Date: 22nd April 2021
Time: from 6:45 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 2°C to
7°C
This was my earliest visit to the
site this year and one of the reasons was to arrive before too many people were
around in the hope of seeing the Red Fox vixen and cubs which have recently been
reported on the Facebook page for Noak Bridge Nature Reserve.
It
was another beautiful sunny morning but it continues to be cold which is evidently
restricting some of the bird activity and definitely preventing the emergence
of butterflies and other insects.
There were 2 main highlights during my visit this
morning.
Firstly, I finally managed to see Smooth Newts
on the reserve after many attempts both this year and last year. The early
morning sunshine ensured that there was reasonably good visibility to the bottom of at
least part of Meadow Pond and here I saw both a male and female Smooth Newt
together. This is my first confirmed amphibian species for the site.
I did endeavour to get some photos.
However, the autofocus on my camera focused on the surface of the pond rather than
what lay below it. I therefore switched to manual focus but this, together with
my eyesight rarely (never!) results in even a reasonable quality outcome
But here, just for the record, are allegedly some photos of a male and female Smooth Newt ….
Secondly, I saw a Grey Heron flying over the reserve between the Spanish Steps and the storage shed in a south easterly direction. This sighting was my first record for the site and brought my site total for bird species to 41. Fortunately, a Grey Heron is somewhat larger than a Smooth Newt and doesn’t live underwater for the breeding cycle of its life so I did manage to get a photo of this bird 😀.
The presence of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs right
across the whole site continues to be very evident. I saw 4 male Blackcaps plus
a red-headed female and heard a further 5 birds (either singing males or alarm
calling males/females). I also saw just a single Chiffchaff and
heard a further 3 singing males.
However, I have still to hear or
see Lesser Whitethroat this year but I am assuming that it will not be
long since I saw my first last year on 24th April 2020.
The other bird highlights during my visit were a
briefly calling Green Woodpecker, a Moorhen on Meadow
Pond plus another calling from vegetation in the centre of the pond, a
fly-over Lesser Black-backed Gull and an unusually approachable Jay
which allowed me to photograph this normally shy and flighty species.
I saw just a single Grey Squirrel this
morning in the bushes surrounding the small pond between the Spanish Steps and
the storage shed.
Oh, and I failed to see the Red
Foxes so my only record for the site to date remains the brief sighting of
the end of a tail on a visit last year!
Species recorded during this visit
were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Here are some photos from my
visit:
Photo: Grey Heron
Photo: Jay
Photo: Jay
Photo: Blue Tit
Photo: male Blackbird
Photo: male Blackbird
Photo: Woodpigeon
Site totals to date (2021 totals in brackets):
Mammals = 2 (1)
Butterflies = 18 (1)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 9 (0)
Reptiles = 1 (0)
Amphibians = 1 (1)
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