Saturday 17 July 2021

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 17th July 2021

Date: 17th July 2021

Time: from 9:30 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 19°C to 22°C

My last visit to the site was way back on 31st May 2021.

Since then, I have been unable to find an opportunity to visit due to preparing for, receiving and then recovering from a health-related procedure in early June which was then followed by short trips away to Somerset and Wales and Yorkshire.

Given that the weather forecast now suggests that we can expect a few days of warm/hot sunny weather, I decided that a long overdue visit should be made, primarily in search of butterflies given the launch of the Big Butterfly Count.

This spring and early summer has been extremely disappointing for butterflies, mainly as a result of the many days of cool, wet and windy weather. By my last visit to the site, I had only recorded 6 species compared with 21 species for 2020 as a whole.

However, my recent visit to RSPB Vange Marsh and the abundance of butterflies at that site suggested an improvement.

This certainly proved to be the case with my visit this morning and I was able to add 7 species to my year list for the site: Marbled White (at least 20), Large and/or Small Skipper (100+), Meadow Brown (100+), Large White (20+), Gatekeeper (1) and Red Admiral (1). In addition, I saw Comma (2) and Speckled Wood (2), both of which I have already previously recorded this year.

The number of Marbled Whites was both notable and welcome and I do not recall seeing so many before at the site. In previous years, I have seen small numbers in the grassland area at the southern edge of the site where it borders St. Nicholas Lane but this morning I saw them here but also in the south west corner of the site both around a large area of Bramble and the adjoining grassland.

As in previous years, this area of Bramble in the south west corner of the site was proving to be very attractive for large numbers of butterflies, bees, hoverflies and other insects.

Given the warm weather, it was disappointing not to see any dragonflies or damselflies.

With regard to birds, the intensity of bird activity and bird song peaked in May and this morning I only recorded 12 species.

Nonetheless, I still heard the brief song of 2 male Blackcaps and a single Song Thrush. The other highlights were 2 Swifts flying over St. Nicholas Church and a Green Woodpecker calling in the same area.

As I walked home, I was alerted to the call of a Common Buzzard as I approached the junction of Basildon Road and Czarina Rise and I eventually spotted the bird soaring extremely high up.

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

Swift
Blackcap
Blue Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Robin
Song Thrush
Green Woodpecker
Magpie
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Carrion Crow
Herring Gull

Marbled White
Large Skipper and/or Small Skipper
Red Admiral
Comma
Gatekeeper
Meadow Brown
Speckled Wood
Large White 

Here are some photos from my visit: 














Photo: Marbled White














Photo: Marbled White














Photo: Marbled White














Photo: Small Skipper














Photo: Small Skipper














Photo: Small Skipper














Photo: Small Skipper














Photo: Small Skipper














Photo: Shieldbug species

Site totals to date (2021 totals in brackets):

Birds = 53  (42)
Mammals = 6  (5)
Butterflies = 21  (13)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 7  (0)
Reptiles = 1  (0)
Amphibians = 0  (0)

💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature


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