RETURN TO REEVESHALL

It's been over a month since I last visited the Reeveshall seawall, so it was nice to have the winter sun shining on it during Monday 12th. Not much of a muddy margin around the pool pictured above with a little egret and a mute swan the only birds present here. In the nearby grass field near the Shop Lane seawall, the black brant goose was feeding amongst the 150 dark-bellied brent geese.

A casual scan along the rest of the Reeveshall seawall revealed an unexpected peregrine perched on a stile before it flew off over the Pyefleet. A sparrowhawk also flew over the Channel with a carrion crow mobbing it all the way across. Two marsh harriers and a kestrel were the only other birds of prey noted on Langenhoe.

The tide was coming in during the mid-morning so many of the waders were dotted along the water's edge quite close-in. Amongst the regular waders 20 bar-tailed godwits and 50 avocets were of interest. Amongst the wildfowl in the Pyefleet were 42 pintail which is a good count for the Pyefleet of these smart looking ducks. Three male goldeneye and 7 red-breasted mergansers were also of note in the channel.



A walk along the footpath from Shop Lane to Meeting lane provided views of a sparrowhawk, 5 redwing, green woodpecker and a great spotted woodpecker. There were about a dozen blackbirds, 2 song thrushes feeding on some blackthorn bushes still laden down with a huge crop of sloes, pictured below.


At the beginning of Monday a marsh harrier flew low over the fields opposite the East Mersea shop. In West Mersea in the afternoon a chiffchaff flitted and called above Firs Chase while 50 greenfinches gathering to roost, 8 goldfinch and two great spotted woodpeckers were also seen here

CONTRASTING WEEKEND

The weekend was one of colourful contrast between the dull and grey Sunday 11th, as seen above during the morning walk alongside the Strood Channel, contrasting with the picture below taken the previous afternoon on the country park seawall.

Highlights of the Sunday Strood stroll were a lapland bunting circling high over the wheat field for about five minutes calling out its distinctive "ticky-ticky-tew" calls. Other than its call-notes, it looked like any dull small brown bird in flight. Twenty linnets, 2 rock pipits and 10 skylarks were also noted near the seawall.

The tide was slowly covering all of the mudflats with a nice variety of waders such as dunlin, grey plover, knot, redshank, black-tailed godwit and 400 golden plovers. A snipe flew away from the seawall while 3 little egrets waited by the dyke. At least fifty collared doves were seen in trees near the top of the caravan site.

In the afternoon 29 snow buntings were feeding on the beach at the East Mersea Point again, while 2 red-breasted mergansers were seen in the river. Lots of the regular waders were gathering on the mud with 50 sanderling being the nicest sight.

On the park pond the regular water rail and 2 snipe were still feeding in the field by the edge of the reeds up until dark while a sparrowhawk scattered lots of wood pigeons and 25 stock doves from the copse. In the fields 145 lapwing, 400 golden plover and 400 wigeon were the main flocks present.

It started frosty on Saturday 10th with some patches of water remaining frozen well into the afternoon. The still conditions and blue sky made for an enjoyable walk along the park seawall to the Point. The flock of 20 snow buntings had been seen by Barbara Laport early in the afternoon although they had gone by mid afternoon. An eider and 4 red-breasted mergansers, 4 great crested grebes were also reported in the river Colne.

Rather unusually a chiffchaff was foraging along the seaward side of the park's seawall, calling frequently as it flitted low along the ground. By coincidence a chiffchaff was also seen and heard close to the waterfront in West Mersea, in a garden next to the yacht club, earlier on the Saturday.


The flock of golden plovers really did look golden in the bright winter sunshine with 300 birds noted on Saturday in the fields, pictured above. Amongst the 300 brent geese feeding in the grazing fields was the black brant and also 300 wigeon nearby. Most of the teal had abandoned the frozen pools although 50 snipe were still to be seen.

