Visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve - 25th May 2020

Date: 25th May 2020

Time: from 9:00 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 13°C to 22°C

I had another visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve today in the hope of seeing and photographing reptiles and butterflies again. Following recent reports on the Facebook page for the reserve, I also hoped to see some amphibians and dragonflies and damselflies.

Yet again, despite walking slowly and quietly several times round the boardwalk at the eastern end of the reserve, I failed to see any Common Lizards.

I did hear, albeit very briefly, frogs calling in both the Meadow Pond and Puckles Pond although they were at the back of each pond and there was no prospect at all of seeing them. I was unable to determine the species by the vocalisation. I also failed to see any Smooth Newts in any of the ponds.

I managed to record my first dragonfly and damselfly species for the site during my visit: Four-spotted Chaser (1 on the Meadow Pond), Common Blue Damselfly/Azure Damselfly (c.10 at Meadow Pond and 1-2 at Puckles Pond), Blue-tailed Damselfly (1-2 at Meadow Pond) and Large Red Damselfly (1-2 at Meadow Pond and c.5 at Puckles Pond).

I also recorded 5 butterfly species during my visit: Holly Blue (3), Orange Tip (2), Speckled Wood (3), Large White (3) and Green-veined White (1). Green-veined White is a new butterfly record for my site list taking it to 9 species.

With regard to birds, as usual it was generally much quieter than an early morning visit.

However, I was able to add Common Whitethroat to my site list, bringing the total to 31 species. This was not an addition to my UK 2020 list since I had already seen it for the first time at Gloucester Park on 30th April 2020 and on subsequent visits. The bird that I saw today was a singing male which ranged from the bushes at the end of the boardwalk to the bushes around Meadow Pond.

I again briefly saw a singing male Lesser Whitethroat, not in the usual location in the bushes around the end of the boardwalk but along the main track where there is an opening in to a circular area.

In addition, I saw 1 singing Blackcap and 1 singing Chiffchaff and heard 4 and 3 respectively of each species without seeing them plus I saw a fly-through female Sparrowhawk, a fly-over Herring Gull, a single Great Spotted Woodpecker and a male Mallard on Willow Pond.

Finally, I saw a Grey Squirrel in the trees by the first set of steps down from the perimeter track.

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

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

Four-spotted Chaser
Common Blue Damselfly
Azure Damselfly
Blue-tailed Damselfly
Large Red Damselfly

Holly Blue
Orange Tip
Speckled Wood
Large White
Green-veined White

Grey Squirrel

Here are some photos from my visit:

Photo: Four-spotted Chaser

Photo: Four-spotted Chaser

Photo: Four-spotted Chaser

Photo: Blue-tailed Damselfly

Photo: Azure Damselfly

Photo: Azure Damselfly

Photo: Large Red Damselfly

Photo: Large Red Damselfly

Photo: Large Red Damselfly

Photo: Large Red Damselfly

Photo: Large Red Damselfly

Photo: Large Red Damselfly

Photo: Large Red Damselfly

Photo: Green-veined White

Photo: Chiffchaff

Photo: Chiffchaff

Photo: Common Whitethroat

Photo: Seven-spot Ladybird

Photo: Seven-spot Ladybird

Photo: Nursery Web Spider

Photo: Nursery Web Spider

Photo: Nursery Web Spider

Photo: unknown bee species

Photo: Roesel’s Bush-cricket

Photo: Roesel’s Bush-cricket

Photo: ladybird bug (presumed Seven-spot Ladybird)

Photo: ladybird bug (presumed Seven-spot Ladybird)

Photo: Pond Skaters making more Pond Skaters 😀

Photo: Wild Rose

Photo: Wild Rose and False Oil Beetle

Photo: Wild Rose

Photo: Buttercups

Photo: Herb Robert

Photo: Hairy Vetch

Photo: unknown flying species 😀

💚🦆 🦉 🌼 🌳💚

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