Twite at Wallasea Island

10th December 2021

As the winter has drawn on so the number of raptors at Wallasea Island has increased, so time for a visit to see what we could find. As we arrived at the car park a female Marsh Harrier wafted over, perhaps a good sign of things to come.

After a circuit of the site it soon became apparent that the wind was far too strong for owls and we had to make do with just a Peregrine and a Merlin. In fact it was the passerines that provided most opportunities like this Corn Bunting that was sheltering in a bramble bush by the car park.

A little further along a couple of Meadow Pipits were feeding on the track and a Sky Lark was searching for some tasty morsels in the long grass by one of the pools.

At that point three small finches flew in and started to feed in the margins of the pond. I automatically assumed they would be Linnets, but even as I was photographing them I could see they had that orangey ground colour around the head and yellow bills and therefore were in fact Twite. Twite are fairly rare in Essex these days and therefore this would be an important record and I was therefore pleased that I had some photos as supporting evidence.

Since our visit the same three birds have been seen again, but this time a little further along the road on the fence by the sluice. This is absolutely amazing as it was on this very fence that I photographed some Twite here on the 22nd December 2016 (see below).