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

Wednesday 11 January 2023

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 11th January 2023

Date: 11th January 2023

Time: from 9 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, moderate wind, 7°C to 8°C

This was my second visit to the site in 2023 and compared to my visit on 1st January 2023 it got off to a very slow start.

However, patience and perseverance did eventually provide me with some notable records.

This included 4 additions to my 2023 site list: Common Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Collared Dove and an unseen singing male Dunnock.

The Common Gull record, 2 birds flying over the church in a south westerly direction, was especially notable since I very rarely see this species and I certainly haven’t recorded it in the last 2 years. I see Herring Gulls on most visits to the site and occasionally Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Black-headed Gulls. I have now seen all 4 of these gull species this year and before the end of January.

Other notable records included an unseen calling male Chaffinch in the vicinity of the access track from Larkins Tyres (for the second successive visit), a Green Woodpecker foraging on the ground in the grassy strip leading down from the church car park to St. Nicholas Lane and 2 individual Great Spotted Woodpeckers, the first flying high over the trees at the bottom of the grassy strip and the second in the wooded area at the end of the eastern section of the cemetery.

With regard to mammals, I saw 2 Grey Squirrels together in trees at the edge of the western section of the cemetery and another in the large oak tree bordering the field in the north of the site.

I had almost given up seeing any Red Foxes on this visit but a final scan from the fence overlooking the field, scrub and hedges in the north of the site eventually provided a reward.

Whilst it is only mid-January, there are already some signs of spring. In the cemetery there are now a few flowering snowdrops, primroses and daffodils plus a few hazel catkins have emerged. Robins have been singing again since late autumn but this morning I also heard singing Great Tits and a singing Song Thrush and a singing Dunnock. In addition, some of the Woodpigeons are already engaging in their display flights.