Date: 29th March 2025
Time: from 6 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light
wind, 4°C to 6°C
This was my earliest
visit of the year to date and it was a beautiful but cold sunny spring morning.
After seeing my first Blackcap
of the year on 9th March 2025 at
Noak Bridge Nature Reserve and then recording 5 singing males during my visit to Benfleet
and Benfleet and Hadleigh Downs on 27th March 2025, I was fully expecting to at least
hear and hopefully see my first singing male during my visit this morning.
I was not disappointed.
I first heard a singing male Blackcap in the northern section of the
site, albeit the song was weak and sporadic and I failed to see the bird.
However, when I was returning home through the woodland in the southern section
of the site, I saw a very showy singing male Blackcap.
Blackcap is obviously another
addition to my site list for 2025 taking it to 36
species.
This year's arrival date for Blackcap is broadly similar to that in the last 2 years: 27th March 2024 and 2nd April 2023.
Chiffchaffs are now
well-established across all parts of the site and this morning I recorded 9
singing males (2 seen).
Other highlights during
my visit were as follows:
Grey Heron: 1 seen flying in to
the northern section of the site and perching in a tree for a few minutes before
then flying to another tree by the main pond and then eventually flying off west
Stock Dove: 1 heard briefly
calling in the wooded area adjacent to the access track from Larkins Tyres
Jackdaw: 1 heard flying
over the paddock in the northern section of the site and 1 seen flying over the
church
Green Woodpecker: 1 heard
calling in the northern section of the site and another heard calling in the
Church Hill area
Great Spotted
Woodpecker: birds
heard “drumming” in the northern section of the site, in the wooded area at the
end of the eastern section of the cemetery and in the woodland opposite the
church
Great Tit: this species (and Blue
Tit) is very conspicuous across the site but a pair was busy nestbuilding
in a hole in the old wooden cladding to the church
My Merlin app picked up (allegedly!) Common Whitethroat, Grey Wagtail, Stonechat, Linnet and Coal Tit. I usually record Common Whitethroat each spring and I have previously recorded a single Grey Wagtail in both 2023 and 2024. The last 3 species are absent from my site list and would all be very surprising records if they were to occur.
With regard to mammals,
I had a brief view of a Reeves’ Muntjac in the paddock behind Larkins
Tyres as I entered the site and, having visited the northern section of the
site and returned to the path, I had an extended view of a Red Fox.
Species recorded during
this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Robin
Wren
Dunnock
Blackbird
Song Thrush
House Sparrow
Green Woodpecker
Great Spotted
Woodpecker
Jackdaw
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Stock Dove
Woodpigeon
Grey Heron
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed
Gull
Red Fox
Reeves’ Muntjac
Here are some photos
from my visit ….
Photo: Red Fox
Photo: Red Fox
Photo: male Blackcap
Photo: Lesser Black-backed GullSite totals for 2025 to
date (2024 totals in brackets):
Birds = 36 (49)
Mammals = 3 (3)
Butterflies = 0 (17)
Dragonflies and
damselflies = 0 (11)
Reptiles = 0 (0)
Amphibians = 0 (0)
Total species list for
the site
Birds = 69
Mammals = 7
Butterflies = 25
Dragonflies and
damselflies = 14
Reptiles = 1
Amphibians = 0
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