DEJA VU

Plenty of emergency vehicles were on hand again at the flooded Strood causeway onto the Island on Friday 9th. Warnings of a high surge tide hitting the East coast were obviously ignored by this white van-man who got his vehicle marooned halfway across by the tide. Three fire engines, 3 police vehicles and a paramedic car had made themselves available again and were seen in attendance during the high tide. The picture above shows 3 policemen specially kitted out to wade along the length of the flooded causeway, presumably checking that all cars could move when needed. The police 4x4 reversed back to the van and towed it to dry land so that the traffic could move freely once the tide receded. At least the lifeboat wasn't needed this time!

Whilst lying on my back on the side of the Strood seawall watching the drama unfold, a peregrine created a bit of chaos amongst the roosting waders behind me on the wheat field. Flying off in different directions were 100 dunlin, 20 grey plover, 30 lapwing, a few turnstone as well as 100 starlings and several skylarks. The peregrine hung in the air providing a nice view for a while before racing low down the Strood Channel towards the wader roosts at the west end of the Ray saltings.

The other highlight that made the walk worthwhile was seeing a kingfisher as it flew low along a ditch, by the seawall. The blue back was the only bit of colour glimpsed as it flew rapidly away where it appeared to perch in a bush at the end of the ditch. This area seems to be a favourite spot for the kingfisher this autumn with a recent sighting here a fortnight ago.

For almost an hour either side of the high tide, all the saltmarsh was covered by the sea. Various wader flocks were flying from one roost site to another as the water lapped around them. Three pintail were of interest amongst the numbers of teal and wigeon in the channel.

There seemed to be more skylarks around with 20 noted in the fields and another 20 or so flying west off the Island. Three rock pipits and 7 reed buntings were seen whilst walking along the seawall. In one of the other Strood fields 200 golden plover roosted with a few lapwing.


Coast Road was rather quiet during the high tide with the water preventing any traffic getting about. This picture in front of the West Mersea Yacht Club was taken about 30 minutes before the high tide and luckily most of the cars in the Hard car park escaped the worst of the tide. When the tide eventually receded the road was littered with lots of seaweed and other washed up bits of flotsam.

THE SITE FOR SNIPE

It has been relatively quiet birdwise on the Island over the last few days. However Andy Field managed to find this jack snipe on the flooded corner of the grazing fields at the country park on Tuesday 6th. It can be tricky to find when there's at least 70 common snipe to look at too, around the same pools. When the sun shines, the golden stripes on the common snipe show up well and the birds are easy to spot amongst the old dock tussocks and the snoozing teal.


Andy also took this great photo of an obliging curlew that was feeding in the field just in front of the hide. This same curlew has been seen several times over the last week feeding in the field at the west end of the park pond. Two or three common snipe have also been feeding here at this western end of the pond.
On Thursday there was a big feeding flock of 80+ curlew in a wheat field at the west end of Bromans Lane in East Mersea.



It was a bright sunny winter's morning on the Tuesday although with a chill in the slight breeze. There was the usual selection of waders and wildfowl on the fields with 500 teal and 500 wigeon being the main flocks. Many of the wigeon have been grazing the edge of the fields alongside this borrow-dyke pictured above. They also spend time in the water here too.

On the park pond up to 80 ducks have been present with mallard, shoveler, gadwall and tufted duck being the regulars noted over recent days, although a grey heron standing on the edge was not a familiar visitor here. Thirty stock doves roosted in the pond copse on Wednesday night, as they have done on other recent nights.

Andy saw a male eider duck in the river Colne and also a common seal in the outer part of the estuary. On Wednesday at the Point a sparrowhawk flew off clutching a small bird, while on the beach 25 sanderlings scurried along the edge of the high tide. Three red-breasted mergansers were in the river Colne but no sign of any snow buntings since Sunday.

FRANTIC FEEDERS

It was a cold but sunny start to Monday 5th with the tide just on its way out early in the morning. Hundreds of waders such as these dunlin were arriving on the mud near the Point to feed with over 1000 spread across the mudflats. Once on the mud, they were feeding frantically, scurrying around as the next bit of mud became uncovered by the outgoing tide.



