Thursday 21 January 2021

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 21st January 2021

Date: 21st January 2021

Time: from 11:15 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, strong wind, 6°C to 7°C

After several days of very poor weather, I was very pleased to see the sun again this morning although the strong wind associated with “Storm Christoph” was still very evident.

As it was very windy, I did not take my zoom lens with me as I anticipated that there would be few wildlife photography opportunities. This proved to be a big mistake as I missed out on photographing Red Foxes (see below).

As I left home, I noticed that the sunny weather was again prompting a pair of Magpies to repair and rebuild their nest located in a tree immediately outside the block of flats where I live …. see here.

accessed the site as usual via the track from Larkins Tyres which is even wetter and even muddier after even more rain! Result: substantial addition to my already extremely muddy boots and trousers!














I added another species to my year site list this morning: a single fly-over Black-headed Gull. Unlike Lesser Black-backed Gull and especially Herring Gull, this is a species that I only very occasionally see.

Having added Dunnock to my year site list on my last visit, this morning I was able to upgrade the record from “heard only” to “seen” when I saw a single bird in the scrubland and hedges viewed from the Larkins Tyres access track.

This area also provide sightings of 2 or possibly 3 female Chaffinches (another species that I only very occasionally see at the site), c.10 Redwings but possibly more given the number of calls coming from the hedges and c.10 House Sparrows.

This was my 4th visit to the site in 2021 and on the previous 3 visits I failed to see a single Red Fox. However, that surprisingly barren run was broken this morning with sightings of 2 different animals.

Whilst watching the birds mentioned above, I just happened to glance down the track from Larkins Tyres to see a large Red Fox (probably a dog/male given the size and head shape) staring back at me. We watched each other for a minute or so before the Red Fox calmly walked off the track in to the wooded area.

After following the track from Larkins Tyres to the wooded clearing, I then took the short track to the edge of the woodland to the fence overlooking the field and scrub at the northern edge of the site. As I arrived at the watchpoint, I saw another Red Fox at the edge of the field although it quickly disappeared in to the hedge. This was a much smaller animal (probably a vixen/female) and it clearly had an injury since it was carrying its right rear leg. A few minutes later it reappeared and slowly crossed the field before again disappearing in to the hedge.

I saw just 2 Grey Squirrels this morning, the first immediately outside Larkins Tyres and the second in the trees at the edge of the field whilst watching the Red Fox.

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

Blue Tit
Great Tit
Robin 
Redwing
Blackbird
Dunnock
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
Jay
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon
Black-headed Gull
Herring Gull

Red Fox
Grey Squirrel

Here are some photos from my visit:





























Site totals to date (2021 totals in brackets):

Birds = 51  (22)
Mammals = 6  (2)
Butterflies = 21  (0)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 7  (0)
Reptiles = 1  (0)
Amphibians = 0  (0)

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


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