Date: 11th March 2023
Time: from 9:30 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 1°C to 5°C
It was a sunny,
albeit cold, morning for my visit with a few remnants of ground frost.
Nonetheless, the amount of bird song suggested that spring is not too far off with singing Robins, Great Tits and Blue Tits particularly evident but also a few Wrens and singles of Song Thrush and Dunnock. I also saw and photographed a Wren collecting nesting material in the area around Willow Pond.
The main highlights during my visit were a male and female Chaffinch in the wooded area between the Spanish Steps and Prewers Pond, a species that I have only seen on a few occasions at the site so hopefully this is potentially a breeding pair, and 2 male Mallards which splash-landed in to Meadow Pond whilst I was there.
As I arrived home, I heard a “mewing” Common Buzzard and quickly located a soaring bird …. see here. This is a species that I am now seeing regularly from both my flat and my adjacent St. Nicholas Church local patch site. I have also recorded Common Buzzard at Noak Bridge Nature Reserve but only on a few occasions. It is a species that is increasing both its range and population so hopefully I will begin to record it more frequently at Noak Bridge Nature Reserve.
Another sign of spring coming is the emergence of Blackthorn and there are a few flowering plants now around the site. The strangest sight that I saw, however, was a flowering Oregon Grape which I identified from my Seek app. A Google search tells me that it is .... "a native plant in the North American West from south east Alaska to northern California, and eastern Alberta to central New Mexico, often occurring in the understory of Douglas-fir forests (although other forest types contain the species) and in brushlands in the Cascades, Rockies, and northern Sierra Nevada." I am not sure how it ended up at Noak Bridge Nature Reserve!
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Here are some photos from my visit:
Photo: Wren
Photo: Wren
Photo: Wren
Photo: Song Thrush
Photo: Woodpigeon
Photo: male Mallard
Photo: male Mallard
Site totals for 2023 to date (2022 totals in brackets):
Total species list for the site:
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Apparently the Oregon grape is considered an invasive species as it can displace local vegetation. It was introduced into Europe 200 years ago and has been slowly spreading, with birds and mammals eating its blue berries and distributing the seeds. Though I think there is only one small patch of it in the Reserve.
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