SS15 wildlife watching: Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas

Date: 9th October 2020

Time: from 8:45 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 7°C to 8°C

It was a very sunny morning as I looked out of my flat window when I got up this morning. However, as I left home, I was struck by how cold it was. It was definitely autumnal!

This was my first daytime visit to the site since 15th September 2020 although I have had 3 evening visits since then to watch the Badgers and the Red Foxes.

It was a strange visit this morning. Whilst I recorded a relatively short species list, I did have some notable sightings and some good photo opportunities.

My site list for bird species has been stuck on 49 since I added Garden Warbler on my visit on 4th August 2020 and I have been waiting with some anticipation to record my 50th species.

As I arrived in the cemetery this morning, I was surprised to see a female Pheasant which resulted in slightly mixed feelings. I thought I had finally reached the half century for the site but I was slightly underwhelmed that the bird that did it was a rather dull, brown, boring Pheasant. My apologies to all Pheasants for my total lack of respect for your species 😀. I have tried to redeem myself by including a photo of this morning's female Pheasant below 😀.

However, when I got home and checked my records for the site, I found that I already had Pheasant recorded. I am still stuck on 49! I can still hope that the 50th species might be the rare Yellow-browed Warbler.

The Yellow-browed Warbler is a small Phylloscopus “leaf warbler” which breeds in woodlands and forests from just west of the Ural Mountains in Russia eastwards to eastern Siberia, Mongolia and north east China. It is a migratory species, wintering in north east India through south China to Taiwan and through Bangladesh south to the Malay Peninsula. The European breeding population of the Yellow-browed Warbler west of the Ural Mountains has increased further westwards in recent decades and small numbers, most likely from the western end of the breeding range, regularly winter in western Europe including in the UK when small numbers arrive in late September and October.

RSPB: Yellow-browed Warbler

I have seen Yellow-browed Warbler on 5 occasions in the UK: Titchwell, Norfolk (October 2000), Bishopstone, Kent (November 2003), Stodmarsh, Kent (April 2004), Great Yarmouth, Norfolk (October 2018) and Broadsands, Devon (January 2019). The bird in Great Yarmouth was in the cemetery and although this is huge compared with that associated with St. Nicholas Church, surely the trees and hedges on my local patch could accommodate a Yellow-browed Warbler in the company of the foraging Goldcrests, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Long-tailed Tits?

With regard to birds, there were several other highlights, Pheasant being the first highlight 😀. I saw a Sparrowhawk fly over Church Hill, a presumed male given the size, and I had an excellent view of a Green Woodpecker perched on a grave headstone in the cemetery, which unfortunately flew off before I could get a photo. In addition, Jays were particularly noticeable and vocal this morning in their acorn-gathering activities and I saw at least 5 birds. Robins also continue to be very conspicuous around the site with plenty of singing and calling.

With regard to mammals, I saw 2 well-grown Red Fox cubs which came bounding towards me from amongst the graves at the rear of the church. Momentarily, as they spotted me, they stood still and enabled me to get some photos.

After calming down following the excitement of the Pheasant sighting 😀, I saw a Reeves’ Muntjac quietly eating at the northern edge of the cemetery and, rather than running off, it also enabled me to get some photos.

I saw 4 Grey Squirrels this morning, 2 separately along the track from the access to the site from Larkins Tyres, 1 in the cemetery and 1 in the wooded area on my return home.

Finally, I met the vicar (Andrei) of St. Nicholas Church for the first time. We discussed what a beautiful location the church is set in but also the recent problems that have been experienced in the area …. see here. I asked Andrei where he was from given his accent. He asked me to guess. I said maybe one of the eastern Europe countries or possibly Russia. Russia was correct but I had cheated since I already knew he was Russian since Phil, one of the conservation volunteers, had already told me some months ago. As we parted company, Andrei invited me to join the church although there is no chance of that happening given that I have been entirely comfortable in my position and beliefs as an atheist, humanist and secularist for many years.

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

Blue Tit
Robin
Dunnock
Blackbird
Sparrowhawk
Green Woodpecker
Pheasant
Jay
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon
Herring Gull