Summer 2022- Record temperatures and a few surprises

Post author: John Buchanan.
Many thanks to observers who have contributed records towards this summary, particularly to Simon Wood (who found so many of the goodies!)
All photos by John unless otherwise stated.

The main story of this summer has to be the heatwave, particularly for us in the south-east of the country. There was virtually zero rain locally in July and August. Apart from a brief period of thunder and heavy rain overnight on the 24th/25th August, continuing somewhat in the morning, Maldon was basically dry throughout. Oddly, there was heavy rain as close as Danbury and Hatfield Peverel the week before but we missed out.
The standout stats were about the temperatures. According to the Met Office, “the UK experienced a brief but unprecedented extreme heatwave from 16th to 19th July 2022, as hot air moved north from the near-continent, with extreme temperatures recorded on both 18th and 19th. On 19th, 40.3°C was recorded at Coningsby (Lincolnshire), setting a new UK and England temperature record by a margin of 1.6°C, and multiple stations across England also exceeded 40°C. This heatwave marked a milestone in UK climate history, with 40°C being recorded for the first time in the UK and 35°C being recorded for the first time in Scotland.” Maldon hit 39°C on the 19th July (timeanddate.com).

Fortunately the heatwave came after the main breeding season. Nevertheless, there were several disappointments bird-wise. For the first time there was no sign of any breeding activity from Turtle Doves on the patch. The only records were of single birds briefly in a garden in Heybridge and by the Military Museum- both presumed to be just passing through. Again, none of the spring WIllow Warblers stayed to establish a territory and Meadow Pipits and Redshank appear to have gone for good. The Black Redstarts did not return to Chandlers Quay. Occasional adult Cattle Egrets were seen at the heronry at Chigborough Lakes. Although no nests or youngsters were spotted, they can be quite secretive and may still have bred. This year there have been mutiple pairs breeding at Abberton- I suspect some of these may have been birds from Chigborough. Again, while Mediterranean Gulls were around in late spring, none chose to nest with the Black-headed Gulls at Heybridge Pits.
On the plus side, it was a good year for Nightingales, with birds widely reported, including singing birds on territory at Elms Farm Park and Loft’s Farm. Hazeleigh had good numbers and it is likely that those heard along Maldon Wick were an overspill from this population. At least one pair were successful along the Wick, judging by the croaking heard by Tony Kennelly. Croaking at Lofts Farm led Simon Wood to find a youngster there too- a first breeding record for the site. Sightings of juveniles confirmed that Bearded Tits had successfully bred at Heybridge Pits this year and a family party of Nuthatches was a welcome sight in Hazeleigh Wood.
After a seemingly blank year in 2021 for breeding House Martin, it was good to hear of sightings throughout the summer around Heybridge- hopefully they are recovering somewhat.
Tony’s regular walks to the south of Limebrook Way revealed continuing populations of three key ‘red-listed’ species- Yellowhammer, Corn Bunting and Yellow Wagtail. He also found the best bird of early summer- a calling Quail, in fields opposite Mundon Road on 2nd July, still calling on at least the 3rd.

Over now to other flying things- butterflies, moths and dragonflies. With sighting spreading throughout the county it was perhaps not that surprising but still exciting for Simon Wood to find a Purple Emperor at Lofts Farm. Only the second patch record this century following one he found at Hazeleigh in 2019. With plenty of Sallow and Oak in the area, lets hope they become established.
2022 was another good year for White Admiral at Hazeleigh and it was a relief for Silver-washed Fritillary to be seen there again, confirming that the colony is still ingoing despite a blank year for sightings in 2021.
Another teasing species is Wall Brown. After a couple of singleton sightings at Lofts Farm in previous years, Howard Vaughan found three along the sea wall at Heybridge Pits on a visit in early August.

