Date: 30th August 2023
Time: from 7:45 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny/cloudy, light wind, 12°C to 14°C
There was a definite autumnal feel to my visit this morning, not just with the abundance of emerging blackberries, hips, haws and sloes but also the cool temperatures.
In fact, the cool temperatures explained why I saw no butterflies, dragonflies or damselflies, other than a single Gatekeeper which flew weakly on a few occasions before resting again to wait for some sun and warmth.
Bird activity does appear to have picked up a little compared with my previous visits in July and August and the species total has increased slightly.
There were a number of highlights during my visit this morning.
The summer visiting warblers are still present: I heard and then saw a calling Chiffchaff near Larkins Tyres and then heard another calling bird in the northern section of the site where I also heard 2 calling Blackcaps.
Whilst by the pond, a Common Buzzard appeared from over the trees, hotly pursued by a Carrion Crow. It flew over and off eastwards very quickly but I did manage to get a record photo.
This was my first sighting of Common Buzzard since 12th April 2023. Between 12th March 2023 and 12th April 2023, I recorded this species (either single birds or a presumed pair) on 6 visits to the site and it did appear that a pair was maybe settling down to breed. However, the absence of any records since 12th April 2023 definitely suggests that these birds moved on. I also had 5 sightings of Common Buzzards from my flat in March 2023 but none since a last record on 9th May 2023. It is therefore nice to see this raptor again in my local area even if this was only a fly-through record.
During my visit, I also heard 3 calling Great Spotted Woodpeckers (a single bird near Larkins Tyres and 2 others in the northern section of the site) and saw a small group of Goldfinches which included some juveniles in the northern section of the site. Finally, I saw 3 fly-over Black-headed Gulls, a species that I see far less frequently than Herring Gull or Lesser Black-backed Gull.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Site totals for 2023 to date (2022 totals in brackets):
Total species list for the site:
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