Thursday 11 January 2024

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 11th January 2024

Date: 11th January 2024

Time: from 9 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 0°C to 2°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 again 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 at the far end of the rough grassy field before it disappeared into a hedge. Shortly afterwards, it reappeared and sat at the same location for several minutes before it was joined by another Red Fox. I think the animals were well known to one another (there were no signs of aggression) and they were probably a dog and vixen.

After these quick sightings and a few very distant and subsequently cropped photos, I was hopeful for a repeat of the success that I had on my visit on 6th December 2023. However, these first sightings were also my last and it was a Magpie that gratefully discovered the food that I had left for the Red Foxes!

Sightings of birds from my static location were relatively few but did include my first Sparrowhawk of the year which rapidly flew over and disappeared from view plus a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker.

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


Blue Tit
Great Tit
Robin
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon
Herring Gull

Red Fox

Here are some photos from my visit ....





























Photo: Red Fox





























Photo: Red Fox





























Photo: Red Foxes





























Photo: Carrion Crow

Site totals for 2024 to date (2023 totals in brackets):


Birds = 16 (47)
Mammals = 1 (3)
Butterflies = 0 (23)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 0 (12)
Reptiles = 0 (0)
Amphibians = 0 (0)

Total species list for the site:

Birds = 65
Mammals = 7
Butterflies = 25
Dragonflies and damselflies = 13
Reptiles = 1
Amphibians = 0

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