Evening visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 29th July 2020

Date: 29th July 2020

Time: from 9:00 p.m.

Weather: dry, setting sun, dark, 19°C

As it was again fine and dry, I visited St. Nicholas Church for the second successive evening, primarily with the purpose of watching Red Foxes and Badgers. What an evening it turned out to be with both these mammals plus a surprisingly welcome bonus!

Read on ….

During my visit last night, I had scattered some Chappie dog food and some peanuts around one of the entrances/exits where I have previously seen a Badger emerge. I also speculated that the white concrete block at the edge of the church car park may also be a good baiting location for Red Foxes since I had previously seen them jump up on to this.

Therefore when I arrived at the site, I first placed some dog biscuits on the white concrete block for the Red Foxes.

I then checked the location where I had left the Chappie dog food and peanuts for the Badgers last night. Had it all gone? Stupid question! …. of course it had 😀. I therefore left some more in the same area with a trail of peanuts leading away from it in the direction of where I proposed to sit and wait.

On my previous evening visits, I have watched the grassy strip that runs parallel to Church Hill down to St. Nicholas Lane for Red Foxes and I have always been successful with several sightings until it gets too dark to actually see anything.

Tonight, when I arrived at St. Nicholas Church, there were 2 young women walking down the grassy strip, back up Church Hill, down the grassy strip, back up Church Hill …. and repeat. Therefore, not surprisingly, I saw no Red Foxes but the young women were well exercised 😀.

I therefore moved slightly to my new Badger watching location. This still gave a view of the white concrete block. At 9:25 p.m., whilst intently looking out for Badgers in the gathering darkness, I glanced across to it and saw 2 Red Fox cubs, one eating the dog biscuits on top of the white concrete block itself and the other at the base presumably eating those biscuits that had fallen off. I think I can say that my guess last night that this would be a good baiting location turned out to be a inspired one!

At 9:30 p.m., I saw the distinctive black and white head of a Badger at the bottom of the hedge where I had scattered the Chappie dog food and peanuts. It very tentatively emerged and started to eat. It was then followed a few minutes later by another! I have seen a single Badger on each of my last few evening visits, and then only a brief sighting as it left the hedge and wandered off, but this was the first occasion that I had seen 2 together.

What followed was quite unexpected: another Badger emerged …. and then another …. and then another!

For about 15 minutes I was able to watch 5 Badgers together all eating my gifts of food and only about 25 feet away from me. They seemed oblivious to my presence although I stayed completely still and quiet despite a few biting insects and an aching back 😀. They also seemed unconcerned about the noise of occasional cars on nearby Church Hill. However, some Red Fox vocalisation did make them more alert and shortly after this 2 of the Badgers disappeared back in to the hedge.

However, the remaining 3 Badgers carried on confidently eating, not least a large individual (presumably a boar) who approached closer and closer to me (within 15 feet) following the trail of peanuts that I had laid.

These 3 Badgers could not have been unduly anxious with regard to the Red Fox vocalisation since a Red Fox actually appeared to join the feast for a few minutes. Neither the Badgers or the Red Fox seemed at all worried about each other’s presence and there was no interaction at all between them.

Eventually the Badgers must have deduced that they had scoffed every last scrap of Chappie dog food and every last peanut and they all returned to the hedge.

What an amazing experience!

After the Badgers had disappeared, I got up and very quietly left the area. I walked back down to the white concrete block which now had no dog biscuits left on it. I scattered some more on top and then left to sit and watch from the location that I usually use to watch the Red Foxes from in the evening. Unfortunately, they did not return in the following 30 minutes and I eventually left to walk home. I bet those biscuits are no longer there though 😀.

With regard to birds, as on my visit last night, I heard a Song Thrush singing from the top of Church Hill and a Robin briefly alarm calling. In addition, I saw 2 Woodpigeons. Yet again, I neither heard nor saw any groups of “screaming” Swifts flying overhead. However, I did hear 2 calling House Martins which I eventually saw flying very high in a southerly direction so these may well have been migrating birds following the assumed departed Swifts.

So what was the surprisingly welcome bonus?

I failed to see any Pipistrelles hunting for moths and other insects attracted to the street lights along Church Hill but when I arrived at the bottom of Church Hill just before Laindon Park School, I glimpsed a small mammal cross the road in the darkness. As I got closer, I turned on my torch to reveal a tiny Hedgehog no more than 6 inches long. Since adults can grow to about 7 to 12 inches in length, this animal was clearly a juvenile.

This was my first record of Hedgehog for the site bringing my bringing my site total for mammal species to 6. In the “site totals to date”, I have jumped from 4 to 6 but only because I failed to add Badger after my first record of that mammal on 8th June 2020. My apologies to all Badgers for overlooking the UK’s largest predator 😀.

This sighting of a Hedgehog was my first anywhere since June 2018 when I saw this rather large chap in broad daylight boldly going where ever Hedgehogs go in the village of Dervaig on the island of Mull. It is also indicative of the sharp decline in the population of this UK mammal …. see here.

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

Badger
Red Fox
Hedgehog

House Martin
Song Thrush
Robin
Woodpigeon

Site totals to date

Birds = 48
Mammals = 6
Butterflies = 20
Dragonflies and damselflies = 6
Reptiles = 1
Amphibians = 0

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