SS15 wildlife watching: Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas

Sunday 18 April 2021

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 18th April 2021

Date: 18th April 2021

Time: from 7:00 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 1°C to 8°C

As on my last visit, it was a lovely sunny morning although very cold and with some ground frost to begin with.

Blackcap and Chiffchaff song was again evident around the site. I saw 6 Blackcaps including 2 red-headed females (the highest count this year) plus I heard 4 others either singing or calling. I saw 4 Chiffchaffs including a nest-building pair in the scrub at the edge of the western section of the cemetery (again the highest count this year) plus I heard 4 others either singing or calling.

Green Woodpeckers were again conspicuous, starting with a loudly calling pair in and around the trees along the track from Larkins Tyres. I heard another calling bird from the south west corner of the site and also saw a pair flying across the field from my usual watchpoint at the north of the site which provides a view of a field, bushes, scrub and trees. These latter birds may well have been the same pair that I saw at the start of my visit given that they were flying towards the same area.

I saw a single Great Spotted Woodpecker in the south west corner of the site but what made the sighting so notable was that it was at a presumed nest hole in one of the large trees. I managed to get a photo of the nest hole (it doesn’t move!) but not the bird (it did!). I am not sure if this is an active nest hole since the bird did not return whilst I waited for around 15 minutes but it is a location for me to watch on future visits.

The south west corner of the site also produced a single singing male Greenfinch, the tops of the tall trees here having produced sightings in the past. I saw a further 2 Greenfinches briefly in the western section of the cemetery.

The only other notable record from my visit was a single fly-over Black-headed Gull, a species that I see far less often than the regular fly-over Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

With regard to mammals, the regular sighting of a Red Fox crossing the grassy strip which runs down from the church car park towards St. Nicholas Lane was not repeated and I failed to see one here after my optimism following my last visit even though I watched and waited for some 30 minutes.

However, I did see 2 Red Foxes from my watchpoint at the north of the site. As I arrived, there was a Red Fox out in the open in the field having a lengthy scratch before it moved to the edge of the hedge line and presumably went to sleep .... out of view accept for the top of one ear! After about 30 minutes, it stood up and walked slowly along the hedge line before disappearing from view. After a further 10 minutes, another Red Fox appeared from the opposite direction, moved out in to the open field before turning round and returning to where it had emerged from. As I left the watchpoint and walked back along the track on my way home, I saw what was probably the same Red Fox again in the area of bushes and scrub immediately behind Larkins Tyres.

I saw 3 Reeves’ Muntjac this morning: 2 animals and a single animal in quick succession crossing the grassy strip which runs down from the church car park towards St. Nicholas Lane.

Finally, I saw 4 Grey Squirrels this morning: 2 together in the trees bordering the field, 1 in the western section of the cemetery and 1 in the south west corner of the site.

Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Robin

Wren

Dunnock

House Sparrow

Blackbird

Song Thrush