Evening visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 6th August 2020

Date: 6th August 2020

Time: from 8:45 p.m.

Weather: dry, cloudy, dark, 23°C

I started my visit 15 minutes earlier than usual. After all, sunset is now occurring earlier following the Summer Solstice on 21st June.

My visit tonight again had the primary purpose of watching Badgers and Red Foxes although in respect of the Badgers it was more hope than expectation given that I had failed to see them on my previous 2 visits.

I was actually successful in seeing Badgers but not in the way that I was expecting given my previous experience of watching them feeding in close proximity for 15 to 20 minutes.

After scattering food where the Badgers have emerged in the past, I began with watching the grassy strip that runs parallel to Church Hill down to St. Nicholas Lane. Red Foxes were very active tonight and I had 5 sightings in a 30 minute period, all of individuals but also a sighting of 2 cubs together.

From 9:15 p.m., I sat in my usual position and watched and waited for the Badgers to emerge. It was a long wait and I nearly gave up assuming another “no show” was going to be the likely outcome.

However, during this period there was quite a lot of rustling from within the hedge from which the Badgers emerge from. I was finally rewarded at 9:55 p.m. when a Badger finally appeared at the usual location at the edge of the hedge. I was able to watch it for about 2 or 3 minutes but it never fully emerged to enjoy the food that I had left. Disappointingly, it eventually turned round and disappeared back in to the hedge.  

At 10:10 p.m. there was 2 minutes or so of extremely loud screaming and geckering from at least 2 Red Foxes. They must have been very close to me but I never actually saw them due to the darkness.

When I looked back towards the hedge, I immediately saw what I am sure was the rear end of a Badger disappearing off to the right behind some gravestones.

Shortly after this, 2 Badgers emerged from the bottom of the hedge and they also ran off in the same direction. As they did so, a Red Fox cub ran towards the location in the hedge that the Badgers had just left from, looked back at me and then disappeared in to the hedge. Just a few minutes after that, 2 Red Fox cubs appeared from the same position and trotted off.

So, in a short period of less than 10 minutes, there was plenty of activity from both Badgers and Red Foxes although neither did the decent thing by giving me lengthy sightings by settling down to scoff the food that I had left.

From 10:20 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., there was a lot of noisy movement and rustling from within the hedge although who ever was responsible did not appear and I am not sufficiently skilled yet to identify a Vulpes vulpes “rustle” from a Meles meles “rustle” 😉

With regard to birds, I only heard a Robin and a Blackbird, both alarm calling.

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

Red Fox

Robin

Blackbird

Site totals to date

Birds = 48

Mammals = 6

Butterflies = 20

Dragonflies and damselflies = 6

Reptiles = 1
Amphibians = 0

💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature