Date: 28th July 2020
Time: from 6:45 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, moderate wind, 13°C to 15°C
This was my first visit to either or my local patch sites in a week.
Yet again, July has produced several days of weather not typical of July: cool, windy, cloudy and rainy. This was hardly an incentive to get out and about.
This morning was still cool with a moderate wind but at least it was dry and sunny.
As on all my early morning visits, I spent some time watching the Red Foxes. I have written a separate dedicated blog post here.
Other than the Red Foxes, this was my quietest visit to the site in a long time.
I only managed to record 2 species of butterfly due to the cool temperatures: Gatekeeper (c.30), Meadow Brown (1).
Gatekeepers continue to be abundant and I recorded c.10 in a small area of brambles during a 15 minute period in order to submit records to the Big Butterfly Count organised by Butterfly Conservation .... see here.
With regard to birds, it was exceptionally quiet with few birds seen and only sporadic singing and calling and as such there is a very short list of species recorded.
I heard just a single male Blackcap singing very briefly and weakly (what a contrast to the number of males singing loudly and robustly during my spring visits) and heard another bird alarm calling. In addition, I heard a single Chiffchaff briefly giving its soft whistled contact call. I failed to see either species.
The only other notable record was a male Greenfinch which I did see singing and calling from the top of the usual tall conifer tree.
This was the second visit running that I failed to hear or see a Swift over St. Nicholas Church and the area adjacent to Pound Lane. I speculated in the blog post for my last visit to the site that it was still a bit early for these birds to have moved on and started their migration south. I have heard and seen single birds on a few occasions from my flat in recent days but the overall numbers are now definitely much reduced.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Robin
Wren
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Greenfinch
Jay
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Red Fox
Gatekeeper
Meadow Brown
Here are some photos from my visit (albeit only Gatekeepers and St. Nicholas Church):
Photo: Gatekeeper
Photo: Gatekeeper
Photo: Gatekeeper
Photo: Gatekeeper
Photo: Gatekeepers
Photo: St. Nicholas Church
Time: from 6:45 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, moderate wind, 13°C to 15°C
This was my first visit to either or my local patch sites in a week.
Yet again, July has produced several days of weather not typical of July: cool, windy, cloudy and rainy. This was hardly an incentive to get out and about.
This morning was still cool with a moderate wind but at least it was dry and sunny.
As on all my early morning visits, I spent some time watching the Red Foxes. I have written a separate dedicated blog post here.
Other than the Red Foxes, this was my quietest visit to the site in a long time.
I only managed to record 2 species of butterfly due to the cool temperatures: Gatekeeper (c.30), Meadow Brown (1).
Gatekeepers continue to be abundant and I recorded c.10 in a small area of brambles during a 15 minute period in order to submit records to the Big Butterfly Count organised by Butterfly Conservation .... see here.
With regard to birds, it was exceptionally quiet with few birds seen and only sporadic singing and calling and as such there is a very short list of species recorded.
I heard just a single male Blackcap singing very briefly and weakly (what a contrast to the number of males singing loudly and robustly during my spring visits) and heard another bird alarm calling. In addition, I heard a single Chiffchaff briefly giving its soft whistled contact call. I failed to see either species.
The only other notable record was a male Greenfinch which I did see singing and calling from the top of the usual tall conifer tree.
This was the second visit running that I failed to hear or see a Swift over St. Nicholas Church and the area adjacent to Pound Lane. I speculated in the blog post for my last visit to the site that it was still a bit early for these birds to have moved on and started their migration south. I have heard and seen single birds on a few occasions from my flat in recent days but the overall numbers are now definitely much reduced.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Robin
Wren
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Greenfinch
Jay
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Red Fox
Gatekeeper
Meadow Brown
Here are some photos from my visit (albeit only Gatekeepers and St. Nicholas Church):
Photo: Gatekeepers
Photo: St. Nicholas Church
Site totals to date:
Birds = 48
Mammals = 4
Butterflies = 20
Dragonflies and damselflies = 6
Reptiles = 1
Amphibians = 0
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
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