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The green sandpiper is an elegant small wader that can be seen in marshy places, dykes, estuaries and reservoir margins.
House martins leave for winter quarters in Africa. Declines in suitable nesting sites on modern houses are causing problems.
September sees the first sanderlings, waders which winter here from the north along beaches on the tideline.
Autumn sees migratory movements of birds of prey including red kites which now have nesting colonies in a number of places in the UK.
High on the seasonal birdwatcher’s ticklist must be the wryneck. While no longer breeding in the UK they pass through from Scandinavia and other Continental nesting haunts.
September 2011
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This is a productive and rewarding month for wildlife watching. It’s a time of two way travelling in the bird world. Species which summer with us to nest and rear young head south for winter in sunnier climes while the vanguard of many species which spend the winter months here from the far north and east are already arriving.

 Head for Walton Naze, Colne Point, Cudmore Grove, Tollesbury Wick and Fingringhoe Wick. At Walton the bushes and open grassy areas are favoured by warblers, flycatchers and chats (whinchat below) that have nested with us and are moving south for Africa and the Mediterranean. Among the warblers are lesser whitethroats which are fond of the ripening blackberries as well as a myriad of insects. The ripe fruit also
attracts butterflies, especially commas and red admirals.

There are lots of wading birds on the move in September especially whimbrel, greenshank, spotted redshank and common sandpiper moving south in the estuaries of Colne, Stour and Blackwater as well as at reservoirs and lakes.

News that three pairs of spotted flycatchers were at West Bergholt this summer was welcome as this is a bird which is alarmingly in decline. Some young were reared but one nest was predated in a garden. It’s believed that many spotted
flycatchers are killed on migratory flights from Africa and while crossing Mediterranean island where lots are trapped in mist nets for supplying restaurant demand despite efforts to stop this illegal activity. Indiscriminate so-called ‘sport shooting’ also takes its toll.
Although many butterfly species had a good season there’s increasing concern over the virtual absence of the wall brown. The decline of a once-common species in two brood is puzzling as there hasn’t been any serious habitat destruction and its larvae feed on common grasses. Changes of farming practices and climatic variations may be contributory factors. A special investigation is under way to determine causes and also to try and help conservation.

Late news from August
Rare moth
During an Essex Moth Group lamps session at Ford Farm, Brightlingsea on August 15 one of the species recorded was a coronet. This is classed as a rare vagrant to Essex. Ford Farm is home to a rare resident moth, the white-spotted pinion, the larvae of which feed on elm leaves. Farmer David Scott is a member of Essex Moth Group and CNHS. Two white-spotted pinions were recorded during the night confirming it was still breeding on the site.
Rare bird

 A subalpine warbler (pictured right), a rare migrant from southern Europe and Mediterranean area, was at Holland Haven in mid August and seen by a good number of birdwatchers.
Garden surprise for CNHS ‘butterfly man’

 CNHS vice-president and Essex Moth Group Leader, Ian Rose, had a surprise visitor to his large garden at School Lane, Mistley, on morning of August 21. A male silver-washed fritillary was zipping backwards and forwards and stopping to nectar on some garden flowers. Very much a first for Ian’s
garden but, in a way, appropriate as he is one of the team led by myself who have reintroduced the silver-washed fritillary to woodlands on the Marks Hall Estate, Coggeshall under an Essex Biodiversity Action Plan.