Friday, 22 April 2022

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 22nd April 2022

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):

Lesser Whitethroat
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Robin
Dunnock
Wren
House Sparrow
Starling
Blackbird
Goldfinch
Common Buzzard
Sparrowhawk
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Jay
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Herring Gull

Red Fox

Site totals to date (2022 totals in brackets):

Birds = 56  (37)
Mammals = 6  (3)
Butterflies = 21  (2)
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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