Date: 14th August 2021
Time: from 7:15 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny/cloudy, light
wind, 14°C to 17°C
After the success with Red Fox sightings
on my recent visits, I had another visit this morning in the hope of getting
some reasonable photos.
I walked down the grassy strip from the church car
park and stopped close to the bottom and half hid myself against some bushes.
Very quickly, I saw a Red Fox peering
out of the hedge ahead of me and to the right. After a couple of minutes or so,
it ran out, crossed the grass and disappeared in to the hedge and trees on the
other side. The poor light conditions and the speed of the running Red Fox led
to an inevitable outcome!
After that, it was all quiet for some time until I heard some excitable “geckering” from Red Foxes to the left of me. A few minutes later, 2 well-grown Red Fox cubs came bounding out of the hedge and trees to the left of me.
The first quickly disappeared from view but the other one seemed content to wander slowly around and approach me, seemingly oblivious of my presence. It walked to within about 20 feet before it spotted me and did a quick u-turn and bolted for cover. Just a few minutes later, another well-grown cub appeared from behind me and to my right.
Therefore, there are definitely 2 and almost certainly
3 Red Fox cubs in this area.
Photography continued to be a little difficult with the light (soft
images), the overgrown grass (grass stems in front of the animal’s head) and
the close approach (unsatisfactory composition) but here is one acceptable
photo followed by a few record shots.
Whilst watching the Red Foxes, I saw a Grey Squirrel in the same area.
It continues to be very quiet with regard to birds and I only recorded 13 species. However, there were some notable records: a female Sparrowhawk flying over the trees along the access track from Larkins Tyres, a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker in the same area, a male Blackcap and another alarm calling again in the same area and a roving/foraging post-breeding flock of around 20 Long-tailed Tits and Blue Tits in the hedges in the northern area of the site.
This visit was not as good for butterflies and dragonflies compared with my other recent visits although I did see Gatekeeper (c.10), Meadow Brown (c.10), Speckled Wood (1) and 2 presumed but unidentified hawker species.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Red Fox
Grey Squirrel
Speckled Wood
Gatekeeper
Meadow Brown
Hawker sp.
Site totals to date (2021 totals in brackets):
Butterflies = 21 (14)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 7 (2)
Reptiles = 1 (0)
Amphibians = 0 (0)
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