Evening visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 22nd March 2021

Date: 22nd March 2021

Time: from 6:30 p.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, dark, 11°C

The "eyestrain specials" have commenced again 😀

My last evening visit to try and see Badgers was on 23rd November 2020 and my last actual sighting was on 7th October 2020.

Badgers are much less active during the colder winter months but with the onset of warmer spring temperatures and the emergence of cubs in April, the chances of seeing them steadily increase.

A warm(ish) and still evening therefore prompted me to re-visit the site after my earlier visit this morning.

I discovered new entrances/exits to the Badger sett on 4th February 2021 whilst the area from where I saw the Badgers last year appears to be redundant. As such, I am not entirely sure where the best location is yet to leave the "buffet" (peanuts, apples, dog food, dog biscuits, etc.) and to sit and wait .... and hopefully watch.

When I arrived on site at around 6:30 p.m., the sun was setting in the west and there were a few Robins and Blackbirds singing, together with a single Wren and a single Song Thrush.

I managed to record the Song Thrush later on as it sang in complete darkness from a tree next to where I sat.

Shortly after sitting down at 6:40 p.m. at a suitable location to watch an area where I hoped that Badgers would emerge, I saw a Red Fox peering through a hedge watching me. It then trotted along the other side of the hedge before reappearing at the end, again looking back at me before bolting off across the cemetery.

After a further 5 minutes, I was able to watch a single Pipistrelle flying around the trees surrounding the church although without a bat detector it was impossible to specifically identify it as a Common Pipistrelle or a Soprano Pipistrelle.

Unfortunately, but perhaps not surprisingly, I did not have any sightings of Badgers but I did hear "geckering" Red Foxes in the wooded area adjacent to the church as I Ieft the site at around 8 p.m.

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

Red Fox

Pipistrelle sp.

Robin 

Blackbird

Wren

Song Thrush

Site totals to date (2021 totals in brackets):

Birds = 51  (34)
Mammals = 6  (4)
Butterflies = 21  (2)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 7  (0)
Reptiles = 1  (0)
Amphibians = 0  (0)

💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚

Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature