Date: 21st June 2026
Time: from 7 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 19°C to 25°C
Due, to the predicted increasing temperature during the day, I had an early morning visit to the site although it was already very warm.
I walked the whole site and had an extremely successful visit with 10 further additions to my 2026 site list: Painted Lady, Marbled White, Small Tortoiseshell, Small Skipper, Essex Skipper, Large White, Small White, Black-tailed Skimmer, Emperor Dragonfly, Common Blue Damselfly
I recorded 10 butterfly species, some in remarkable numbers, as follows:
Woodland in the southern section of the site: Small White (1)
Grassland area at the bottom of “Hilly Road” and adjacent to St. Nicholas Lane in the southern section of the site: Marbled White (at least 10), Large/Small/Essex Skippers (combined total of at least 50), Common Blue (1), Large/Small White (combined total of at least 5), Meadow Brown (at least 15)
“Hilly Road”: skipper sp. (1), Meadow Brown (6)
Church car park: Painted Lady (2), white sp. (2), Meadow Brown (1)
Church cemetery: Painted Lady (2), Small Tortoiseshell (1), Meadow Brown (at least 30)
Grassland area in the northern section of the site: Marbled White (at least 15), Large/Small/Essex Skippers (combined total of at least 50), Meadow Brown (at least 75)
I recorded 3 dragonfly/damselfly species as follows: Black-tailed Skimmer (1 in the northern section of the site), Emperor Dragonfly (1 in the central section of the cemetery), Common Blue Damselfly (at least 5 around the pond in the northern section of the site)
The notable birds during my visit were as follows:
Lesser Whitethroat: male heard singing occasionally in the northern section of the site but unseen
Common Whitethroat: male seen singing almost continually in the northern section of the site
Blackcap: at least 5 singing males heard across the site but none seen
Chiffchaff: at least 5 singing males heard across the site but none seen
Green Woodpecker: 1 seen flying through the central section of the cemetery and 1 heard calling in the northern section of the site
Great Spotted Woodpecker: single birds heard calling but unseen in the woodland adjacent to Hilly Road and in the central section of the cemetery
Stock Dove: male heard calling briefly in the northern section of the site but unseen
With regard to mammals, I saw a single Grey Squirrel in the cemetery immediately adjacent to the church and heard a “barking” Reeves’ Muntjac in the northern section of the site.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Total species list for the site
Love nature .... act now
