Time: from 6:15 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 18°C to 24°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, before reaching my usual Red Fox watching location, I saw an adult Red Fox at the far eastern end of the cemetery. I have no idea if this was the vixen that I have been watching with the cubs for several weeks now but that particular vixen certainly arrived from this part of the site and headed off in the same direction when I first encountered the cubs close to the church.
Whilst at the Red Fox watching location, I saw a singing male Greenfinch in his usual tree plus I also saw a Jay and heard a calling Green Woodpecker. A male Blackcap and a male Chiffchaff also sang regularly in this area and I saw both birds. In addition, I saw a Grey Squirrel running along the boundary fence to the houses in Pound Lane.
However, the most remarkable sighting whilst waiting for the Red Foxes to appear was 2 fly-over Ring-necked Parakeets. I first heard them calling but it took a few seconds to work out in my mind what species it was. Eventually the distinctive shape and colour of the birds appeared overhead. There are several sites in south and west London where I see this species, most notably Richmond Park and WWT London Wetland Centre but I have rarely seen Ring-necked Parakeet in Essex. Needless to say, it was my first record for the site bringing my site total for bird species to 48.
Photo: Ring-necked Parakeet at WWT London Wetland Centre, Barnes, London
Photo: Ring-necked Parakeet at WWT London Wetland Centre, Barnes, London
I again saw a Swift this
morning between Pound Lane and St. Nicholas Church but just a single bird on 2 separate
occasions.
In
addition to the Blackcap and Chiffchaff at the Red Fox
watching location, I heard another 8 singing male Blackcaps and another Chiffchaff.
After hearing a calling Green Woodpecker at the Red Fox watching location, I saw a pair together at the far eastern end of the
cemetery.
As the temperature began to significantly
warm up from 8:00 a.m., I assumed that all the Red Foxes had returned to
their air-conditioned and sweet-smelling den (not) to lie up during the heat of the
day. It was therefore time to start looking out for butterflies, dragonflies
and damselflies.
I managed to record 8 butterfly
species on this visit: Marbled White (c.10), Ringlet
(2), Comma (1), Holly
Blue (1), Red Admiral (1), Large Skipper (50+), Meadow
Brown (100+) and Large White (10+).
Given that the flight period of
the adult Marbled White is from late June and throughout July, I hoped to be
able to see this beautiful butterfly on this visit. I had seen it for the first
time at the site last year and today I saw at least 10, including a mating pair, in
the rough grassland area between St. Nicholas Church and St. Nicholas Lane. It
took some time to get any photos due to the almost constant restless flying of
this species although I was eventually successful.
In addition to Marbled White,
I also managed to record my first Ringlets of the year at the site. The
very large numbers of Large Skippers and Meadow Browns across the
site but especially in the area frequented by the Marbled Whites was
also notable.
I also recorded 2 dragonfly
species on this visit: Emperor Dragonfly (c.5) and Ruddy Darter
(at least 1 specifically identified but probably at least another 5 of this
species or alternatively Common Darter). This was my first record of Emperor
Dragonfly for the site bringing my site total for dragonfly and damselfly
species to 6. This was also my first record of Ruddy Darter for the year
at the site.
Finally, I saw another or maybe
the same adult Red Fox in the central area of the cemetery so obviously not
everyone had retired for their siesta 😀.
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
Blackbird
Song
Thrush
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Green Woodpecker
Ring-necked
Parakeet
Jay
Magpie
Carrion
Crow
Woodpigeon
Collared
Dove
Red Fox
Grey
Squirrel
Marbled
White
Ringlet
Comma
Holly Blue
Red Admiral
Large Skipper
Meadow Brown
Large White
Emperor Dragonfly
Ruddy Darter
Darter sp.
Here are some photos from my visit:
Photo: Emperor Dragonfly
Photo: Emperor Dragonfly
Photo: Emperor Dragonfly
Photo: Ruddy Darter
Photo: Ruddy Darter
Photo: Ruddy Darter
Photo: Marbled Whites
Photo: Large Skipper
Photo: Meadow Brown
Photo: Seven-spot Ladybirds
Photo: Hedge Bindweed
Site totals
to date:
Birds = 48
Mammals = 4
Butterflies = 18
Dragonflies and damselflies = 6
Reptiles = 1
Amphibians = 0
💚🦆
🦉 🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
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