Record from my flat - Common Buzzard

I had another Common Buzzard record this morning at 6:30 a.m., a super-early sighting of a single bird flying low and in a north westerly direction over the woodland beyond the houses opposite my flat. 

I have recorded Common Buzzard sightings from my flat since 2021. Sightings are increasing and last year I was almost convinced that there was a resident and possibly nesting pair in the area since I also frequently saw birds over my nearby local patch site around St. Nicholas Church.

This is the summary of my Common Buzzard sightings from my flat for the last 2 years ....

2021: 11 dates with those records involving 13 birds

2022: 26 dates with those records involving 38 birds

This is the summary of my Common Buzzard sightings from my flat for 2023 to date ....

February: 23rd (a single bird)

March: 11th (a single bird), 12th (a single bird), 18th March 2023 (a single bird), 19th March 2023 (a single bird), 30th March (a single bird)

2023 to date: 6 dates with those records involving 6 birds

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Lower Thames Crossing to impact wildlife in Essex

Essex Wildlife Trust has fundamentally opposed the plans for a Lower Thames Crossing.

Essex Wildlife Trust - Lower Thames Crossing

The Lower Thames Crossing proposes to connect Kent and Essex through a tunnel beneath the River Thames but with harmful implications on wildlife and habitats.

Below is a summary of the serious concerns and main objections outlined in the full position statement from the Essex Wildlife Trust. 

• Biodiversity loss such as Water Voles, reptiles and rare insects

• Damage to and fragmentation of habitats including ancient woodland and local wildlife sites

• Increased noise and lighting disturb communication, breeding, feeding and movement in species such as bats, birds and insects

• Reduce the remoteness and wildness of the landscape and its tranquility

• Generating more traffic and increasing CO2 emissions which directly conflicts with the Government's target to achieve net zero by 2050

• Associated development and future developments will put more pressure on wildlife and wild spaces

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Labour gave us National Parks – how can Keir Starmer be so silent on nature’s survival now?

It is abundantly clear, through both their actions and inactions, that the Conservative Party and the current UK Government, is not taking the climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis seriously.

However, the Labour Party, which is likely to form the next UK Government, also needs to step up. Whilst it talks of a green and fair future, it needs to say a lot more about the climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis and develop strategies and policies that make a substantial and meaningful difference to mitigating and resolving the existential challenges that the UK and the world face.

Here is an article form the excellent Chief Executive of the Wildlife Trusts, Craig Bennett .... 

Labour gave us National Parks – how can Keir Starmer be so silent on nature’s survival now? | Craig Bennett | The Guardian

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"Hostile, authoritarian" UK downgraded in civic freedoms index

The UK has been downgraded in an annual global index of civic freedoms as a result of the Government’s “increasingly authoritarian” drive to impose restrictive and punitive laws on public protests.

The Civicus Monitor, which tracks the democratic and civic health of 197 countries across the world, said the UK Government was creating a “hostile environment” towards campaigners, charities and other civil society bodies.

The UK’s willingness to clamp down on civic freedoms such as the right to peaceful assembly means it is now classified as “obstructed”, putting it alongside countries such as Poland, South Africa and Hungary.

This comes as no surprise at all to anyone who has deep concerns about the climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis and has seen the UK Government's increasingly authoritarian actions towards democratic campaigning and protest.

The Guardian - "Hostile, authoritarian" UK downgraded in civic freedoms index

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The People's Plan for Nature has been published

The People’s Plan for Nature has been published.

People's Plan for Nature - Executive Summary

People's Plan for Nature - Final Report

The People’s Plan for Nature is powered by the WWF, the RSPB and the National Trust. It is a unique collaboration with the UK public to protect and restore nature in the UK.

The People’s Plan for Nature is a plan created for the people, by the people of the UK .... a vision for the future of nature and the actions we must all take to protect and renew it. 

With input from thousands of people from across the UK, the People’s Plan for Nature calls for urgent, immediate action, from governments, businesses, charities, organisations, farmers and communities, to protect and fundamentally change how we value nature. 

The People’s Plan for Nature was created by the people, for the people.  

Here’s how the People’s Plan for Nature came to life:

Step 1 – the national conversation

The People’s Plan for Nature started with an open call for ideas and stories from the public on what nature means to you and how we can save it. Nearly 30,000 responses were submitted in 4 weeks (including mine).

