A Shag and Common Scoter at Mersea

28th November 2016

The end of November draws nigh so time for my second visit of the winter to Mersea. After the recent rains the grazing fields are flooded once more, but wader and wildfowl numbers are still well down especially Black-tailed Godwits of which there were no more than six compared to the usual several hundred. In fact today the most common wader was Curlew with a smattering of Redshank.

Wigeon numbers were already into their several hundreds and looking resplendent in the morning sun

A Fox was wandering around by the hedgerow at the back of the field, totally ignored by the Curlew just 30 yards away and all asleep. The Fox then decided that as he was having little success in catching mice or Rabbits decided to do a spot of blackberrying, standing on its hind legs to reach the fruit. Never seen that before.

Arrived at The Point at high tide in time to watch the thousand or so waders wheeling around as they settled in to the high tide roost on the saltmarsh pools. Not for long though as this large female Sparrowhawk spooked the whole lot providing some great opportunities for some flight shots.

An absolutely amazing sight and if you click on the photos to enlarge them you can pick out Dunlin, Turnstone, Redshank, Grey Plover and Knot.

But the biggest surprise today was this female Common Scoter which was feeding just 30 yards off The Point. I have only seen one Common Scoter on East Mersea in the five years that I have been coming here and today there was not only this bird but also two others further out in Brightlingsea Reach.

Wow, what a great morning, so now for a quick look at West Mersea before heading off home. By now the tide was well on its way out and this huge Great Black-backed Gull was having a loaf on the mud.

There were also a couple of Cormorants diving off the hammerhead which I checked out just in case a Shag had slipped in as has been the case in previous years. Then I noticed a lone bird perched high on a pole just 30 yards away from the busy car park. There it was, a Shag, being totally ignored by all and sundry although it has to be said that there were no other birdwatchers there.

What a great end to a great day. Mersea never disappoints!!!

Pipits at Rainham Marshes

25th November 2016

A nice sunny day and the end of November approaching so time for a visit to Rainham marshes in search of pipits. It was high tide when I arrived so I went straight along the river wall to the "pipit pool" to see what I could find.

When I was in sight of the pool a Meadow Pipit rose out of the flotsam and jetsam but instead of dropping down again flew off over the wall to the reserve. When I got to the pool it was amazingly quiet with just one pipit at the far end which turned out to be a Rock Pipit. Two down, one to go.

Once on the reserve I popped into the Purfleet Hide now that the scarpe was full of water. Still very quiet, but this Heron provided everyone with some photography practice and saved them from going home empty-handed.

Along the trail I came across my first and only Reed Bunting of the day, a rather nice little female. Where have all the Reed Buntings gone? Normally you are tripping over them.

A little more activity in the Butts Hide as the Lapwing flocks were building up as were the Golden Plover, with 14 today.

But the star of the show was this cracking Water Pipit which strutted its stuff around the muddy margins allowing some shots to be taken when it wasn't in front of the sun. So three species of pipit seen, mission accomplished.

A Long-tailed Duck at Fingringhoe Wick

18th November 2016

A 2.30pm high tide in the River Colne so time for another visit to Fingringhoe Wick to see what the tide brings in. I first popped down to the scrape to see whether all the Greenshank and Spotted Redshank had departed, and in fact the only kids on the block was this rather small gathering of Redshank, all up to their waist on the submerged island.

Just as I was walking down to The Retreat ** hide, a light aircraft flew over and put everything up and the sun went in, but apart from that everything was fine.

** I was hoping that EWT would come up with a more inspiring name than "the new inter-tidal area" and had even suggested that they run a competition to find a new name, but that hasn't happened. So therefore, for the purpose of my blogs, I have decided to rename it The Retreat.

It took a while for the birds to return on the incoming tide, but after a while small flocks of Ringed and Grey Plovers, Knot and Dunlin were cramming on to the ever-disappearing islands.

And as before one or two Grey Plovers came close for some photos in the ever-increasing gloom.

Back at Robbie's Hide there was still a bit of high tide traffic like this Curlew heading off for the high tide roost at Geedons Marsh, and the exceptionally high tide had totally covered the saltmarsh to the north of the hide providing some great dabbling habitat for Teal and Wigeon.

But the star of the show today was the female Long-tailed Duck which came into The Retreat at high tide. Unfortunately it hugged the bank furthest away from the hide but did occasionally swim down towards the Kingfisher Hide. From this hide the trick was to photograph it before it got too close and disappeared below the bank. What a cracking little bird.