Date: 12th August 2020
Time: from 6:15 a.m.
Weather: dry, hazy sunshine, light wind, 20°C to 24°C
Today is the "Glorious Twelfth" .... but see here.
It looked distinctly autumnal when I got up with the sun struggling to break through a misty dawn.
Time: from 6:15 a.m.
Weather: dry, hazy sunshine, light wind, 20°C to 24°C
Today is the "Glorious Twelfth" .... but see here.
It looked distinctly autumnal when I got up with the sun struggling to break through a misty dawn.
However, a temperature of 20°C and high humidity
at 6 a.m. quickly reminded me that the August heatwave was still ongoing.
The mist cleared quickly to be replaced by hazy
sunshine and the temperature had already soared to 24°C
This was my first daytime visit to the site in a
week and I had no specific intention of watching and photographing Red Foxes.
However, it proved to be successful, at least in respect of seeing them. I have
written a dedicated blog post here.
With regard to birds, it continues to be exceptionally quiet with
few birds seen and only sporadic singing and calling and as such there is again
a relatively short list of species recorded.
Compared with recent weeks, there was much more evidence of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs today. I heard at least 5 Blackcaps at various locations although none were singing but instead giving their distinctive harsh alarm call. I saw 1 Chiffchaff and heard 2 others, all birds giving their soft whistled contact call.
Compared with recent weeks, there was much more evidence of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs today. I heard at least 5 Blackcaps at various locations although none were singing but instead giving their distinctive harsh alarm call. I saw 1 Chiffchaff and heard 2 others, all birds giving their soft whistled contact call.
I also had a surprising but not totally
unexpected sighting of another summer migrant. I heard a calling Swallow
and then eventually saw it flying (north!) over St. Nicholas Church at a great height.
I heard a single calling Green Woodpecker and
later in a different location, I had an extended view of a juvenile foraging on
the ground.
In addition, I heard 2 calling Great Spotted Woodpeckers at different locations around the site.
Despite the temperature, the diversity and number of butterflies was disappointing and I only managed to record 2 species: Common Blue (1), Gatekeeper (20+)
Finally, I saw 3 individual Grey Squirrels, the highest number on a visit for several months.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Swallow
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Wren
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
Goldfinch
Green Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Red Fox
Grey Squirrel
Common Blue
Gatekeeper
Here are some photos from my visit:
Photo: Gatekeeper
Photo: Gatekeeper
Photo: Cornflowers
Site totals to date:
Birds = 49
Mammals = 6
Butterflies = 20
Dragonflies and damselflies = 6
Reptiles = 1
Amphibians = 0
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
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