SS15 wildlife watching: Visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve

Saturday, 2 May 2020

Visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve – 2nd May 2020

Date: 2nd May 2020

Time: from 6:00 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 7°C to 11°C

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

This was my earliest start for a visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve.

I am in training for International Dawn Chorus Day tomorrow when dawn will be even earlier 😀. I think the birds are also rehearsing since there was a wide range of different birds singing and calling throughout the reserve on this beautiful sunny morning.

I recorded 22 species of birds in total, the highest number since I started visiting the site.

I was able to add a further 2 species to my site list on this visit: a Sparrowhawk which flew across the main track and a male Bullfinch initially heard calling and then seen at the top of a tree between the 2 ponds at the eastern end of the reserve.

I saw 1 singing male Blackcap and heard a further 7 singing males. I think this is probably my highest number recorded of this species.

I saw 2 Chiffchaffs which were almost certainly nest-building given their to and fro activity around a bush just off the boardwalk.

I also heard an extremely loud calling Green Woodpecker which unfortunately failed to reveal itself.

There was 1 Moorhen on the reedy pond at the east end of the boardwalk and another on the pond near the Eastfield Road entrance.

Mallards showed well today with 2 separate individuals flying over, a male on the reedy pond at the east end of the boardwalk and a male and a female on the small pond with the boardwalk jetty.

Finally, I saw 3 different individual Grey Squirrels. The first was in trees at the junction of the main track and the track down from the Eastfield Road entrance and the second was further west along the main track. I saw the third in a tree alongside the perimeter track adjacent to the A127. This individual remained still in the trees for at least 5 minutes before I moved on and seemed to be apparently “sunbathing” in the warming sun 😀.

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
Bullfinch
Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Sparrowhawk
Green Woodpecker
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Jay
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Mallard
Moorhen

Grey Squirrel

Here are some photos from my visit: