Saturday, 12 March 2022

Visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve – 12th March 2022

Date: 12th March 2022

Time: from 9 a.m.

Weather: dry, cloudy/hazy sunshine, light/moderate wind, 8°C to 10°C

This was only my second visit of 2022 to the site, the first being way back on 2nd January 2022However, with spring now rapidly approaching, my visits will inevitably increase in frequency.

It was an excellent visit this morning with a new site record plus I added a further 7 species to my 2022 list for the site bringing the total to date to 18.

The new site record was a Little Egret, a single bird seen flying over the eastern end of the site.

The most notable addition to my 2022 site list was the anticipated and welcome return of the summering Chiffchaffs. I saw 2 singing males, 1 in the Meadow Link area and 1 around Meadow Pond.
















Photo: male Chiffchaff
















Photo: male Chiffchaff















Photo: male Chiffchaff

The 6 other additions to my 2022 site list were: Mallard (a male and a female on Willow Pond and another male on Meadow Pond), Moorhen (1 on Willow Pond), Cormorant (1 seen flying over), Dunnock, Goldfinch and Long-tailed Tit.

The strangest sight during my visit was the behaviour of the Mallards on Willow Pond. When I arrived at the bench overlooking the pond, I immediately noticed a male Mallard quietly sitting on the water. However, I then became aware of a strange noise which after scanning through the dense vegetation turned out to be a female Mallard on a branch half way up one of the trees at the edge of the pond. Eventually, the male followed the example of his presumed mate and also found a perch in the trees. Unlike species such as Goldeneye and Goosander which nest in holes in trees, Mallards nest on the ground and I do not recall ever seeing them in trees before!















Photo: female Mallard















Photo: female Mallard















Photo: male Mallard















Photo: male Mallard















Photo: male Mallard

The other odd thing that I noticed was the complete absence of any Blackthorn blossom which is now evident at both my other 2 local patch sites, St. Nicholas Church and Gloucester Park.

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

Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Wren
Robin
Dunnock
Blackbird
Goldfinch
Jay
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon
Mallard
Moorhen
Little Egret
Cormorant

Site totals to date (2022 totals in brackets):

Birds = 43  (18)
Mammals = 2  (1)
Butterflies = 18  (0)  
Dragonflies and damselflies = 13  (0)
Reptiles = 1  (0)
Amphibians = 1  (0)

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

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