Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 7th July 2020

Date: 7th July 2020

Time: from 5:15 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 10°C to 16°C

After days of unseasonally poor weather for early July (cool, very windy and some rain), a check of the weather forecast on Monday night showed that Tuesday morning would show a significant improvement, hence a plan to visit St. Nicholas Church and the surrounding areas.

I had a poor night’s sleep and woke up long before the alarm on my mobile phone went off. After listening to a singing male Blackbird for 15 minutes or so plus a less melodic Carrion Crow, I finally got up at 4 a.m.

As it began to get light, the pre-dawn sky in the south west revealed an almost full Moon plus the distant white specks of Jupiter and Saturn. Fortunately, Sky Map greatly assists identifying what you are looking at although when I got my telescope out, Saturn was very obvious.

Whilst I was making my pre-trip morning coffee, the sun rose in the eastern sky and I took this stunning photo from my flat window ….

Eventually I left home and arrived at St. Nicholas Church at 5:15 a.m.

As on all recent visits, the morning started with watching (or trying to watch) the Red Foxes at the usual location. This proved to be extremely disappointing (also known as a complete waste of time) but the Red Foxes did redeem themselves with sightings at various other locations. I have written a separate dedicated blog post here. 

Whilst at the Red Fox watching location, I saw a male and female Greenfinch both perched together calling in the usual high conifer tree. In this area I also saw 1 or possibly 2 male Blackcaps. 

As on my last visit, the other notable record from sitting patiently at the Red Fox watching location was Reeves' Muntjac. I heard the distinctive “barking” for around 10 minutes from within the hedge but it did not emerge. Whilst I again failed to see it or photograph it, I did manage to record it. Here is the sound file with a photo of a Reeves' Muntjac from my visit on 15th May 2020.

Richard · "Barking" Reeve's Muntjac - Laindon, Essex, UK - 7th July 2020


Now that we are in to July, bird song and bird activity is noticeably and significantly reduced.

Other than Blackcap, the only bird song was provided by a Song Thrush and a few Wrens.

Blackcaps continue to do their best to claim it is still spring rather than an advancing summer but even their song is less robust and much more sporadic. In addition to the 1 or 2 birds seen at the Red Fox watching location, I heard 3 other singing male Blackcaps.

As on my last visit, I failed to hear any singing male Chiffchaffs. However, I did briefly hear the soft whistled contact call and I saw 1 or possibly 2 birds flitting around the bushes at the edge of the church car park.

As expected, I again saw Swifts but definitely not in the numbers seen on my last visit. All the sightings were around St. Nicholas Church with 3 separate singles plus a group of 3.

Blackbirds and Robins were very obvious today but presumably their numbers are now being augmented by fledglings.

I also saw 5 Jays, a much higher number than normal but well in advance of the “acorn season” later in the year when this species becomes very conspicuous and very vocal as it collects fallen acorns.

In the cemetry, I heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker briefly calling and both heard and saw a Green Woodpecker.

On my way home via, the rough grassland area between St. Nicholas Church and St. Nicholas Lane, I saw 2 Marbled Whites, 5+ Meadow Browns and 5+ skipper sp. (not identified to Large or Small).

Finally, I saw a Grey Squirrel, again trying to do its best impression of a trapeze artist on the telephone wires by St. Nicholas Church.

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

Green Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Jay

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Woodpigeon

Collared Dove

Herring Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Red Fox

Reeves' Muntjac

Grey Squirrel

Marbled White

Skipper sp.

Meadow Brown

Here are some photos from my visit (well just 2, both of a male Blackbird):

Photo: male Blackbird

Photo: male Blackbird

Site totals to date:

Birds = 48

Mammals = 4

Butterflies = 18

Dragonflies and damselflies = 6

Reptiles = 1

Amphibians = 0

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