Date: 13th September
2024
Time: from 9:20 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light
wind, 10°C to 13°C
It was slightly warmer
than my visit to my St. Nicholas Church local patch site yesterday but, like that visit, I was still not expecting to see any butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies which
have been my main focus for the last few months.
However, it proved to an
excellent visit and I recorded the following:
Butterflies: Comma (1), Red
Admiral (4), Small White (1), unidentified blue species (1)
Dragonflies and
damselflies: Emperor Dragonfly (1), Common Darter (4)
Red Admirals were particularly
conspicuous, evidently feeding on the sugars produced by blackberries, and provided very good photo opportunities.
It was relatively quiet
with regard to birds but at least one of the spring and summer
visitors is still present: I saw a single foraging Chiffchaff at the
start of the boardwalk in the eastern section of the reserve and remarkably
heard a briefly singing male around Meadow Pond and heard another calling bird near
the storage shed.
Other highlights included
Moorhen (2 adults and 4 well-grown juveniles) and Mallard
(female) seen on Willow Pond plus a fly-over Pied Wagtail seen at Meadow
Pond.
Whilst at Meadow Pond,
I also saw a large raptor species which unfortunately was flying away
rather than in to the reserve air space! Although very pale, I believe that
this was a Common Buzzard.
Finally, I saw 2 Grey
Squirrels, the first in the woodland around the Spanish Steps and another running
across the grassland of Thorny Wood.
On my walk over to the reserve, I heard a robustly singing male Chiffchaff between Asda and the A127 bridge. With another singing male on the reserve itself, clearly these birds are not aware that the breeding season is long over and that they should be preparing to migrate south or settling in for the winter!
Species recorded during
this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Robin
Wren
Song Thrush
Goldfinch
Pied Wagtail
Jay
Magpie
Woodpigeon
Mallard
Moorhen
Grey Squirrel
Comma
Red Admiral
Small White
Emperor Dragonfly
Common Darter
Here are some photos
from my visit ….
Photo: Red Admiral
Photo: Red Admiral
Photo: Red Admiral
Photo: Red Admiral
Photo: Red Admiral
Photo: Red Admiral
Photo: Comma
Photo: Small White
Photo: male Common Darter
Photo: female/immature Common Darter
Photo: female/immature Common Darter
Site totals for 2024 to
date (2023 totals in brackets):
Birds = 36 (36)
Mammals = 3 (2)
Butterflies = 12
(15)
Dragonflies and
damselflies = 11 (11)
Reptiles = 0 (1)
Amphibians = 1 (2)
Total species list for
the site:
Birds = 49
Mammals = 4
Butterflies = 22
Dragonflies and
damselflies = 15
Reptiles = 2
Amphibians = 3
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