Sunday 21 March 2021

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

Date: 21st March 2021

Time: from 8:30 a.m.

Weather: dry, cloudy, moderate wind, 7°C to 9°C

Like my visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve 2 days ago, this proved to be a relatively quiet visit in terms of bird song and I struggled to see many species.

There seems to be an ongoing battle between the departing winter and the emerging spring. Whilst the frondescence of spring continues and the cemetery has an abundance of daffodils, cool and cloudy days are still depressing bird activity.

Nonetheless, there were a few highlights this morning.

On my last visit on 12th March 2021, I had my first Chiffchaff record of the year for the site, and indeed anywhere, albeit a “heard only” record of a singing male.

accessed the site as usual via the track from Larkins Tyres and then, on reaching the clearing, I took the short track through the woodland to the fencing that provides a watchpoint to scan the field and the trees, hedges and scrub bordering it. From here, I again heard a male Chiffchaff briefly singing from somewhere on the far side.

As I left this area, I heard another singing male Chiffchaff much closer to me and, after walking a short distance in the direction of it, I located a small bird at the top of a tree before it flew down out of sight and before I could identify it. I was fairly confident that this was a Chiffchaff since the song ceased. However, quite quickly, I could hear the soft contact call of a Chiffchaff before eventually seeing it moving through the hedge.

Whilst listening to the first Chiffchaff, I heard and then saw a fly-over Greenfinch, a species that I only see occasionally at the site.

Finally, I heard 2 calling Green Woodpeckers, the first a distantly calling bird as I walked along the track from Larkins Tyres and the second a very loud calling bird as I walked down the broad grassy area from the church towards St. Nicholas Lane.

For the first time as long as I can remember, I saw no mammals this morning, not even a solitary Grey Squirrel.

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

Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Robin 
Wren
Blackbird
House Sparrow
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Green Woodpecker
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Herring Gull

Here are some photos from my visit: 















Site totals to date (2021 totals in brackets):

Birds = 51  (33)
Mammals = 6  (3)
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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