Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas - 31st March 2020

Date: 31st March 2020

Time: from 8:15 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 5°C to 8°C

On this visit, I heard, but was unable to see, a singing male Blackcap in the same area as my first for the year on 26th March 2020. I also saw 2 singing male Chiffchaffs and heard another distantly.

In addition, I saw a Green Woodpecker and heard a further individual calling plus I heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling.

A female Sparrowhawk flying over the church and graveyard was a further highlight.

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

Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Robin
Wren
Blackbird
Song Thrush
House Sparrow
Sparrowhawk
Green Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Jay
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon

Site totals to date:

Birds = 41
Mammals =4
Butterflies = 15
Dragonflies and damselflies = 3
Reptiles = 1
Amphibians = 0

💚🦆 🦉 🌼 🌳💚

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

Visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve - 29th March 2020

Date: 29th March 2020

Time: from 8:00 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, strong wind, 5°C to 8°C

On the approach path from Asda to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve, I saw a Jay and a Grey Squirrel. 

At Noak Bridge Nature Reserve, I heard a singing male Blackcap and a singing male Chiffchaff.

The pond just south of the Eastfield Road entrance still held the 3 male Mallards and a female Mallard plus the Moorhen. I also saw a male and a female Mallard on one of the smaller ponds but these quickly flew off.

In addition, I was able to add a further 2 species to my site list on this visit: Starling and 2 fly-over and loudly honking Canada Geese.

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

Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Robin
Wren
Dunnock
Starling
Green Woodpecker
Magpie
Woodpigeon
Mallard
Moorhen
Canada Goose

Here are some photos from my visit:

Photo: Moorhen

 Photo: male Mallard

 Photo: female Mallard

Photo: male Mallard

Photo: Mallards

 Photo: Woodpigeon

 Photo: Woodpigeon

Photo: Blue Tit

 Photo: Daffodils

Photo: Daffodils

Site totals to date:

Birds = 23

Mammals = 0

Butterflies= 0

Dragonflies and damselflies = 0

Reptiles = 0

Amphibians = 0

💚🦆 🦉 🌼 🌳💚

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

Visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve - 28th March 2020

Date: 28th March 2020

Time: from 8:00 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 5°C to 8°C

On the approach path from Asda to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve, I heard a singing male Chiffchaff and saw a Green Woodpecker.

At Noak Bridge Nature Reserve, I also heard my first singing male Blackcap for the site plus I saw a singing male Chiffchaff and heard another.

The pond just south of the Eastfield Road entrance held 3 male Mallards and a female Mallard plus a Moorhen, both species being my first records for the site.

In addition, I was able to add a further 4 species to my site list on this visit: Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Dunnock and Herring Gull.

I heard a Green Woodpecker call frequently from the fields to the north of the site.

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

Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Robin
Wren
Dunnock
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Goldfinch
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Jay
Magpie
Woodpigeon
Mallard
Moorhen
Herring Gull

Here are some photos of Noak Bridge Nature Reserve:

Site totals to date:

Birds = 21
Mammals = 0
Butterflies = 0
Dragonflies and damselflies = 0
Reptiles = 0
Amphibians = 0

💚🦆 🦉 🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas - 26th March 2020

Date: 26th March 2020

Time: from 9:00 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 5°C to 8°C

Although I have visited this site many times over the years, this was my first visit having chosen it as a site to feature in this blog.

The highlight was my first Blackcap of the year taking my UK 2020 year list to 145. I first heard a male singing somewhat distantly. A brief play of its song on my Collins Bird Guide app on my mobile phone brought him rushing in to sing defiantly over my head.


In addition to the Blackcap, Chiffchaffs were very obvious and I saw 2 singing males and heard 3 others.

This site almost always provides my first records of the year for both Blackcap (normally late March to early April) and Chiffchaff (normally mid to late March).

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

Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Robin
Wren
Dunnock
Goldcrest
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Green Woodpecker 
Jay
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon

When I returned home, I almost immediately saw from my window a female Sparrowhawk in its characteristic "flap-flap-glide" flight. I have seen this species before both whilst walking around the site and overlooking it from my window.

Here are some photos from around the site:

Site totals to date:

Birds = 41

Mammals = 4

Butterflies = 15

Dragonflies and damselflies = 3

Reptiles = 1

Amphibians = 0

💚🦆 🦉 🌼 🌳💚

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

The Self-Isolating Bird Club

Chris Packham is well known to many of us as a nature photographer, TV presenter, writer and environmental campaigner.

I have lost count of the number of times that I have seen Chris speak at various events over the years and he has my utmost respect as a naturalist and campaigner.

In the light of the lockdown of our country, Chris has set up the Self-Isolating Bird Club on Twitter.

Chris and his step-daughter Megan McCubbin present a daily live show on Twitter at 9 a.m. (available to watch at any time thereafter).

I have to say that when Chris finally hangs up his binoculars, Megan would be absolutely brilliant as his successor.

The show includes “guest appearances” by video link from many other people including Chris’s colleagues from “Springwatch”, “Autumnwatch” and “Winterwatch” (Michaela Strachan, Iolo Williams and Martin Hughes-Games), chat on a huge variety of nature-related topics, lots of banter between Chris and Megan, photos and videos, a daily competition (guess the skull) and closing credits featuring slow motion film of Chris’s beloved poodles set to classical music.

The Self-Isolating Bird Club is highly recommended.

💚🦆 🦉 🌼 🌳💚

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