Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 13th June 2020

Date: 13th June 2020

Time: from 5:30 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 13°C to 15°C

As on my visit on 9th June 2020, the morning started with watching the Red Foxes and I have again written a separate dedicated blog post here.

I again saw Swifts this morning around St. Nicholas Church, 3 on the first sighting and 2 on the second sighting.

I saw 2 singing male Blackcaps and heard 4 others plus I heard 2 briefly singing male Chiffchaffs.

With regard to other birds,  I saw Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a male Chaffinch plus I heard a calling Greenfinch and a singing Goldcrest.

Magpies were very evident this morning with several noisy juveniles begging for food from their parents.

As the temperature began to warm up, I managed to record 5 butterfly species: Comma (1), Holly Blue (1), Large Skipper (1), Speckled Wood (1) and Meadow Brown (c.10). According to my records and somewhat surprisingly, this was my first sighting of Comma at the site bringing my site list total to 18 species.

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

Goldfinch

Goldcrest

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Woodpigeon

Collared Dove

Herring Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Red Fox

Comma

Holly Blue

Large Skipper

Speckled Wood

Meadow Brown

Here are some photos from my visit:

Photo: Comma

Photo: Large Skipper

Photo: Robin

Photo: Robin

Photo: Robin

Photo: Great Tit

Photo: adult and juvenile Magpies

Site totals to date:

Birds = 47

Mammals = 4

Butterflies = 18

Dragonflies and damselflies = 5

Reptiles = 1

Amphibians = 0

💚🦆 🦉 🌼 🌳💚

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