Date: 23rd February 2021
Time: from 9:30 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, moderate wind, 8°C
to 11°C
This was my first visit to the reserve since 11th February 2021 when it was extremely cold, dull and grey and with a lot of the white stuff on the ground!
Today
was a considerable contrast: a lovely dry and sunny morning albeit a bit chilly
with the moderate wind.
The highlight of my visit was a distantly “mewing” Common Buzzard, unfortunately beyond the northern boundary of the reserve so I can not claim it as a first site record for the year.
However, I have seen this species before flying
over the reserve (on 1st September
2020) and I have already seen it this year flying over my other local
patch site around St. Nicholas Church. I also recorded it on several occasions during 2020 from my flat window. Therefore Common Buzzards are in our local area and
worth listening and looking out for.
I think this was my first Mallard of the
year actually seen on one of the ponds, my other records all being fly-over
sightings.
Given my experience in recent days in some of the woodlands making up the Essex Wildlife Trust Langdon reserve and also around St. Nicholas Church, I was expecting to see both Green Woodpecker and Great Spotted Woodpecker given that both species are very conspicuous at this time of year, calling and “drumming” in advance of the breeding season. That didn't turn out to be the case.
Other than that, all the usual expected bird species were seen.
Finally, I saw 8 Grey Squirrels during
my visit: 3 individuals in the wooded area along the track between the storage
shed and the East Meadow, another 3 individuals in the wooded area around the
Spanish Steps and 2 individuals running across the track between the Spanish
Steps and the reserve exit.
Species recorded during this visit
were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Great Tit
Grey Squirrel
Here are some photos from my
visit:
Birds =
40 (20)
Mammals = 2 (1)
Butterflies = 18 (0)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 9 (0)
Reptiles = 1 (0)
Amphibians = 0 (0)
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