Wednesday, 15 June 2022

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 15th June 2022

Date: 15th June 2022

Time: from 10:15 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 19°C to 23°C

The start of my visit this morning was almost 5 hours later than my last visit on 3rd June 2022, the reason being that I hoped that the warm/hot sunny weather would provide an opportunity to see and photograph butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies.

It proved to be an excellent visit for these invertebrates.

I recorded 8 butterfly species: Marbled White (1), Common Blue (3 males), Small Skipper (10+), Large Skipper (10+), Small Tortoiseshell (2), Meadow Brown (30+), Speckled Wood (4), Brimstone (1 male)

Other than Speckled Wood, these were all first records of the year taking the site total for 2022 to 9 species.

I also recorded 2 dragonfly species and 2 or 3 damselfly species: Broad-bodied Chaser (at least 2 males and 2 females), Four-spotted Chaser (1), Large Red Damselfly (1), Azure Damselfly and/or Common Blue Damselfly (50+)

All these species were recorded around the small pond in the north of the site (see photos below) and all were first records of the year taking the site total for 2022 to 4 species. Other than Common Blue Damselfly, the other species were first site records taking the total to 9 species.

Whilst the warm/hot sunny weather had encouraged all these species to appear, as I had expected, photography was a little challenging since most of them were extremely active.

During my visit, I had a very brief sighting of a single Red Fox in the field in the north of the site.

My later visit and the warm/hot sunny weather resulted not surprisingly in less abundance and diversity of birds. However, I did record all 4 summering warbler species: Lesser Whitethroat (1 singing male), Common Whitethroat (1 singing male), Blackcap (2 singing males) and Chiffchaff (1 singing male)

In addition, I heard a calling Common Buzzard in the north of the site but failed to see it and I saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker fly across the field in the north of the site and land in the large oak tree.

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

Lesser Whitethroat
Common Whitethroat
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Dunnock
Wren
Blackbird
Common Buzzard
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Jay
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon

Red Fox

Marbled White
Common Blue
Small Skipper
Large Skipper
Small Tortoiseshell
Meadow Brown
Speckled Wood
Brimstone

Broad-bodied Chaser
Four-spotted Chaser
Azure Damselfly and/or Common Blue Damselfly
Large Red Damselfly

Here are some photos from my visit:















Photo: male Broad-bodied Chaser















Photo: male Broad-bodied Chaser



























Photo: male Broad-bodied Chaser




























Photo: male Broad-bodied Chaser




























Photo: male Broad-bodied Chaser




























Photo: male Broad-bodied Chaser




























Photo: male Broad-bodied Chaser




























Photo: Four-spotted Chaser




























Photo: Azure Damselfly




























Photo: Azure Damselfly




























Photo: Azure Damselfly




























Photo: Azure Damselflies




























Photo: Azure Damselflies




























Photo: Azure Damselflies




























Photo: Azure Damselflies




























Photo: Azure Damselflies




























Photo: Small Skipper




























Photo: Small Skipper




























Photo: Large Skipper




























Photo: Large Skipper




























Photo: Speckled Wood































Site totals to date (2022 totals in brackets):

Birds = 58  (41)
Mammals = 6  (3)
Butterflies = 21  (9)  
Dragonflies and damselflies = 9  (5)
Reptiles = 1  (0)
Amphibians = 0  (0)

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

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