Date: 22nd April 2022
Time: from
7 a.m.
Weather: dry,
cloudy, light wind, 10°C to 11°C
As I left home, I
heard a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker in the immediate vicinity but
failed to see it.
As I passed Church
Road just before Larkins Tyres, I glanced down and saw a Red Fox sitting
in the middle of the road. This seemed to a much thinner animal than the
full-bodied and full-brushed animals that I see on my St. Nicholas Church local
patch site.
I had to work hard
this morning to hear or see anything around the site, possibly due to the
cloudy and relatively cool weather.
However, patience and
perseverance paid off and I did have some notable sightings.
Firstly, I heard and
eventually saw a singing male Lesser Whitethroat in the dense hedges bordering
the field in the north of the site. This was my first record for the site in
2022 and indeed my first record anywhere in the UK for 2022, bringing my list
for the site for the year to 37 and for the UK to 141.
Secondly, I recorded
2 birds of prey: Common Buzzard (a single bird seen flying off from a bush in the field in the north of the
site) and Sparrowhawk (a single bird initially heard but then very briefly seen
from the top of Church Hill)
Although it was a
slow start, I eventually recorded several Chiffchaffs (2 singing males seen and at
least 4 others heard) and several Blackcaps (a single alarm calling
female seen plus at least 5 singing males heard but unseen).
In addition to the Red
Fox in Church Road, I saw a further 2 on site, the first briefly seen running
through the cemetery immediately below the church and across the car park and
the second sitting at the bottom of the grassy strip running down from the church
car park to St. Nicholas Lane.
Since my last visit
on 7th April 2022, most
of the Daffodils have died off. However, the oak trees are now coming in to
leaf (much earlier than the very late emergence last year) and Bluebells,
Common Dog-violet, Cuckooflower and Cow Parsley are now all evident.
Species
recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Site totals to date
(2022 totals in brackets):
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
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