Date: 22nd March 2021
Time: from 11:30 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 9°C
to 11°C
As the sun made a welcome re-appearance
mid-morning, I decided to have another visit to the site following that of yesterday.
It proved to be significantly
better than yesterday with several notable sightings.
I 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.
On arriving at the watchpoint, I immediately
noticed a Red Fox curled up asleep quite close by. It lifted its head
briefly to acknowledge my presence and then relaxed again.
Having seen a Common Buzzard immediately before leaving my flat, I was alerted to another by a noisy Magpie and Carrion Crow harassing it as it flew over me and across the field. The corvids eventually got fed up with the pursuit and the Common Buzzard was left to peacefully soar in the sunshine for a few minutes before flying off south. Later on, as I walked down the wooded track from the south eastern corner of the cemetery to Church Hill, I heard the loud “mewing” of a Common Buzzard which could only have been immediately overhead although I was unable to see it due to the tree cover.
The
watchpoint additionally provided a sighting of a fly-over Green Woodpecker
(I also heard at least one other on several occasions from the cemetery) and a Great
Spotted Woodpecker in the trees around the short approach track.
Close
by and in the same location as yesterday, I heard a singing male Chiffchaff
but I was unable to see it.
Remarkably,
I recorded my first butterflies of the year this morning: a single Comma
in the south west corner of the site bordering Pound Lane and a Peacock
in area immediately behind the church. Both had obviously been encouraged to
take flight given the sunshine albeit the temperature was still relatively low. Unfortunately, however, both were too flighty for photos.
After seeing no mammals at all yesterday, I saw 3 Grey Squirrels this morning in addition to the Red Fox with 1 in the trees bordering the field and 2 together in the wooded area just off the eastern section of the cemetery.
There was also a cat in the cemetery that expressed a wish to be recorded
Species recorded during this visit were as follows
(heard only records in italics):
Blue Tit
Here are some photos from my
visit:
Photo: Red Fox
Photo: Common Buzzard (bottom) and Carrion Crow (top)
Photo: Robin
Mammals = 6 (3)
Butterflies = 21 (2)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 7 (0)
Reptiles = 1 (0)
Amphibians = 0 (0)
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