Date: 1st August 2021
Time: from 7:45 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny/cloudy, light wind,
15°C to 16°C
After the success with Red Fox sightings on my last visit
on 29th July 2021, I had another visit this morning, this time with my camera.
From
the church car park, I immediately had a very brief glimpse of a Red Fox
running across the bottom of the grassy strip at the southern edge of the site.
I only managed to capture a blurry image which I have cropped ….
Over the course of an hour or so, I had several sightings of a well-grown Red Fox cub (possibly not the same individual) in the same area and, on a single occasion, 2 cubs together.
Fortunately, Red
Fox cubs exhibit a naïve curiosity and they are quite
prepared to momentarily stand still whilst they assess who you are and whether
you present a risk to them, thus enabling fairly easy photography. Adults are
far more wary and usually run for cover as soon as they hear your approach or
see you. Here are some photos of the Red Fox cub(s) ....
After the very poor number of records of birds on
my last visit on 29th July 2021, there was a significant improvement this morning with 17 species
recorded.
Most
notably, summer visitors are still with us. I saw 4 “screaming” Swifts on
several occasions flying high above the church. In addition, I saw a male Blackcap
feeding a fledgling plus a separate female, all in the south west corner of the site,
and I heard 2 briefly calling Chiffchaffs, the first again in the south
west corner of the site and another in the wooded area in the north of the
site.
Whilst
I did not see either species, I heard 2 calling Green Woodpeckers (a
distant bird from near the church and a very loudly calling bird in an oak tree
in the wooded area in the north of the site) and a single calling Great Spotted
Woodpecker (again in the wooded area in the north of the site).
I
saw no dragonflies or damselflies and only a limited number of butterfly
species on this visit, the latter being restricted to Gatekeeper (c.30),
Meadow Brown (c.5) and Large White (2).
In
addition to the Red Foxes, I also saw a Grey Squirrel in the
south west corner of the site as it ran along a fence to the rear gardens of the
houses in Pound Lane.
Species recorded during this visit
were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Here
are some more photos from my visit:
Photo: fledgling Blackcap
Photo: Woodpigeon
Photo: Woodpigeon
Photo: Gatekeeper
Site totals to date (2021 totals in brackets):
Birds = 53 (42)
Mammals = 6 (5)
Butterflies = 21 (13)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 7 (2)
Reptiles = 1 (0)
Amphibians = 0 (0)
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