The sunshine helped to highlight the waders dotted across the mud. In the picture above, although not solely identifiable from the photo, the smallest white dots at the bottom of the photo are dunlin, the small darker group in the middle of the mud are golden plover while the whiter dots in the water at the back are some avocets. Good views were also had from the Point of the other eleven regular wader species too.

There was no sign of any of the 31 snow buntings that had been feeding on the beach at the Point the day before.

The grazing fields provided the main bird interest at the park on Monday with 500+ wigeon, 500+ teal, 400 brent geese, 70+ common snipe and 300 golden plover being the main flocks. At the park pond the regular water rail was seen feeding on the edge of the field by the pond while a presumed second bird was seen swimming from one of the reedmace islands back to the pond-edge. A little egret stood on a clump of reedmace at the pond and 3 common snipe fed in the nearby grass field.

Other birds noted on Sunday as well as the snow buntings, were a great northern diver in the river Colne, 2 male goldeneye in the Pyefleet, 2 marsh harriers over Langenhoe Point, 9 red-breasted mergansers, 15 great crested grebes, 300 avocets in the river and a jack snipe and pale-bellied brent goose seen again in the grazing fields. Near the car park 18 goldfinches flew into bushes to roost for the night while 50 greenfinches gathered in hedges near the pond for the night.




As the night-time temperatures become incresingly colder, it has been harder selecting suitable evenings for moth-trapping. However the mothing season hasn't quite come to an end until the aptly named December moth is ticked off for the year! Three of these furry looking moths and two winter moths were in the trap over Saturday night into Sunday morning. This time last year the poor weather and cold temperatures meant there was no trapping done at the park, so we missed out on this moth.


It was a bit of a surprise to see this nicely marked herald moth inside the house resting on the sofa in the sitting room! Having tried to gently move the moth, it dropped onto the carpet where this picture was taken. (As the caterpillars feed only on willow and poplar leaves, I knew the carpet was safe!). It was gathered up and released outside where it will no doubt look for another building or somewhere sheltered to spend the winter.

PEREGRINE PANIC

The sun eventually broke through the clouds on Saturday 3rd, providing us with a mainly sunny day. In the morning it was getting towards low tide so there was plenty of mud on show although most of the waders were far off into the distance.

The familiar walk around the East Mersea Point almost seemed worthless, until a flock of snow buntings were discovered feeding low down on the beach and well hidden amongst the shells. They were easier to count whilst spread out on the beach with the 30 birds being a good sized flock. The birds had disappeared by mid afternoon, presumably after the disturbance from dogs and walkers got too much.

Whilst walking along the seawall in the afternoon, the flocks of waders on the nearby mudflats suddenly took to the air. At first it seemed as if they were moving because of the incoming tide until I saw the unmistakeable outline and profile of a big peregrine falcon homing down onto the mud as if targetting a wader close-by.

In the bright sunshine the peregrine's markings showed up really clearly with it's fine barred underparts, bold black moustachial stripes on the face and the pale blue-grey back and wings. The bird hung in the air above the seawall and circled over the fields while a couple of thousand ducks, geese and waders flew around in mass panic. As flocks swirled round the peregrine appeared confused as to which bird would be easiest to chase. After a couple of minutes of circling, it flew north over the fields and headed to the back of the Island - "empty-taloned".

I made sure this falcon was a peregrine and not some other falcon especially as the "saker" falcon was seen again earlier in the day at Old Hall Marshes tussling with a much smaller peregrine.

Amongst the mass of birds on the fields, 94+ common snipe had been counted around the pools which is the highest count so far this winter. Numbers of teal seemed similar to yesterday when 630+ birds had been counted, along with 500 wigeon, 70 black-tailed godwits and 50 redshank.

On the park pond the water rail was seen twice during the day being chased back into the reeds by a moorhen. The water rail was also seen out on the nearby muddy track yesterday afternoon. Also nearby today was a common snipe and a curlew with 20 moorhens and 18 coot feeding in and near the pond. On the water were 5 tufted ducks along with a few shoveler, gadwall and mallard too. At dusk two foxes came out from the hedgerow to stare at the mass of ducks on the pools. Thirty stock doves gathered in the pond copse to roost and 70+ greenfinches were going to roost in nearby bushes.

