Autumn 2022- Rain at last!

Many thanks to all contributors, particularly to the photographers Simon Wood (SW), Paul Langley, Cindy Lawes & Steve Stuart. 

John Buchanan (JB)

After the summer drought, rain finally began falling again mid-August, and the countryside began to recover some of its colour again. During the month, the usual waders began to reappear on the estuary- Lapwing, Curlew, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Golden Plover and some Turnstone. Before the end of August, the first Wigeon arrived to join the Teal along with a handful of Shoveler at the Dump Pool and Lofts Farm/ Chigborough Lakes.

A Whimbrel appeared on the mud along Southey Creek and at Limbourne Creek there were up to seven Green Sandpipers. An immature Water Rail there implied successful breeding had taken place.

Passerines also began passing through. With the loss of our own breeding Willow Warblers, it was good to see there were still good numbers passing through that had bred further north (15 at least at Lofts Farm on 16^th August). In all, just two Wheatears and four Whinchats were seen along the southern bank of the estuary. They were much outnumbered by a very obvious arrival of Stonechats, which was echoed elsewhere in Essex, perhaps indicative of a successful breeding season, wherever they came from! A handful of Yellow Wagtail sightings were probably more likely to be dispersing local breeders than passage birds.

Common Guillemot, Blackwater Estuary, 31 Aug 2022 (SW)

A barge trip on 31^st August was a cause for celebration for Simon Wood when he spotted a Common Guillemot on the river- perhaps his biggest patch bogey bird finally seen. Other good sightings on the same trip included a drake Common Scoter and Moon Jellyfish (there had been reports of a lot of these in the estuary over the summer). On the 2^nd September, the first Avocets of the autumn were seen and there was a Garganey on the Dump Pool.

Ruff, Heybridge Pits, 2 Sept 2022 (JB)

Another walk out to Limbourne Creek to look for waders on the still muddy edges finally produced a goody in the form of a Wood Sandpiper- the first seen locally for quite a few years. Continuing the wader theme, a Ruff appeared for a prolonged stay on the gravelly islets at the Hall Road end of Heybridge Pits. One might have thought it would have got bored of the limited habitat there! Other wader interest included a scattering of Curlew Sandpiper sightings but generally passage waders were sparse. The wader highlight of late autumn was another local rarity- a Purple Sandpiper, found along Mill Beach on the 21st November by a group from Swallow Birding.

Purple Sandpiper, Osea Causeway, 24th Nov 2022 (Paul Langley)

Despite it not being a classic autumn in terms of numbers (no flycatchers, scarce terns or flocks of wagtails for instance), there were still some stand-out birds. Simon’s near-obsessive checking of all wigeon made him question an oddball at Lofts Farm which he gradually realised was a female American Wigeon. Differences from the accompanying Eurasian Wigeon were relatively subtle but all there- paler overall plumage, longer tail, taller neck, different shape to forehead, contrasting ear covert-patch etc and striking white underwing coverts. 

Female American Wigeon, Lofts Farm, 1 Sept 2022 (SW)

Then a week later, while walking round Heybridge Pits with Simon, Carla Davis found a Wryneck! Only the second record in recent decades, the first had eluded all but the finder Russ Neave so it was great to finally have a chance to catch up with another.

Wryneck, Heybridge Pits, 9 Sept 2022 (SW)

A Garganey with the Wigeon on the estuary on 25th October was an unusually late record.

The final avian patch mega of the season was a Yellow-browed Warbler, a waif from Siberia that Simon heard calling as it moved amongst a party of Goldcrests along the canal by Hall Road Bridge in Heybridge on 26^th October.

The most talked about local wildlife visitor was the Common Seal that spent many weeks along the upper reaches of the Chelmer and was even seen along the canal. Often lounging about on the mud opposite Tescos it appeared to be mainly feeding on the Mullet that appear in shoals at this time of year.

Common Seal, Chelmer Blackwater Canal, Autumn 2022 (JB)

If avian migration was somewhat haphazard this year, there were some good numbers of migrant moths on the move. Simon and Maureen Bissell continued their intensive trapping sessions at Hazeleigh Wood. Highlights were more Vestals and some migrant firsts for Hazeleigh including Delicate and Scarce Bordered Straw. Another Clifden Nonpareil was enjoyable and good micros included the rare Vagrant China-mark (a first for Maldon area) and the second local record of the range-expanding Southern Bell. During this period the overall Hazeleigh moth (and butterfly) list finally broke through the 800 barrier!