Step 2 – the People’s Assembly for Nature

A representative group of 103 people with different backgrounds, values and experiences were randomly chosen to form the People's Assembly for Nature. The group came together over four weekends to learn about the crisis UK’s nature is in. They then discussed and deliberated over the issues and found common ground to create the People’s Plan for Nature.

Step 3 – a plan too big to ignore

The people have spoken, now we all need to act. The People’s Plan for Nature sets out the urgent, immediate action, from governments, businesses, charities, organisations, farmers and communities, to protect and renew nature. Together we will make the People’s Plan for Nature too big to ignore by showing just how many people stand behind it. 

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Bees .... the incredible winged workers

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Our woodlands need protecting

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Trip away from SS15 - RSPB Rye Meads, Hertfordshire

RSPB Rye Meads in Hertfordshire is a site that is relatively easy for me to visit by public transport: bus to Billericay, train to London Liverpool Street followed by another train to Rye House and then a short walk to the reserve entrance.

An Abellio Greater Anglia ticket sale which offered me a day return from Billericay to Rye House for a mere £10 prompted another visit today, following my last on 6th February 2023.

 

Rye Meads is a 58.5 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) located in Rye House near Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire. It is one of series of wetlands and reservoirs situated along the River Lea to the north east of London. It is part of the Lea Valley RAMSAR site (a group of internationally important wetland sites) and a Special Protection Area (SPA).

 

Rye Meads is divided into several areas. North of Rye Road is the Rye Meads nature reserve: the western half of this nature reserve, next to the River Lea in the Lee Valley Regional Park, is managed by the RSPB and the eastern half is managed by the Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust. It also includes a meadow and lagoons owned by Thames Water south of Rye Road which is not open to the public.

 

I visited the RSPB Rye Meads reserve which includes a visitor centre, trails and a number of hides. The seasonal flooding of a large ancient flood meadow combined with the rich soils has resulted in a mosaic of habitats, consisting of reedbeds, marshy grasslands and fen vegetation plus a number of small lakes and a scrape.

 

As I walked down to the reserve from Rye House railway station, I heard a singing male Chiffchaff which proved to be just the start of my encounter with this species.

 

The main focus of my visit was to again see and photograph Kingfishers so I spent very little time at the other hides around the reserve.

 

After what must have been at least a 2 hour wait, I saw a single male Kingfisher from the Kingfisher Hub. The bird flew in, perched up for a couple of minutes, disappeared into the nest bank and then re-emerged to promptly fly away. At least on this occasion, I was able to get a few photos.

Photo: male Kingfisher

Photo: male Kingfisher

During my walk around the reserve, Chiffchaffs were particularly conspicuous and vocal. I saw 2 singing males seen, heard 4 other singing males, heard 2 other calling bird and aw another silent and unsexed bird.

Other notable records during my visit across the included the following: Teal (c.100), Shoveler (c.50), Tufted Duck (c.20), Common Pochard (c.10), Mallard (c.10), Mute Swan (4), Egyptian Goose (2), Canada Goose (c.10), Coot (c.20), Moorhen (c.10), Grey Heron (1), Lapwing (c.10), Black-headed Gull (c.100), Herring Gull (1)

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Record from my flat - Common Buzzard

I had another yet another Common Buzzard record this afternoon at 12.50 p.m., a brief sighting of a single bird flying rapidly north west in the strong wind.

I have recorded Common Buzzard sightings from my flat since 2021. Sightings are increasing and last year I was almost convinced that there was a resident and possibly nesting pair in the area since I also frequently saw birds over my nearby local patch site around St. Nicholas Church.

This is the summary of my Common Buzzard sightings from my flat for the last 2 years ....

2021: 11 dates with those records involving 13 birds

2022: 26 dates with those records involving 38 birds

This is the summary of my Common Buzzard sightings from my flat for 2023 to date ....

February: 23rd (a single bird)

March: 11th (a single bird), 12th (a single bird), 18th March 2023 (a single bird), 19th March 2023 (a single bird), 22nd March 2023 (a single bird)

2023 to date: 6 dates with those records involving 6 birds

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"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you."

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"All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone"

.... or outdoors in the natural environment enjoying nature and wildlife.

According to Blaise Pascal, we (humans) fear the silence of existence, we dread boredom and instead choose aimless distraction and we can not help but run from the problems of our emotions into the false comforts of an over busy and very distracted mind.

#DefendNature .... Please help save and enhance our laws that protect our environment and wildlife 

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First Chiffchaffs of the spring!

This morning, I had a regular exercise walk rather than a start-stop-look-listen wildlife walk around one of my local patch sites.

As I walked up Church Hill, I heard 2 singing male Chiffchaffs in the woodland either side of the road. These were my first records of the spring.

To me, the sight and sound of this tiny Phylloscopus leaf warbler always marks the start of spring, as much as the other arriving spring and summer migrants are a joy to welcome back.

Last year, I had my first Chiffchaff record on 17th January 2022, a calling bird in the St. Nicholas Church cemetery. This species is increasingly over-wintering in the UK due to our warmer winters so this bird was presumably one of the residents from the previous summer or an individual that possibly followed a wandering tit flock on to site.  My first spring record was on 14th March 2022.

Here are 2 photos of Chiffchaffs that I took in late March 2022 around my St. Nicholas Church local patch site ....

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Record from my flat - Common Buzzard

After a record as recently as yesterday, I had a further sighting of a Common Buzzard from my flat this morning at 9:35 a.m. The bird was soaring very high over the wooded area beyond the houses opposite my flat before drifting slowly north and then flying strongly off after being harassed by a Carrion Crow.

I have recorded Common Buzzard sightings from my flat since 2021. Sightings are increasing and last year I was almost convinced that there was a resident and possibly nesting pair in the area since I also frequently saw birds over my nearby local patch site around St. Nicholas Church.

This is the summary of my Common Buzzard sightings from my flat for the last 2 years ....

2021: 11 dates with those records involving 13 birds

2022: 26 dates with those records involving 38 birds

This is the summary of my Common Buzzard sightings from my flat for 2023 to date ....

February: 23rd (a single bird)

March: 11th (a single bird), 12th (a single bird), 18th March 2023 (a single bird), 19th March 2023 (a single bird)

2023 to date: 5 dates with those records involving 5 birds

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Records from my flat - Blackbird and Common Buzzard

I recorded my first singing male Blackbirds of the year at my St. Nicholas Church local patch site on 14th February 2023 and 15th March 2023.

Today, both early in the morning and late in the evening, I heard my first singing male Blackbird of the year from my flat.

Like most song birds, Blackbirds fall silent after the breeding season and do not normally resume singing until the end of January or early February or even as late as early March. This is much later than other species and I have heard singing Robins from as early as late December and early January and Great Tits, Blue Tits, Dunnocks, Wrens and Song Thrushes for some weeks now.

My records of Common Buzzards are now becoming more frequent again and in recent days I have seen them both from my flat and around my St. Nicholas Church local patch site .... see my last visit to the latter on 15th March 2023 for the most notable sighting of the year to date.

This afternoon at 1:45 p.m., I had a very brief sighting of a Common Buzzard from my flat.

I have recorded Common Buzzard sightings from my flat since 2021. Sightings are increasing and last year I was almost convinced that there was a resident and possibly nesting pair in the area since I also frequently saw birds over my nearby local patch site around St. Nicholas Church.

This is the summary of my Common Buzzard sightings from my flat for the last 2 years ....

2021: 11 dates with those records involving 13 birds

2022: 26 dates with those records involving 38 birds

This is the summary of my Common Buzzard sightings from my flat for 2023 to date ....

February: 23rd (a single bird)

March: 11th (a single bird), 12th (a single bird), 18th March 2023 (a single bird)

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Record from my flat - Canada Geese

This morning at 9.30 a.m., 2 very noisy Canada Geese flew past my flat.

This was my first sighting of this species for some months.

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Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 15th March 2023

Date: 15th March 2023

Time: from 8:15 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 2°C to 5°C

I had an excellent visit this morning: 23 bird species recorded (including Mallard added to my 2023 site list and 3 Common Buzzards) plus up to 6 Red Foxes.

I accessed the site as usual via the track from Larkins Tyres. At the start of the track, I saw c.20 Redwings flying through the scrub area behind Larkins Tyres. At the end of the track in the wooded clearing I saw a Green Woodpecker.

From the wooded clearing, I took the short walk through the trees to the fence, my regular watchpoint overlooking the field, scrub, hedges and trees in the north of the site. For the rest of my visit, I spent time here and walking around this area.

