Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 17th June 2020

Date: 17th June 2020

Time: from 5:45 a.m.

Weather: dry, hazy sunshine or cloudy, light wind, 15°C to 19°C

As on all recent visits, the morning started with watching the Red Foxes and I have again written a separate dedicated blog post here. However, today it was really hard work with only limited sightings and only a single photo.

Whilst at the Red Fox watching location, I saw a singing male Greenfinch in his usual tree and he was joined by a Great Spotted Woodpecker for a few minutes. In this area, I also saw a Jay and a single fly-over Black-headed Gull and heard a singing male Goldcrest and a calling Green Woodpecker. Some rustling in the bushes above me finally resulted in me seeing a beady eye looking back at me …. a Grey Squirrel.

The long wait for anything remotely resembling Red Fox action led to delirium setting in and me “seeing” a Tawny Owl …. see photo below 😀.

I again saw Swifts this morning between Pound Lane and St. Nicholas Church, single birds on several occasions but also a pair and a group of 3.

I saw 2 singing male Chiffchaffs and heard 1 other plus I heard 3 singing male Blackcaps.

I also saw another Great Spotted Woodpecker (strangely perched and calling from the spire of St. Nicholas Church) and heard 2 others calling. 

As the temperature began to warm up, I managed to record 2 butterfly species: Large Skipper (4) and Meadow Brown (c.15). 

Finally, I saw a second Grey Squirrel in the wooded area close to home.

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

Swift

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Robin

Wren

Dunnock

Blackbird

Song Thrush

Greenfinch

Goldfinch

Goldcrest

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Woodpigeon

Collared Dove

Black-headed Gull

Herring Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Red Fox

Grey Squirrel

Large Skipper

Meadow Brown

Here are some photos (not many this time!) from my visit:

Photo: Large Skipper

Photo: Large Skipper

Photo: Meadow Brown

Photo: Song Thrush

Photo: getting desperate part 1 .... a Tawny Owl!

Photo: getting desperate part 2 .... one for the mammal list!

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