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

Date: 25th April 2023

Time: from 6:45 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, moderate wind, 2°C to 6°C

I had another excellent visit this morning with numerous opportunities to photograph 2 Red Foxes and another addition to my 2023 site list: Common Whitethroat. This took my site list for 2023 to 38 species.

The main purpose of my visit was to photograph Red Foxes which I hoped would be attracted by the remains of a chicken carcass.

I accessed the site as usual via the track from Larkins Tyres. From the wooded clearing at the end of the track, 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.

After climbing over the fence, I scattered the chicken carcass remains in an area where I have previously seen Red Foxes on a regular basis. I then found a suitable location to set up my Walkstool and then secreted myself under my throw-over bag hide to watch and wait.

Eventually, after the best part of an hour, I had my first sighting of a Red Fox which approached the chicken carcass very nervously to begin with. However, over the next 30 minutes or so, I had repeated sightings of 2 Red Foxes, the first a clearly lactating vixen and the second a presumed dog and mate given the lack of any confrontation between the 2 animals. I was able to get numerous photos of both as they fed and moved around the wider area.

Photo: Red Fox

With regard to birds, the main highlight was my first singing male Common Whitethroat of the year which I located in a bush in the central section of the cemetery. In fact, this was the same bush as I recorded my first last year!

In the north of the site, I again saw a very high and distant soaring Sparrowhawk, presumably the same Green Woodpecker on several occasions, a male and female Mallard again on the pond, a Grey Heron which flew up and away from the pond and a singing male Greenfinch.

In the north of the site, I also heard 2 singing male Blackcaps and 2 singing male Chiffchaffs plus I saw a female Blackcap in the central section of the cemetery.

I saw another, or possibly the same, Grey Heron flying over the central section of the cemetery whilst I was trying to locate the singing Common Whitethroat.

Unfortunately, I failed to hear the singing male Willow Warbler that I had recorded on my previous 2 visits.

In addition to the Red Foxes, I saw a single Reeves’ Muntjac and a single Grey Squirrel, both from my seated location in the north of the site.

Photo: Reeves' Muntjac

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

Common Whitethroat

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Robin

Wren

Dunnock

Song Thrush

Blackbird

Greenfinch

Sparrowhawk

Green Woodpecker

Jay

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Woodpigeon

Grey Heron

Mallard

Herring Gull

Red Fox

Reeves' Muntjac

Grey Squirrel

Here are some other photos from my visit:

Photo: male Mallard

Photo: male and female Mallard

Photo: Robin

Photo: Blue Tit

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

Birds = 38 (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 = 62

Mammals = 7

Butterflies = 22

Dragonflies and damselflies = 9

Reptiles = 1

Amphibians = 0

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SS15 wildlife watching

Tuesday 25 April 2023

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 25th April 2023

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