Delicate, Hazeleigh, Sept 2022 (SW)

Scarce Bordered Straw, Hazeleigh, Oct 2022 (SW)

Clifden Nonpareil, Hazeleigh, Oct 2022 (JB)

Vagrant China-mark, Hazeleigh, Oct 2022 (SW)

Cindy Lawes was also regularly moth-trapping in her garden near the centre of Maldon. One of her highlights was finding the first patch records of Oak Rustic. 

Oak Rustic, Maldon, Oct 2022 (Cindy Lawes)

On the butterfly front there were a few records of migrant Clouded Yellow and some more Wall Browns- Steve Stuart found one of the latter in a garden in Cold Norton and then another in the garden of The Bell at Purleigh.

Wall Brown, Purleigh Bell, Sept 2022 (Steve Stuart)

Whilst on the subject of range-expanding invertebrates, there were more records of Southern Oak Bush-cricket- at the Chelmer Blackwater Reserve and then in the depths of Hazeleigh Wood. Being essentially flightless, it is something of a mystery as to how they spread though it is thought they hitch rides on the outside of vehicles…

Southern Oak Bush-cricket, Hazeleigh, Nov 2022 (JB)

Of course autumn is the prime time for fruiting bodies of fungi to appear. Our annual foray around Hazeleigh Wood with Sarah Manning again gave us a long list of species- some identifiable and some not, despite forensic use of various acids and a cigarette lighter! It seems that the summer drought has had quite an effect on some species. There was a significant lack of species that depend on a shallow mycorrhizal network in the soil- just a single, mutated, Clouded Funnel was found (normally these are widespread at Hazeleigh), no Russulas and no deceivers. The most interesting species found was one we first took to be Dog Stinkhorn but which turned out to be most likely Devil’s Lipstick, Mutinus ravenelii, a North American species only rarely found in the UK. As ever, there was a tremendous range of shapes, colours and textures amongst the fungi encountered, from Rosy Bonnet through Witches’ Butter to Wrinkled Peach.

Devil's Lipstick, Hazeleigh, Nov 2022 (JB)

Rosy Bonnet, Hazeleigh, Nov 2022 (JB)

Yellow Brain, Hazeleigh, Nov 2022 (JB)

Wrinkled Peach, Hazeleigh, Nov 2022 (SW)

 So, when does autumn feel like autumn? For some it is the shortening of the days, the damper, crisper mornings, the dew hanging heavy on the fly-laden jewels that are the webs of mature spiders that drape over the vegetation in countless hordes. For others it is simply the fact that shorts have to be discarded in favour of trousers! And for many birders, I suspect it is the variety and behaviour of the birds that appear on the local patch...

Thursday morning saw John Buchanan and I grabbing a couple of hours from seemingly over busy life schedules to take a walk from Maldon Prom to Limbourne Creek...and for the first time it felt just like autumn! Small flocks of Meadow Pipit bouncing through the sky above our heads, their typical contact calls, usually the first sign of their presence, a Goldcrest flitting along the edge of the copse on the old dump, calling incessantly to any others of its kind nearby, two Stonechat zipping around on top of the seawall with a couple of Lesser Whitethroat and a Blackcap in tow, although this was a 'Browncap', a female/immature with a brown head whilst loose flocks of Swallow nonchalantly drifting south twittering as they went. And waders, be they the dapper juvenile Curlew Sandpipers on the river (in all ten birds, four being youngsters) or a small flock of Snipe towering rapidly off Limbourne Creek or the Green Sandpiper tucked up asleep in the same place...yes, autumn has definitely arrived...

Northey Island- Life on the Edge

Yesterday I participated in a very enjoyable and enlightening guided walk around Northey Island, led by David Mason, the National Trust ranger with responsibility for Northey Island as well as a number of other Essex reserves. 

The causeway leading to Northey Island

The main historical interest is, of course the (debated!) location of the Battle of Maldon. Must admit I had not apprecated that the most recent private ownership was with the family of  Sir Norman Angell (Lane), a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1933 and author of "The Great Illusion" that argued that any future war in Europe would produce no worthwhile economic benefit to either side. He lived on the island whilst a Member of Parliament. I also did not realise that the reason the main house is of a mixture of styles is that it was bombed during the 2nd World War. It was the Lane family who generously gave the island to the National Trust.

The main interest for me, though, was the impressive amount of work that the National Trust are currently undertaking to future-proof the saltmarsh surrounding the island and generally improve the overall value of the site for wildlife and visitors. Saltmarsh plays a very important role both in locking up carbon and in providing a natural coastal defence.

