Date: 29th April 2021
Time: from 7 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, moderate wind, 5°C
to 9°C
It was another beautiful sunny morning and,
although the temperature was slightly higher, it continued to feel cold in the
moderate wind.
This morning, I undoubtedly had one of my best
visits to the reserve and there were 2 amazing highlights.
Firstly, after the recent reports on the Facebook page for Noak Bridge Nature Reserve, I finally spotted one of the Red Fox cubs.
I
had all but finished my walk around the reserve and was returning along the track
to the Spanish Steps. I thought I briefly heard a growl and stopped and listened.
Nothing. Then I heard a rustling in the vegetation on the other side of the
track. I peered through the undergrowth and saw a Red Fox cub peering
back!
I
managed to get at least a record photo before the
cub disappeared down a hole of what must be the natal den.
After about 5 minutes, the cub briefly reappeared before again returning to the natal den.
I didn't stay too long at the location since I did not want to potentially disturb the cubs or prevent the vixen returning with food.
This
was an extremely small Red Fox cub and I am assuming it was about 6 weeks
old or perhaps a bit more. Cubs start emerging from their natal dens after
about 4 weeks and the first sightings posted on the Facebook page for Noak Bridge Nature Reserve were about 2 weeks ago.
Secondly, after hearing and possibly seeing a calling Common Buzzard during my visit on 14th April 2021, I finally had a definitive sighting this morning. I couldn’t have missed it! I was in the Thorny Wood area trying to photograph the very active Blackcaps when I was alerted to a lot of noise from some Carrion Crows and Herring Gulls. The reason for the commotion was that both species were actively harassing a Common Buzzard flying immediately overhead.
This continued for a few minutes before the harassers got bored and the Common Buzzard flew off westwards .... but not before I managed to get some photos (see below).
Thirdly, I saw a fly-over calling male Greenfinch, my first record for the year at the reserve.
The presence of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs right across the whole site continues to be very evident and both species were particularly showy this morning. I saw 8 male Blackcaps plus 2 red-headed females and heard a further 3 birds (either singing males or alarm calling males/females). I also saw 4 singing male Chiffchaffs and heard a further 5 singing males.
The other bird highlights during my visit were a Green
Woodpecker between the Spanish Steps and the storage shed (it flew up from
the ground when disturbed by a dog walker), 2 Moorhens on Meadow
Pond, 7 fly-over Mallards (2 separate groups of 2 birds each and another
group comprising 2 males in hot pursuit of a female) a fly-over Lesser
Black-backed Gull, an unusually approachable Jay (for the
second visit in succession) and the first juvenile Robin of the year.
I saw 4 Grey Squirrels this
morning: 1 in the trees by the Spanish Steps, 2 separate individuals between
the Spanish Steps and the storage shed and 1 in the trees behind the storage
shed.
Species recorded during this visit
were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Here are some photos from my
visit:
Photo: Common Buzzard
Photo: Common Buzzard
Photo: Jay
Photo: Jay wing feather detail
Photo: Jay
Photo: Jay
Photo: Jay
Photo: male Blackcap
Photo: Blue Tit
Photo: Robin
Photo: Grey Squirrel
Site totals to date (2021 totals in brackets):
Birds =
42 (34)
Mammals = 2 (1)
Butterflies = 18 (1)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 9 (0)
Reptiles = 1 (0)
Amphibians = 1 (1)
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