In the river 8 red-beasted mergansers flew out of the river to feed as the tide came in. A common seal was seen again in the mouth of the estuary. The avocets were building up again, probably to the same record count for the area made yesterday when 400 birds gathered together as the tide covered the last of the mud near the Point. The big gathering of waders on the last bit of mud included 2000 dunlin, 100 knot, 100 golden plover and 100 grey plover along with many of the other regular waders.



The high spring tides of recent days has resulted in large chunks of the park's sandy cliff crumbling down into the sea. Some parts of the cliff are suffering badly from the coastal erosion and yet 30 metres further along the beach, the grass is still growing at the foot of the cliff. As I walked along the beach, I reminded myself that there appeared to be about 80 sand martin holes had been used this summer.

At the beginning of the day, 200 dark-bellied brent geese were feeding on the algae on the mudflats near the beach. Amongst the dark-bellied was the single pale-bellied brent goose. Later all the geese took off to feed in fields round the north side of the Island.

FLOCKS IN THE FIELD

The weeping willow tree at the park pond appeared more golden when the low winter sun shone onto it on Thursday 1st December. Most of the other willow bushes and trees around the pond have dropped most of their leaves.

The main ducks of interest on the pond have been 20 shoveler, 4 tufted duck, 10 gadwall and 50+ mallard. The water rail hasn't showed since the weekend although a couple of water rail squeals have been heard. Three snipe were feeding in the grass field next to the pond.

Big flocks of waders and wildfowl were seen in the grazing fields with a count of 600+ wigeon, along with 500+ teal, 300 brent geese including the pale-bellied brent, 300 golden plover, 97 greylag geese, 130 curlew, 50 black-tailed godwits and 70+ snipe. A new flock using the fields over the last few afternoons has been the gathering of 300 rooks and jackdaws, who have dropped in for a last feed before flying east to their evening roost at St Osyth Priory.

No sign of any snow buntings in the morning with 15 meadow pipits and two pied wagtails the only birds on the beach today. Yesterday 26 snow buntings were feeding on the first beach near the park, occasionally flying into the grazing fields. At one point a ringtail hen harrier glided along the beach forcing the buntings to flee.

From the Point today, a female marsh harrier flew up river to Langenhoe as did a second bird later in the day, while a male merlin flew determinedly across the river to Point Clear in the morning. Despite the very low tide, there was little in the river other than about 8 great crested grebes and a common seal. There was no sign of the male common scoter or the male eider that were seen yesterday.
There were lots of avocets around the mouth of the river on Wednesday morning with about 200 seen on the east side by Brightlingsea with a further 100 flying back upriver past the Point.

On Tuesday afternoon 13 snow buntings were feeding along the strandline on the first beach until late in the day. A male marsh harrier crossed over the rough sea and then flew low over the seawall, surprising the 400 golden plover and 200 wigeon from the fields. A sparrowhawk flew past the car park just before dusk.

Got news yesterday that the "Mersea" red-breasted goose was refound at Old Hall Marshes on Wednesday feeding with the brent geese. It hadn't been reported since the previous sighting there eight days earlier on the 15th.


Some bushes still have their berries on them such as this blackthorn bush with lots of sloes. However the starlings have been tucking into some of the sloes on the bushes around the park in recent days.


This insignificant little bug only about 10mm in length caught my eye as it rested on the white wall next to my back door. A closer look revealed it to be one of the wingless female moth species that appear in the winter. This is the scarce umber moth which despite the name is not that unusual. A male was trapped last week at the park ( photograph in earlier posting) only a few metres from where this female was found.


The female looks more like a small bug than a moth with this photo above showing the rudimentary "wings"sticking upright from the top of the body.


Shirley Field took these two photos last week of a very colourful male sparrowhawk perching conveniently on the bird feeder in their garden in High Street North in West Mersea.


I don't suppose it fancied any of the nuts and seeds put out for the birds!