The saltmarsh here, as in so many other places, is suffering from coastal squeeze. Rising sea levels are eating into it while the presence of the sea walls means that it has nowhere to go. Northey Island has long been studied regarding how these factors might be mitigated. Pioneering work on Managed Realignment to the sea wall was carried out in 1991- the first such project to be implemented in England, and with techniques that have now been used on many other coastal sites. The work involves removing parts of the sea wall to create space for the saltmarsh plants to migrate inland in a natural way as the sea level rises.

Since 2019, the National Trust has been working on a further set of actions to help ensure that saltmarsh can continue to thrive, including further Managed Realignments along with coordinated steps to benefit wildlife. This work is being done in partnership with the RSPB, as part of the "LIFE on the Edge" initiative, with significant funding from the EU LIFE Nature and Biodiversity Fund. A new scrape is being created as well as various ponds. One of these is being used for the relocation of Water Voles from areas of the borrowdykes that will be impacted by the sea wall works. Currently this pond is surrounded by high wooden fencing, to help prevent access by ground predators while the voles become established in their new home. David has already seen a Kingfisher at this new pond. The overhead electricity cable that used to cross one of the main Brent Goose feeding/ roosting fields has been re-routed underground. 

Area which will become flooded when sea wall is breached

Site for Water Vole relocation

Visitor access is being improved with substantial, wheelchair-friendly pathways to create a circular route and an impressive hide that will look over some of the newly colonising saltmarsh when a further section of the sea wall is opened out next summer. We were honoured to be the first party to enter the hide and were suitably impressed with its construction. The window and shutter designs have benefitted from the endeavours of a volunteer with excellent carpentry skills. David much appreciated the work of the Essex and Suffolk National Trust Volunteers who helped paint the hide and cleared a substantial amount of litter washed up after the storm surge last year. 

During our walk, the tide was so low, there were few birds to see close-to on the estuary. In the distance, there were the usual gulls, Little Egret, Cormorant, Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank, as well as a small flock of Avocet. Two Greenshank flew by and Curlew could be heard. A couple of Kestrels were seen and a Buzzard cruised by above us.

Walking back along the causeway, David reminded us that it provides a great cross-sectional view of the diversity of plant-life across the estuary. Cord Grass and Samphire are the pioneer plants then Annual Seablight, Sea Purslane, Sea Aster, Sea Lavender, with Shrubby Seablight and Golden Samphire at higher levels. Unfortunately most of the plants had finished flowering, though there were still a few heads of Sea Aster and the Annual Sea Blight was showing attractive shades of mauve. A jellyfish was also of note- probably a Moon Jellyfish, as a number of these have been seen in the river recently.

Annual Sea Blight

Moon Jellyfish

The final part of the walk back to the Prom park passed by the Dump Pool where there were plenty of Teal and some feeding House Martin and Swallow, as well as a singing Cetti's Warbler. Yellow Wagtail were seen on the adjoining field. The final highlight was a Hobby that flashed by low over the pool and away over the back.
Many thanks to ranger David Mason for sharing his knowledge of the island and explaining the very significant works that the National Trust is carrying out on the reserve- a genuinely positive news story at a time when so much other current news is depressing. 

Many thanks to our tour guide, David Mason

ACCESS

We were very priviliged to be allowed to walk along the new paths but they are still work-in-progress and currently the only public access is along the main road up to the house and back.
All visitors must first gain permission to cross to the island by contacting the National Trust  northeyisland@nationaltrust.org.uk . This is needed to make sure visitors are aware of the tide times and the limited facilities on the island. The island will be closed entirely to visitors from 1st Oct to 31st March to avoid disturbance to the Brent Geese and other wintering bird species.

Hopefully once all the works are complete, improved access will become available.

The National Trust have produced a short video overview of the island and the need for the current works:  https://youtu.be/cvxaCUyJ9yA

More information about the island and the various projects being undertaken is available on the National Trust site https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/northey-island 

A quiet week so far for me due to 'life' pressures but a random glance out of my lounge window on Wednesday 14th produced a small kettle of five Common Buzzard and as I watched them a speeding Hobby flew through them heading on its way south...Hopefully more birding next week, and whilst the winds aren't exactly conducive to migration it is that time of year when I really should be out there as much s possible ...

Starting the blog with a nice duck!

Bird of the month award in the Prom Park this summer probably goes to this drake Silver Pintail.
Well at least it was easy to photograph, as it fed amongst the Mallard and Coot at the Marine Lake!
This is a form of Bahama Pintail, a popular species in collections here in the UK.

Drake Silver Pintail, Maldon Prom Park, 29 Aug 2022 (JB)