Time: from 10:00 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 15°C to 19°C
On the approach path from Asda to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve, I heard a singing Chiffchaff.
I had another later morning visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve today in the hope of seeing and photographing more reptiles and butterflies in the warm temperatures.
I saw just a single Common Lizard in the same location as on my visit on 16th April 2020, namely on the southern stretch of the boardwalk at the eastern end of the reserve although this time just beyond the “passing place”. This was a very brief sighting and I only managed to get one reasonable photo. This individual seemed to have a shortened tail. If threatened by a predator, the Common Lizard will shed its still moving tail in order to distract its attacker and make a quick getaway. This leaves a scar behind but it can regrow its tail although it is usually shorter than the original.
Butterflies were active but there was not a great diversity of species. I saw Orange Tip (at least 5 males), Small White (at least 5) and Speckled Wood (1).
With regard to birds, I saw 1 singing male Blackcap with a further 8 heard but not seen and I saw 3 singing Chiffchaffs with a further 3 heard but not seen. In addition, I heard a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker.
There was a Moorhen on the reedy pond at the east end of the boardwalk and a male Mallard on the pond just to the west.
I saw 2 Grey Squirrels, the first ran across the track leading down from the Eastfield Road entrance and the second was in the trees by the first set of steps down from the perimeter track.
On the Self-Isolating Bird Club show with Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin a few days ago, there was an item regarding phone apps. One that I was particularly interested in, given my almost complete absence of ID skills in respect of plants and flowers, was Seek by iNaturalist.
I installed this from Google Play and used it for the first time on this visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve. It is amazing! It helped me to quickly identify some of the plants and flowers and enabled me to correctly caption some of my photos below.
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
House Sparrow
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Woodpigeon
Magpie
Mallard
Moorhen
Common Lizard
Grey Squirrel
Orange Tip
Speckled Wood
Small White
Having taken my macro lens with me for the purpose of photographing reptiles and butterflies, I also used it for more flower photography and, on this occasion, some of the bugs and beetles.
Here are some photos from my visit:
Photo: Common Lizard
Photo: male Mallard
Photo: Seven-spot Ladybird
Photo: Common Dog-violet
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🦉 🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
i think the spider is a nursery web spider
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