Date: 13th April 2021
Time: from 6:30 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, -1°C
to 3°C
This was my earliest start to a
visit this year and it was a lovely sunny morning although very cold and with
some ground frost to begin with.
I am still buzzing from my visit this morning since I recorded what was undoubtedly my best ever record for the site: a stunning male Pied Flycatcher. I have written more about this remarkable sighting in a separate blog post .... see here.
All the other
highlights from my visit could be viewed as being somewhat less significant but
nonetheless I did record some other good sightings.
There seemed
to be Blackcap and Chiffchaff song everywhere this morning. I saw
3 singing male Blackcaps and heard at least 5 others and I saw 1 singing
male Chiffchaff and heard 5 others.
In addition, I heard and then saw a singing male Goldcrest
in the area of tall conifer trees in the south
west corner of the site which I assume was probably the same bird that I heard
on my last visit. I also saw 2 Green Woodpeckers fly over the field from
my usual watchpoint on the northern edge of the site and heard 2 others, an extremely
loud calling bird as I walked along the track from Larkins Tyres and another
distantly calling somewhere to the south of the church. Additionally, I saw a
single Cormorant from the watchpoint, flying very high in a north easterly
direction.
With regard to mammals, I had a
brief and distant sighting of a Red Fox as it ran away from me down the
grassy strip from the church car park towards St. Nicholas Lane.
From the watchpoint overlooking the field and the trees, hedges and scrub bordering it, I saw 3 Reeves’ Muntjacs, the first appearing from around a hedge to the left within 10 feet of me before bolting off and then 2 more also emerging in quick succession from the hedge to my left and running across the field to the other side.
Finally, I saw 2 Grey Squirrels in the trees from the watchpoint. The one in the large tree where the Pied Flycatcher was feeding did not seem to be anywhere near as excited as I was at the presence of this amazing little bird even though he got a much closer view 😀.
Species recorded
during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Here are some photos from my visit (record shots of the Pied Flycatcher appear in my separate blog post .... see here):
Photo: Robin
Site totals to date
(2021 totals in brackets):
Mammals = 6 (4)
Butterflies = 21 (4)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 7 (0)
Reptiles = 1 (0)
Amphibians = 0 (0)
No comments:
Post a Comment
If you feel like commenting on my blog, you can contact me by completing the comment form below. I will respond to all comments and enquiries and constructive criticism will always be welcomed.