seen on Saturday morning along the Maydays and Reeveshall seawalls.

A painted lady was photographed on Saturday by Michael Thorley in his East Mersea garden near Meeting Lane.

A Cetti's warbler was heard singing at St Peters meadow in West Mersea on Saturday by Steve Entwistle.

On a drizzly Friday 20th a sanderling was watched feeding on the beach at East Mersea Point.

It was a bit of a surprise to see the flock of twenty sanderling feeding high up on the beach at the Point during the low tide. One ringed plover was seen on the nearby mud, six common terns and three great crested grebes were in the Colne.

Seven avocets were on the saltmarsh pools near the East Mersea Golfhouse on Friday. A lapwing, pochard, cuckoo calling, and three little egrets were noted, while a sedge warbler, reed warbler, Cetti's warbler and two whitethroats were heard singing from the park seawall.

Four shelduck were seen from the park seawall on Friday, this bird seen on the Golfhouse pools.

A cream-spot tiger moth was a colourful visitor to the moth trap in the Firs Chase garden on Sunday 22nd.

The first peppered moth of the season also made an appearance.

A couple of light emeralds were noted, other moths included grey pine carpet, garden carpet, brimstone, willow beauty, common swift, sharp-angled peacock, shuttle-shaped dart, mottled pug, common pug, orange footman, coronet, common wainscot, marbled minor and a spectacle.