Time: from 6:15 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 14°C to 16°C
As on all recent visits, the morning started with watching the Red Foxes. This was the most disappointing visit for some time although I have still written a separate dedicated blog post here.
Whilst at the Red Fox watching location, I saw 2 fly-over calling male Greenfinches. They eventually returned with one perched in the usual high conifer tree from where it sings (except it didn’t today!) whilst the other perched in the lower adjacent tree and called continuously for some time. In this area I also saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker which clung to the top of one of the tall trees for several minutes plus a Jay and a male Blackcap which kept flying to and fro to feed on the emerging blackberries.
However, the most remarkable sighting whilst waiting for the Red Foxes to appear was a fly-over of c.40 Swifts all slowly heading westwards. There were no “screaming” calls to alert me to them. I just happened to look up and saw them so many more could have passed over before I noticed them.
The other notable record from sitting patiently at the Red Fox watching location was Reeves' Muntjac. After about 30 minutes of arriving at my hedgeline viewpoint, there was some rustling within the hedge which I assumed (hoped) might be a Red Fox. However, this was quickly followed by the distinctive “barking” of a Reeves' Muntjac which continued intermittently for about 5 minutes. I anticipated that it might emerge from the hedge so that I could get a photograph as I had done in the same area as on my visit on 15th May 2020 but the opportunity never arose and it eventually stopped “barking”.
In addition to the berry-munching male Blackcap at the Red Fox watching location, I heard another 3 singing male Blackcaps but from memory this was the first visit since mid-March 2020 that I failed to hear or see a Chiffchaff.
The only other bird highlight was a singing Goldcrest in one of the trees close to St. Nicholas Church.
As I wanted to be home reasonably early today, I did not spend much time looking for butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies even though the warming temperature was beginning to encourage an increase in activity.
Nonetheless the bramble and honeysuckle bushes and rough grassland very close to the Red Fox watching location did produce Meadow Brown (c.20), Large White (c.5), Large Skipper (c.10), Small Skipper (c.5) and Ringlet (1). These were my first sightings of Small Skipper of the year for the site. I also saw a single Ruddy Darter in this area.
I saw a single Red Admiral in the church car park plus 2 more Ringlets on the way down to St. Nicholas Lane. Lastly, I saw 2 Marbled Whites in the same area as on my last visit, namely the rough grassland area between St. Nicholas Church and St. Nicholas Lane.
Finally, I saw a Grey Squirrel in the wooded area close to my home.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Swift
Blackcap
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Robin
Wren
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Goldcrest
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Jay
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon
Herring Gull
Red Fox
Reeves' Muntjac
Grey Squirrel
Marbled White
Ringlet
Red Admiral
Large Skipper
Small Skipper
Meadow Brown
Large White
Here are some photos from my visit:
Photo: Ruddy Darter
Photo: Small Skipper
Photo: autumn is already on the way …. Blackberries for berry-munching Blackcaps
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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