66
THE ESSEX NATURALIST
Redwings passing over at night. 24th. Two adult Pied Wagtails playing
below cowshed. One chasing the other in flight and as they circled the feeding
area they both flew in a semi-erect position most peculiar to watch. They
settled for a moment and then repeated the performance. About 100 Lapwing
on the field. 25th. Small numbers of Swallows each day. 31st. About 100
Fieldfare flew overhead.
November 2nd to 4th. A few Swallows and Martins each day. 5th to
19th. One or two Swallows only. 20th. It is colder and the Swallows have
gone. 25th. Barn-Owl on the wing near the church. 27th. Lapwings
numerous. One or two Fieldfares feeding on berries. 28th. Three cock Bull-
finches feeding on deadly nightshade berries 10 feet from the window. A large
flight of geese with cries like our domestic birds passed over at 9 p.m. in pitch
black darkness. They were so high that their raucous cries sounded faintly even
when directly overhead. They appeared to be heading for the Severn area.
December 2nd. Plenty of Teal and Mallard in the marsh. About 50 Bed-
wings at Stowe. Several Goldcrests working Honey Pot Lane hedge. 5th. Bull-
finches feeding on deadly nightshade berries in the garden. 9th. Five Field-
fares flew over. 10th - 11th. Very mild. Birds singing all day. 20th. A cold
icy wind and the first snow of the winter. 27th. About 600 Lapwings on our
shore-line. Four Snipe in cowshed ditch. Large numbers of various duck in
the marsh and moving up and down the river in large flights. No Fieldfare or
Redwing. 29th. Three Fieldfares in our thicket. 30th. At least 1.000 mixed
duck on the flooded marsh. 31st. Mild weather to end the year.
My assumption that the Fieldfare and Redwing flocks had been nearly
wiped out in February last appears to have been correct. No large flocks have
been recorded this autumn by the Essex Bird Watching Society.
A Storm-petrel in Essex.—On Sunday, December 9th, 1956, I received a
telephone call advising that a Storm-Petrel had been found in Epping Forest.
At my invitation the bird was brought to me the same afternoon.
Upon examination the bird proved to be, as thought, a Storm-Petrel
Hydrobates pelagicus L. Apart from a broken wing it was in excellent
condition and the finder, Mr. John Chapman, of Loughton kindly presented
the specimen to the Epping Forest Museum. It has been passed to the taxider-
mist for attention and it is hoped to have it on exhibition before this note
appears.
The Storm-Petrel is a maritime bird and the greater part of its life is
pelagic. In A History of the Birds of Essex Glegg states that "occurrences of
this bird are very unusual, but the information from the lightships suggests that
it appears with greater frequency at some distance from the coast." Apart from
the records from the lightships some nine examples are recorded from the "end
of the eighteenth century" up to the date of Glegg's work (1929). I have been
unable to trace any Essex records since that time in British Birds.
The Report of the Essex Bird Watching and Preservation Society for 1955
records that one was seen resting on the water at Abberton Reservoir on 1st
October, 1955. Bernard T. Ward.
Stone-Curlew in Essex.—On July 7th, 1956, I was returning from Saffron
Walden, driving along the Royston road, reaching a spot about three miles
from Saffron Walden just after 8 o'clock in the evening, when I saw a large
bird flying slowly in front of the car a few feet from the ground and
occasionally alighting on the road.
Redwing. 29th. Three Fieldfare in our thicket. 30th. At least 1000 mixed