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

Wednesday, 6 December 2023

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 6th December 2023

Date: 6th December 2023

Time: from 8:30 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 1°C to 3°C

It was a lovely sunny and frosty winter morning for my latest visit to the site requiring multiple layers to keep warm.

The main purpose of my visit was to watch and photograph Red Foxes and I only visited the northern section of the site. After scattering a “breakfast buffet” at a suitable location, I settled down in my bag hide to wait. Within 5 minutes, I saw my first Red Fox which slowly made its way towards the food.

During the next 2 hours, I saw at least 3 Red Foxes, including 2 different adults and a smaller animal which I presumed was one of this year’s cubs, especially given its deference to the adults.

This was my first photography session with Red Foxes since 21st June 2023 when I was still on “cub watch” and it proved to be very successful. I was able to take a large number of photos including interaction between 2 Red Foxes plus a Red Fox with Magpies who also wanted to enjoy the feast.

With regard to other mammals, I saw at least 2 but possibly more Reeves’ Muntjacs. These were my first sightings since 11th May 2023 and I was able to get my first photos since 25th April 2023.

Sightings of birds were relatively few but did include a single Redwing, a regularly singing Song Thrush, a fly-over Green Woodpecker and a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker.

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

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Robin

Redwing

Song Thrush

Blackbird

Dunnock

Green Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Magpie

Carrion Crow