Following their spread from the south-west coast, and with many records in London and into Essex in the recent years, Jersey Tiger was a hotly awaited addition to the Maldon Patch. The kudos for the first sighting goes to Steve Stuart, who found one near the London Road Cemetery. This was closely followed by two that Cindy Lawes found while moth-trapping near the top of the town. Simon Wood finally found his own, in Hazeleigh Wood on 15th Aug following overnight trapping there.
A period of intensive moth-trapping at Hazeleigh by Simon and Maureen Bissell, including a mass trapping event they organised with the Essex Moth Group, resulted in a number of new species for the site, the rarist being a Long-nosed Tabby (Sparganothis pilleriana), possibly only the second Essex record. The site total is now tantalisingly close to 800 species.
All this survey work has provided further evidence that a number of species of micro-moths previously only encountered as migrants appear to have now established local breeding populations, including Scarce Knot-horn (Acrobasis tumidana), Beautiful Pearl (Agrotera nemoralis), Marbled Grass-veneer (Catoptira verellus) and Vagrant Piercer (Cydia amplana). The fairly recent immigrant Italian Tubic (Metalampra italica) was also recorded at Hazeleigh.

Amongst the migrant species recorded at Hazeleigh, one I particularly enjoyed seeing was Vestal. Perhaps it’s because I was a bit of a Procul Harum fan- the only other time I can recall using the word is while singing along to Whiter Shade of Pale!
When moth-trapping there is always some ‘bycatch’ of other invertebrates. A couple of examples here are a Common Sexton Beetle, one of nature’s cleaner-uppers, and a Common Backswimmer, normally seen the other way up near the surface of ponds.

July saw another great local find by Simon- a Lesser Emperor dragonfly at Lofts Farm on 11th. After spotting it as it crossed Trout Lake, it appeared briefly a couple more times however it was clearly being chased away from the banks by the resident, and distinctly more aggressive, Common Emperors. The next day I spent a couple of hours there and was rewarded by a fly past at a distance of ten feet. Very distinctive, with its shining blue saddle contrasting with its grey-brown thorax and straight chocolate body. Sadly that was the last that was seen of it. I suspect the presence of so many of its larger relatives defending territories all around the lake had proved too much and it had moved on.

It’s not only insects that are colonising. False Widow Spiders are now firmly established in Maldon. There are various species involved. Rushing to get a sun umbrella out for the garden caused a few concerns for the arachnophobes in my family when opening it revealed a Noble False Widow (Steatoda nobilis) with egg sacs…

Over the summer, there was a great run of records from Lofts Farm, as exemplified by the number of times the site has already been mentioned in this account. Perhaps the most unexpected of Simon’s finds there was on the 26th June when he spotted a mustelid apparently sunning itself near the track beside Trout Lake. Further examination revealed that it was a male Polecat. He called me over and we then watched it as it intently waited for potential dinner at the entrance to a rabbit burrow. It’s general appearance and behaviour led us to the conclusion that there was every likelihood it was a wild individual. (Essex Polecat sightings have been increasing in recent years, thought to be spreading out from a population centred in Hertfordshire).

As August came, the appearance of the first migrant birds signalled the advent of autumn. As ever, some of the first to arrive were a few Common Teal along with a handful of Shoveler. The most obvious migrants are individuals of those species that do not breed here. Sadly Willow Warbler is now in that category. Their regular passage this year was first noted locally on 9th August at Lofts Farm. Swallows, Sand Martins and House Martins were all seen passing through and in brief feeding congregations over Lofts Farm, Chigborough Lakes and elsewhere. With the dry weather, water levels dropped, the islands at Heybridge Pits grew and significant areas of mud were revealed at Limbourne Creek. This encouraged a few passage waders to stop by, including a Little Ringed Plover at the former and up to seven Green Sandpipers at the latter.
There was a general lack of easterly winds during August, and a consequent lack of scarcer migrants, though a short spell around the 10th August was enough to bring a smart juvenile Little Gull to Heybridge Pits.
Hopefully September and October will bring some rain (for the land) and high pressure over Scandinavia to bring some rarer birds our way…