3 Swifts seen again at 8 p.m. although very distantly over the St. Nicholas Church area.
Love nature .... act now
I had a trip to Oxford for Swifts but the trip was hardly “swift”!
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Love nature .... act now
I have been a regular visitor to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve as one of my two local wildlife watching patches (the other being the area centred on St. Nicholas Church) since early 2020 and I am a regular contributor to the Facebook page for the Reserve where I post reports and photos on my visits.
Noak Bridge Nature Reserve Society newsletter - Summer 2026
Love nature .... act now
Date: 29th June 2026
Time: from 6:30 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 14°C to 18°C
Following several days of extreme temperatures of up to 35°C, it was nice to return to some normality.
I had an early morning visit and walked the whole site which proved to be very successful with 10 further additions to my 2026 site list: Purple Hairstreak, Wall, Ringlet, Comma, Peacock, Red Admiral, Ruddy Darter
My year-to-date site list for butterflies has now increased to 19 species, just short of the highest year total of 23 species in 2023 and 2025.
However, dragonflies and damselflies continue to be scarce this year both in terms of the number of species (only 6 recorded) and abundance
After a relatively cool start, the warming temperature meant that I eventually recorded 12 butterfly species (Marbled White, the skipper species and Meadow Brown in remarkable numbers) as follows: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 10)
Immediate vicinity of the church: Purple Hairstreak (1), Wall (1), Red Admiral (1), Meadow Brown (1)
Church car park: Purple Hairstreak (1), Red Admiral (1)
Church cemetery: Painted Lady (1), Wall (2), Marbled White (1), Comma (1), Peacock (1), Red Admiral (1), Meadow Brown (5)
Woodland at the end of the access track from Larkins Tyres: Red Admiral (1)
Grassland area in the northern section of the site: Marbled White (at least 60), Large/Small/Essex Skippers (combined total of at least 80), Ringlet (1), Peacock (1), Red Admiral (1), Meadow Brown (at least 80)
I recorded just a single dragonfly/damselfly species as follows: Ruddy Darter (2 in the northern section of the site and another 2 in the eastern section of the cemetery)
The notable birds during my visit were as follows:
Swift: “screaming party” of 5 birds seen on several occasions flying high over Church Hill and the church
Common Whitethroat: 1 heard alarm calling and seen very briefly 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 over Church Hill 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 Church Hill and in the woodland area adjacent to the access track from Larkins Tyres
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Total species list for the site
Love nature .... act now
