Time: from 6:00 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 7°C to 15°C
This was my first visit to St. Nicholas Church and the surrounding areas since 29th May 2020 due to having the use of a rental car for 5 days and therefore wildlife watching elsewhere in Essex and further afield …. plus the poor weather over the last few days.
As on my last visit, the morning started with watching the Red Foxes and I have again written a separate dedicated blog post here.
Whilst I was watching the Red Foxes (mostly waiting for them to show), I heard a male Greenfinch giving its typical wheezy call and then saw it perched at the top of a tall tree. In the same area, I also heard a singing male Chaffinch and a continuously singing Goldcrest which eventually decided to show itself.
With regard to birds, I had a very distant sighting of just a single Swift on this visit, well to the north of St. Nicholas Church and beyond the graveyard.
I heard 4 singing male Blackcaps and 2 singing male Chiffchaffs but failed to see any of them.
Woodpeckers were very evident this morning and I saw 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and heard 2 others plus I also heard 2 calling Green Woodpeckers.
As I left the area, the temperature was still relatively cool but I did manage to see my first 2 Gatekeepers of the year.
Finally, I again bumped in to Phil and Andy, the 2 conservation volunteers for the site, plus Phil’s lovely dog. We had another enjoyable conversation regarding the wildlife of the site and their hopes of engaging the local community to raise interest and protect the area from further development. Andy told me he is in the process of setting up a Facebook group for “Laindon Park Conservation Volunteers” which will enable me to contribute sightings and photos as I do for the Facebook page for Noak Bridge Nature Reserve.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Swift
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Robin
Wren
Dunnock
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Greenfinch
Chaffinch
Goldcrest
House Sparrow
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Green Woodpecker
Jay
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Red Fox
Gatekeeper
Here are some photos from my visit:
Photo: Woodpigeon
Photo: male Greenfinch
Site totals
to date:
Birds = 46
Mammals = 4
Butterflies
= 16
Dragonflies
and damselflies = 5
Reptiles = 1
Amphibians
= 0
💚🦆
🦉 🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
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