SS15 wildlife watching: Visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve

Thursday, 29 April 2021

Visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve – 29th April 2021

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):

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Robin

Wren

Blackbird

Song Thrush

Greenfinch

Goldfinch