From the watchpoint, I heard and then saw a singing male Goldcrest in the surrounding wooded area plus I heard another calling Green Woodpecker and a calling and briefly “drumming” Great Spotted Woodpecker.

After some time at this location, I climbed over the fence and walked across the field to one of the small ponds where I was surprised to see a pair of Mallards. This is a species that I have recorded at the site on a few occasions but always as a fly-over sighting. This was a new site record for me for 2023, taking the total to 33 bird species. I expected the Mallards to immediately fly off when they saw me but they remained on the pond enabling me to get several photos.

Photo: male and female Mallard

Photo: male and female Mallard

Photo: male and female Mallard

Photo: male and female Mallard

Photo: male Mallard

Photo: male Mallard

Photo: male Mallard

Photo: male Mallard

Photo: male Mallard

Photo: female Mallard

Photo: female Mallard

In this same area, I also saw a calling and singing male Greenfinch.

I eventually returned back to the watchpoint by the fence. From here, I had my first sighting of a single Common Buzzard which I was able to watch for several minutes being harassed by a Carrion Crow.

Photo: Common Buzzard and Carrion Crow

Photo: Common Buzzard and Carrion Crow

Photo: Common Buzzard and Carrion Crow

Photo: Common Buzzard and Carrion Crow

Photo: Common Buzzard and Carrion Crow

Photo: Common Buzzard 

The Common Buzzard eventually disappeared from view but after around 10 minutes I saw it, or another bird, very distantly at the very far side of the field. This bird landed in a tree and was quickly joined by another. Through my binoculars it appeared that they were at a nest but it was too distant to confirm this.

Photo: heavily cropped shot of 2 Common Buzzards at a presumed nest

I therefore climbed over the fence again and walked back across the field.

The 2 Common Buzzards had flown from the tree but there did indeed appear to be a nest. Whether this was a new nest or an old one from last year, and possibly that of a Carrion Crow or Magpie, was unclear. However, I will definitely be watching this area with some interest over the coming weeks.

Photo: tree with presumed nest (top centre left)

I quickly spotted the 2 Common Buzzards soaring and I deduced that they were presumably a pair judging by the size difference and their regular interaction. After some time, a third Common Buzzard appeared and began soaring in close proximity to the other 2 birds. I was able to watch all 3 Common Buzzards for around 15 minutes. 

Photo: Common Buzzard 

Photo: Common Buzzard 

Photo: Common Buzzard 

Photo: Common Buzzard 

Photo: Common Buzzard 

Photo: Common Buzzard 

Photo: Common Buzzards

Photo: Common Buzzards

Finally with regard to birds, song was again very evident, particularly singing Robins, Great Tits and Blue Tits but also a few Wrens and Dunnocks. However, I also heard a singing male Blackbird, my second record of a singing bird this spring.

With regard to mammals, I had 6 sightings of Red Foxes. Although there may have been some duplication, I did see at least 3 different animals.

My first sighting of a Red Fox was from the track from Larkins Tyres although the view was partially obscured by the dense vegetation. I had 4 further sightings whilst I walked around the field and the area of scrub, hedges and trees in the north of the site and I was able to photograph one of these animals.

Photo: Red Fox

As I returned home, I had my final Red Fox sighting with a single animal running across the scrub area behind Larkins Tyres.

As on my last visit, I also saw 2 Grey Squirrels in the wooded area adjacent to the access track from Larkins Tyres.

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

Goldcrest

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Robin

Wren

Dunnock

Redwing

Blackbird

House Sparrow

Starling

Greenfinch

Goldfinch

Common Buzzard

Green Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Jay

Magpie 

Carrion Crow

Woodpigeon

Mallard

Black-headed Gull 

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Herring Gull

Red Fox

Grey Squirrel

Here are some other photos from my visit:

Photo: Blue Tit

Photo: Robin

Photo: Goldcrest

Site totals for 2023 to date (2022 totals in brackets):

Birds = 33  (45)

Mammals = 3  (5)

Butterflies = 0  (17)  

Dragonflies and damselflies = 0  (7)

Reptiles = 0  (0)

Amphibians = 0  (0)

Total species list for the site:

Birds = 60

Mammals = 7

Butterflies = 22

Dragonflies and damselflies = 9

Reptiles = 1

Amphibians = 0

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