I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky

30th March 2021

"I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky."

This is the opening line of the poem Sea Fever by John Masefield and seems very pertinent just now as the last time I went to the coast was when I visited East Mersea on the 4th November 2020, and what better place to start than Walton-on-the-Naze.

As is tradition breakfast was on the Layer Breton causeway at Abberton. The end of March is in-between times with most of the winter visitors gone and the summer visitors yet to arrive, but you can normally rely on the usual suspects. Mute Swans were present in good numbers and had been joined by one of their Australian cousins, a Black Swan.

The cormorants were busy nesting high in the trees and their calls could be heard wafting across the reservoir. 

I searched the banks for waders or possibly an early Yellow Wagtail, but the only bird I found was a male Reed Bunting. I think this is the first time I have seen one here at the waters edge..

I had rather assumed that all of the wintering duck had departed so was therefore somewhat surprised to see a lone female Goldeneye pop up in front of me. Won't be long now before she goes although a couple did over-summer last year.

Now on to Walton-on-the-Naze and the bushes were fairly quiet, but what was noticeable was the numbers of Greenfinches present with a number of singing males. This is very encouraging after their rapid decline in numbers due to the disease Trichomonosis.

On the beach the Ringed Plovers were paired up and about to start nesting and all looking very smart in their breeding plumage.

Turnstones were also present in good numbers and feeding on the tide wrack. They were still in the winter plumage with just the odd orange feather starting to come through to contribute to the flamboyant summer plumage.

But the star of the show today was this superb Black Redstart that had presumably only just flown in and was flitting around feeding on the beach. How good is that?