Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas - 13th April 2020

Date: 13th April 2020

Time: from 3:00 p.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 10°C to 12°C

I had planned an early morning visit and got up early in readiness. However, it was very cloudy, significantly colder than in recent days and very windy.

I therefore stayed at home and tuned in to Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin for their daily Self-Isolating Bird Club show on Twitter at 09:00 a.m.

I also found out that Andy Rouse is doing a weekly show on You Tube and I caught up with the 4 episodes that he has broadcast to date. Andy is one of the UK’s top wildlife photographers and, whilst his devotion to West Ham United is somewhat questionable, his You Tube shows are both informative and entertaining. Highly recommended.

The weather eventually improved mid-afternoon and I visited St. Nicholas Church and the surrounding areas.

There were 2 main highlights from my visit.

Firstly, I saw a Red Fox. Actually, when I first saw it, it was the rear half of a Red Fox plus a tail as it disappeared in to the bushes. However, just as I approached the turn off the track to return home, I saw a Red Fox directly ahead of me. I think this was probably the same animal as I had initially seen a few minutes earlier given the direction that it was running in. I did manage to get a photo but it was a completely blurred image of a tail tip as it again disappeared in to the bushes. I will not embarrass myself by posting the photo!

Secondly, and somewhat surprisingly given the low temperature, I saw my first Speckled Wood of the spring at the site. This is one of the commonest butterfly species here so hopefully over the coming weeks there will be a few more to see and photograph.

Being later in the day, birds were not as conspicuous or vocal as early in the morning but I did manage to see 2 singing male Blackcaps and heard 2 Chiffchaffs, a male singing and another bird calling.

I also briefly heard a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker.

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

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Robin

Wren

Dunnock

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Magpie

Woodpigeon

Red Fox

Speckled Wood

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