Date: 12th May 2021
Time: from 6:30 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 7°C to
11°C
I had a very successful visit early this morning with
several highlights.
Firstly, at the end of my visit, and as I walked back along the track from the
Spanish Steps to the bridge over the A127, I heard an alarm calling Garden
Warbler plus a few brief snatches of song. Due to the continual noise of
traffic on the A127 and the dense vegetation beside the track, it proved
impossible to locate the bird so this was unfortunately a "heard only" record. However, it was my first record for the site and brought my site total for bird
species to 43. It also followed my recent "heard-only" record of a Garden Warbler
at Asda! …. see here.
Secondly, I added Common Whitethroat to my site list for the year with 2 singing males and a possible female in the hedges forming the edge of the East Meadow and the boundary of the reserve. Unlike the 5 singing males that I saw during my visit to RSPB Rainham Marshes on 21st April 2021 and the 20 singing males that I saw on my visit to RSPB Canvey Wick on 5th May 2021, this morning’s birds were either very skulking or very flighty resulting in no photos. At least the Common Whitethroats have arrived. I have neither seen nor heard a Lesser Whitethroat at the site this year to date.
Thirdly, I also added House Sparrow to my
site list for the year with c.10 in the bushes just along the main track from the
storage shed by Thorny Wood.
In addition, whilst watching the Common
Whitethroats, I saw a male and female Bullfinch in the same area as they
flew several times to and fro along the hedge line.
With regard to the other summer visiting warblers, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were still very evident across the whole site.
I saw 3 singing male Blackcaps and a single red-headed female and I heard a further 7 birds (either singing males or alarm calling males/females). I also saw 2 singing male Chiffchaffs and I heard a further 2 singing males.
The other bird highlights during my visit were a single Moorhen again on Meadow Pond (possibly an incubating bird at a nest in the middle of the pond), a male and female Mallard on Fox Pond and a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker near the Spanish Steps.
Despite arriving very early and before anyone else, I failed to see
any Red Fox cubs or adults. However,
I did see 3 Grey Squirrels: 2 in the trees around Fox Pond and another
in trees opposite the storage shed.
Species recorded during this visit
were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Grey Squirrel
Here are some photos from my
visit:
Photo: Grey Squirrel
Photo: Moorhen
Photo: male and female Mallard
Photo: male and female Mallard
Photo: male House Sparrow
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)
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
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