February 2011

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Wintry conditions may still linger but there are sure signs of reawakening in the countryside. This is especially true at the many rookeries in Essex where nest are repaired or built and there is noisy courtship. There are some 100 colonies in the county, several with more than 80 nests. Loss of suitable trees has meant a degree of concentration and adaptability. At Great Wigborough there are two or three rookeries in elm trees where the nests are sited remarkably low on the branches and hanging over roads that have constant traffic. The St Osyth Priory Estate rookery usually has 100 nests and in winter there is a huge roost of more than 1000 birds joined by hundreds of jackdaws. St Osyth also boasts a colony of grey herons with usually 20 occupied nests and in winter, roosts of up to 100 little egrets.

 

Left: February sees much activity in rookeries with nest building and repair and noisy courtship prior to nesting in March.

 

 

 

By mid-February the silvery catkins of sallow (pussy willow) are showing and in March they break into golden blooms rich with nectar providing food for bees, moths and butterflies early out of hibernation. If there are mild spells there may be early blooms of lesser celandine and march marigolds (king cups). In several damp, grassy wayside places there are the fragrant bluish-tinged white flowers of winter heliotrope, originally an introduced plant, with spreading colonies found at West Mersea, Mistley and in the grounds of the ancient church at Frinton.

 

Right: Despite fears that wrens may have suffered losses from the prolonged wintry weather they have survived in good numbers, probably helped by their communal roosts.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a growing chorus of birdsong from blackbirds, song thrushes, mistle thrushes, dunnocks, wrens and robins. Wrens have survived the long and severe cold spells in 2010 and in January this year. They, of course, benefit from crowding into multiple roosts in nest boxes, old nests and tree holes. Sometimes as many as 20 can be found in a snug huddle.

 

By the end of February and in March there are early nests of blackbirds but many of these precocious efforts come to grief from sudden returns to wintry conditions or predation. But this winter has seen a very welcome reappearance of small numbers of tree sparrows at Abberton, Langenhoe and West Bergholt. This declining species has not nested in Essex since 1999 and is classed in the Red Data category. We can only hope these sightings could presage a return of nesting pairs but there always have been some autumnal and winter movements, especially in coastal areas.

 

Flocks of waxwings continued to be reported in January as they moved around in north Essex seeking hedge and garden berries. Continue to look for them through February and in some years they don’t return to their nesting places in the northern forests of Europe until April.

 

Once the ice melted at Abberton Reservoir in January there were some flocks of grey geese including pink feet, bean and white-fronted, while at the RSPB’s Old Hall Marshes Reserve, Tollesbury, there were several hundred barnacle geese alongside thousands of dark-bellied brent geese.

 

Left: Flocks of siskins are feeding on the seed cones of alder trees often accompanies by goldfinches. (Male right)

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s worth looking for flocks of siskins, redpolls and goldfinches feeding on the seed cones of alder trees. Flocks of 40 plus siskins have been seen at Earls Colne; Marks Hall, Coggeshall; Hillhouse Wood, West Bergholt and Tiptree. Fewer wintering blackcaps were reported this winter and we didn’t have our usual male in our garden at West Bergholt whereas in 2010 one stayed with us throughout the worst of the snow and ice, joining other birds on the bird table or foraging in the garden. It was probably roosting in our bank of evergreens including strawberry tree, eucriphia and Vibernum tinens.

 

Doughal Urquhart, the chief ranger at Essex County Council’s Cudmore Grove Country Park, East Mersea, reports that it has been a good winter for Lapland buntings on Mersea Island with up to 20 in the grassy area near the Strood.

 

If you are interested in moths, a reminder that Essex Moth Groups Annual Meeting and exhibition  will be at the Venture Centre 2000, Bromley Road, Lawford on Saturday, February 26th (10.30am-5pm). A full day’s programme of illustrated talks, exhibits and discussions will include refreshments and lunch. This is your chance to learn more fascinating and often colourful insects.

 

If you are interested let me know on 01206-241389.