Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 8th November 2025

Date: 8th November 2025

Time: from 9:40 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 12°C to 14°C

I had a brief visit to the northern section of the site this morning but still managed some notable sightings:

The highlights with regard to birds during my visit were as follows:

Common Buzzard: 1 seen briefly being pursued by a Herring Gull in the northern section of the site and another seen later soaring very distantly beyond the site boundary to the north

Skylark: 1 heard calling in flight but unseen in the northern section of the site

Chaffinch: 2 seen in the northern section of the site

Starling: at least 30 seen in the northern section of the site

Great Spotted Woodpecker: 2 seen together at the top of a tree in the northern section of the site

With regard to mammals, I briefly saw a Red Fox which obviously saw me before I saw it and it quickly bolted into cover. However, presumably the same animal emerged a short while later which enabled me to get some photos. I also heard a Reeves’ Muntjac “barking” from the wooded area in the far corner of the northern section of the site.

Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):

Blue Tit 

Long-tailed Tit

Robin

Dunnock

Blackbird

Song Thrush

Skylark

Chaffinch

Goldfinch

House Sparrow

Starling

Common Buzzard

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Jay

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Woodpigeon

Herring Gull

Red Fox

Reeves’ Muntjac

Here are some photos from my visit …. 

Photo: Red Fox

Photo: Red Fox

Photo: Red Fox

Photo: Common Buzzard

Site totals for 2025 to date (2024 totals in brackets): 

Birds = 50 (49)

Mammals = 4 (3)

Butterflies = 23 (17)

Dragonflies and damselflies = 11 (11)

Reptiles = 0 (0)

Amphibians = 0 (0)

Total species list for the site 

Birds = 70

Mammals = 8

Butterflies = 26

Dragonflies and damselflies = 14

Reptiles = 1

Amphibians = 0

Love nature .... act now

Restore and rewild our natural world

Please help save and enhance our laws that protect our environment and wildlife

💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚

Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature

Trip away from SS15 - Bushy Park, London

Bushy Park is located in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and is the second largest of London's Royal Parks, at 1100 acres in area, after Richmond Park. The park, most of which is open to the public, is immediately north of Hampton Court Palace and Hampton Court Park and is a few minutes' walk from the west side of Kingston Bridge. 

In September 2014, Bushy Park was designated a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest together with Hampton Court Park and Hampton Court Golf Course as Bushy Park and Home Park SSSI. It includes a range of semi-natural habitats such as acid and neutral grassland, scrubland, woodland and wood pasture. 

The main purpose of my visit was to photograph the Red Deer and Fallow Deer.

See here for more information on the deer in Bushy Park. 

I didn't record all my bird sightings but a single Raven, repeatedly calling from the top of a tree, was notable and Ring-necked Parakeets were very conspicuous.

Here are some photos from my visit .... 

Photo: Red Deer

Photo: Red Deer

Photo: Red Deer

Photo: Red Deer

Photo: Red Deer

Photo: Red Deer

Photo: Red Deer

Photo: Fallow Deer

Photo: Fallow Deer

Photo: Fallow Deer

Photo: Fallow Deer

Photo: Fallow Deer

Photo: Fallow Deer

Photo: Fallow Deer

Photo: Fallow Deer

Photo: Fallow Deer

Photo: Fallow Deer

Photo: Fallow Deer

Photo: Fallow Deer

Photo: Fallow Deer

Photo: Fallow Deer

Love nature .... act now

Restore and rewild our natural world

Please help save and enhance our laws that protect our environment and wildlife

💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚

Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 27th October 2025

Date: 27th October 2025

Time: from 8:30 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, moderate/strong wind, 11°C to 12°C

I wasn’t expecting too much from my visit this morning due to the moderate to strong winds. However, it turned out to be an excellent visit for wildlife.

I was able to add another species to my 2025 site list taking the total to 50 species: Stonechat.

This sighting was totally unexpected. I first spotted a male Stonechat perched largely obscured in some scrub in the paddock in the northern section of the site ….

Photo: Stonechat

It then did the decent thing and perched up conspicuously, as Stonechats do, at several points around the northern section of the site. This enabled me to get several photos ….

Photo: Stonechat

Photo: Stonechat

Photo: Stonechat

Photo: Stonechat

Photo: Stonechat

Finally, I managed to get my best photo of the series ….

Photo: Stonechat

With this Stonechat sighting, my 2025 site list has now reached 50 species, an all-time record. Not only that but my all-time site list has now reached 70 species. I doubt that the bird realised the importance of his presence!

The other highlights with regard to birds during my visit were as follows:

Redwing: at least 2 birds heard calling overhead but none seen

Common Buzzard: 1 seen briefly in the northern section of the site

Grey Heron: 1 flushed from the pond in the northern section of the site

Goldcrest: 1 heard calling in the wooded area in the southern section of the site

Chaffinch: 4 seen flying over the northern section of the site

Starling: at least 150 seen in flight over and around the northern section of the site

Green Woodpecker: 1 seen in the central section of the cemetery

Great Spotted Woodpecker: 1 seen flying high over the northern section of the site

With regard to mammals, I saw 2 Reeves' Muntjacs in the woodland in the southern section of the site as I returned home.

Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):

Stonechat

Goldcrest

Blue Tit 

Robin

Redwing

Chaffinch

Goldfinch

House Sparrow

Starling

Common Buzzard

Green Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Jay

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Woodpigeon

Grey Heron 

Herring Gull

Reeves’ Muntjac

Here are some other photos from my visit ….  

Photo: Grey Heron

Photo: Reeves' Muntjac

Site totals for 2025 to date (2024 totals in brackets): 

Birds = 50 (49)

Mammals = 4 (3)

Butterflies = 23 (17)

Dragonflies and damselflies = 11 (11)

Reptiles = 0 (0)

Amphibians = 0 (0)

Total species list for the site 

Birds = 70

Mammals = 8

Butterflies = 26

Dragonflies and damselflies = 14

Reptiles = 1

Amphibians = 0

Love nature .... act now

Restore and rewild our natural world

Please help save and enhance our laws that protect our environment and wildlife

💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚

Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature

"Wage war on nature to build new homes: that’s Labour’s offer, but it’s a con trick"

The Government’s new Planning and Infrastructure Bill proposes to tear down environmental protections to benefit developers. It is a full-scale assault on our nature and wildlife which is already significantly struggling due to habitat destruction, pollution and climate change!

I voted for a Labour Party that was going to implement nature-friendly and wildlife-friendly policies as they promised prior to the General Election.

I thought there is no way that any Government can be as bad as the last one which totally ignored protecting and restoring the natural environment.

I was wrong.

Today's column is about the government's huge, unprecedented assault on nature ... and about the eerie, astonishing silence of the big nature groups. The RSPB, National Trust, Wildlife Trusts have 7.5m members between them. A vast force, completely unmobilised. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

[image or embed]

— George Monbiot (@georgemonbiot.bsky.social) October 16, 2025 at 6:52 AM

The Guardian - Wage war on nature to build new homes: that’s Labour’s offer, but it’s a con trick

The Guardian - UK Government putting pressure on nature groups to drop opposition to Planning and Infrastructure Bill 

The Guardian - Revealed: 5,000 English nature sites at risk under Labour’s planning proposals

Love nature .... act now

Restore and rewild our natural world

Please help save and enhance our laws that protect our environment and wildlife

💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚

Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature