Date: 4th May 2023
Time: from 7:15 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, moderate wind, 10°C to 13°C
I had an excellent visit this morning including another addition to my 2023 site list: Lesser Whitethroat. This took my site list for 2023 to 39 species. I also had an intriguing sighting of a wader species (see more on this below).
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. I spent some time here and walking around the northern section of the site. I walked home via St. Nicholas Church and the cemetery.
With regard to birds, the main highlight was my first singing male Lesser Whitethroat of the year in the northern section of the site. I heard presumably the same bird singing regularly but it appeared to be very mobile and therefore elusive. However, I eventually located it and had a good view of a usually skulking species.
Whilst in the northern section of the site, I saw a bird approaching me from the west and flying very high. Initially, I thought it was a gull species or even a tern species. When it flew directly over me, I could see it was a wader species with a slightly up-turned bill and white underparts. Either Black-tailed Godwit or Bar-tailed Godwit immediately came to mind but I quickly dismissed these species since both show brick-red plumage during the spring and summer months. I think this bird may well have been a Greenshank (maybe heading towards Wat Tyler Country Park or RSPB Vange Marsh?) but unfortunately and frustratingly I was not quick enough to get a photo to clinch the identification. Therefore it remains one that got away!
In the north of the site, I also saw a singing male Common Whitethroat, a male Mallard again on the pond, a Green Woodpecker and a singing male Greenfinch.
During this visit, I recorded far fewer Blackcaps (2 singing males seen and another heard) and Chiffchaffs (only 1 singing male heard) than in recent weeks.
As I walked home, I saw another singing male Common Whitethroat in the central section of the cemetery. This was presumably the same bird (my first record for the site for 2023) that I saw on my last visit on 25th April 2023.
Magpie is a species that I see on almost every visit to the site and I rarely comment on it. However, this morning there were 11 birds associating closely with the 2 horses in the paddock in the north of the site. I am guessing that perhaps the horses were disturbing prey items as they moved around the field.
During this visit, I surprisingly failed to see any mammals.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Here are some photos from my visit:
Photo: male Common Whitethroat
Photo: male Common Whitethroat
Photo: Blue Tit
Photo: male Mallard
Photo: male Mallard
Photo: male Mallard
Site totals for 2023 to date (2022 totals in brackets):
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
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