SS15 wildlife watching: Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas

Date: 3rd June 2022

Time: from 5:30 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 12°C to 14°C

Shortly after leaving home, I saw a Red Fox in the front car park of the flats in Basildon Road, a very easy sighting given what followed.

My last visit to St. Nicholas Church and the surrounding areas was on 22nd May 2022. In just a few weeks, the whole area has become particularly lush and green with the wonderful oak trees in full leaf and a rich growth of wild plants, flowers and grasses.

It was an excellent 3.5 hour visit this morning with 28 bird species recorded, the highest on a single visit this year, plus 3 mammal species.

The 28 bird species included a new site record, a single Moorhen in the small pond in the north of the site, bringing my total number of species recorded to 58.

In addition, I saw my first Swifts of the year, a single bird heard and then briefly seen flying around the church followed later by 3 birds that I was able to watch for 10 minutes and photograph with some difficulty. Together with the Moorhen, this increased my list for the site for 2022 to 41 species.

I also had several other notable sightings: Common Buzzard (a single bird seen flying off from a bush in the field in the north of the site), Green Woodpecker (1 heard calling several times near the church and 1 seen and photographed in the western section of the cemetery), Great Spotted Woodpecker (1 heard calling several times near the church), Common Whitethroat (1 singing male along the track from Larkins Tyres and another very mobile singing male in the western section of the cemetery), Blackcap (a male and female with a juvenile along the track from Larkins Tyres plus 2 alarm calling birds and at least 5 singing males heard but unseen), Chiffchaff (2 singing males seen and at least 3 others heard), Stock Dove (a calling bird in the north of the site) and Greenfinch (a distantly calling male in the scrub behind Larkins Tyres).

Although, yet again, I failed to get any photos of a Common Buzzard at the site, at least this individual did leave behind a souvenir.

Photo: Common Buzzard feather

It proved to be a very good gull morning. I usually record Herring Gull during most of my visits plus Lesser Black-backed Gull on a reasonably regular basis. Black-headed Gull is much rarer with only a few single birds recorded each year. This morning I saw all 3 gull species including 5 Black-headed Gulls.

After the initial sighting of a Red Fox before I started my visit, I then had very brief views of 3 animals, or possibly the same individual, in the western section of the cemetery, at the edge of the church car park and immediately behind the church. Frustratingly, I failed to get any photos. However, my patience was rewarded eventually with 2 photos of a Red Fox as it moved through the western section of the cemetery.

One of the main reasons for the very early start to my visit was to try and locate some Red Fox cubs. I failed to do that or see an adult carrying food to a possible den site.

Finally, I heard a “barking” Reeves’ Muntjac at the end of the track from Larkins Tyres and saw and photographed a Grey Squirrel in the western section of the cemetery.

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

Swift

Common Whitethroat

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Robin

Dunnock

Wren

House Sparrow