Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 24th February 2024

Date: 24th February 2024

Time: from 8 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 0°C to 3°C

Due to a self-enforced “stay at home” policy due to recovery from a surgical procedure, I have necessarily neglected both my local patch sites with my last visit to St. Nicholas Church and the surrounding areas being on 22nd January 2024.

The very welcome visit this morning saw a return of winter. Whilst it was very sunny, the temperature barely rose above 0°C and there was a ground frost still evident in shaded areas.

I had a full walk around the site including the northern section of the site, the cemetery and the wooded area in the south of the site on my way home.

Compared with my visits to the site in January which were relatively quiet, there was noticeably more bird activity and bird songs and calls.

During my visit, I was able to record 3 species to add to my 2024 bird site list: Mallard, Lesser Black-backed Gull and House Sparrow.

The main highlights during my visit were Mallard (1 male and 2 females that flew in to the pond in the northern section of the site), Redwing (at least 3 in the northern section of the site), Green Woodpecker (at least 3 calling birds heard across the site), Great Spotted Woodpecker (1 seen in the wooded area at the end of the track from Larkins Tyres, 1 heard calling in the northern section of the site and 1 heard “drumming” in the area between the eastern section of the cemetery and Church Hill).

In addition, I saw at least 2 but probably 3 Red Foxes in the northern section of the site.

Finally, there is now much evidence of the approaching spring with various flowers and plants blooming.

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

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Robin

Wren

Dunnock

Redwing

Song Thrush

Blackbird

House Sparrow

Green Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Woodpigeon

Mallard

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Red Fox

Here are some photos from my visit ....

Photo: Red Fox

Photo: Red Fox

Photo: male and female Mallards

Photo: male and female Mallards

Photo: male Mallard

Photo: male Mallard

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

Birds = 21 (47)

Mammals = 3 (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 = 11

Reptiles = 1

Amphibians = 0

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Two Red Kites poisoned in Essex

Raptor persecution and killing is particularly rife in northern England and in Scotland, most notably in the upland and moorland areas "managed" for the "sport" of grouse shooting.

However, the lowland areas of England are not immune to this appalling and disgusting illegal activity and that includes my home County of Essex.

Two Red Kites have recently been found poisoned in Essex ....

Yesterday we attended a farm in the @EPColchester area conducting searches with @ukwildlifecrime ISO @NaturalEngland staff & @EPSpecials
After two Red kites were found poisoned, Firearms & other articles seized.
Working together to target bird of prey crime @RSPBbirders #opowl pic.twitter.com/fThA2univP

— Essex Police - Rural, Wildlife & Heritage Crime (@EPWildlife) February 13, 2024

Two red kites found poisoned in Essex - @EPRural leads multi-agency raid on farm & seizes firearms & 'other items'.

Great work, @EssexPoliceUK @ukwildlifecrime @NaturalEngland Essex is getting a reputation for crimes against birds of prey.

Details ⬇️https://t.co/jRvBTYxAQr pic.twitter.com/iLo9i08ShE

— Raptor Persecution UK (@RaptorPersUK) February 13, 2024

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Record from my flat - Sparrowhawk

After the very exciting sight of my first Red Kite from my flat recently (see here), I had a much more expected sighting of a Sparrowhawk today.

Sparrowhawk is a species that I have often seen from my flat, usually during fine sunny spring mornings in March and April when birds are conspicuously soaring over the wooded areas at the start of the breeding season.

Today at 12:15 p.m., I had the latest sighting of a Sparrowhawk, not a soaring bird but one lazily flying through with its distinctive flap-flap-glide style over the houses opposite and in a northerly direction.

My last sighting of a Sparrowhawk from my flat was of a male actually perched on top of one of the houses on 17th November 2023.

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A short local walk

I had been confined to my flat for a week following a surgical procedure and this morning was my first opportunity at last to get out and enjoy some welcome fresh air.

I only walked a short distance through a small part of my St. Nicholas Church local patch site but I still managed to hear a Green Woodpecker and hear and see a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

There were also some very early signs of spring with some emerging blackthorn blossom at various locations plus woodland crocuses and daffodils in the eastern section of the cemetery.

In recent months, Basildon Council have been erecting information boards around my St. Nicholas Church local patch site, or at least on the land owned and managed by them, and this now includes a brand new sign close to where I live.

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Common Cranes bred in higher numbers in the UK last summer than for centuries

Amongst the “doom and gloom” surrounding the collapse of so many of the UK’s breeding bird species, the success of the Common Crane is at least one bright note.

At least 80 breeding pairs of Common Crane were recorded in 2023, the highest breeding number since they began breeding again in the UK in 1979 having disappeared in the 16th century.

The 80 breeding pairs in 2023 is an increase from the previous high of 72 breeding pairs in 2021 and those birds successfully fledged at least 36 chicks.

 

The Common Crane first returned from Scandinavia to breed in east Norfolk in 1979. The population was kept secret for many years and very slowly spread. More recently it has been boosted by a reintroduction project where hand-reared birds were released on expanded and restored wetlands in the Somerset Levels …. see RSPB - The Great Crane Project and WWT - Reintroducing Common Cranes

 

The UK has drained, developed and destroyed more than 75% of its wetlands but the recent restoration of some wetlands has helped the Common Crane recolonise Wales, Scotland and nature reserves across England.

 

Damon Bridge, chair of the UK Crane Working Group, said: “The continued success of these amazing birds is showing us that conservation action works. We need to build on this foundation by safeguarding protected sites and creating larger, better-connected wetland areas across the UK to fully reap the benefits this vital habitat can provide for nature and people.”

 

Apart from at a number of locations in their breeding range in northern and eastern Europe and on their wintering grounds in Spain, I have seen Common Cranes regularly at NWT Hickling Broad and Marshes in north east Norfolk where birds come in to roost and can easily be seen from the Stubb Mill viewpoint. I have also seen them at WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, the focus of the reintroduction project to the Somerset Levels.

Common Cranes are wonderful birds to see and indeed hear with their distinctive bugling calls.

Photo: Common Cranes at WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

Photo: Common Crane at WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

Photo: Common Crane at Biebrza marshes, north east Poland

Photo: Common Crane near Sutlepa meri, Silma Nature Reserve, Estonia

Photo: Common Cranes at Laguna de Gallocanta, Aragon, Spain

Photo: Common Cranes at Laguna de Gallocanta, Aragon, Spain

Photo: Common Cranes at Laguna de Gallocanta, Aragon, Spain

Photo: Common Cranes at Laguna de Gallocanta, Aragon, Spain

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Record from my flat - Red Kite!!!

I record both Common Buzzards and Sparrowhawks several times each year from my flat and on my adjacent St. Nicholas Church local patch site but, despite them being recorded not far away over Langdon Hills, I had yet to record a Red Kite .... until today!

My long wait for this species ended at 10:55 a.m. this morning when I saw a Red Kite fly over the flats hotly pursued by 2 Herring Gulls. By the time that I had worked out what was going on and got my camera out, the Red Kite was well away so I only got a very distant and heavily cropped record shot.

Photo: Red Kite

Given that the bird flew west, it is also going down as a new site record for my St. Nicholas Church local patch site!

When I first started birding as a young person, the Red Kite was an extremely rare species confined to just a few remote areas in mid-Wales. Due to re-introduction schemes and natural range expansion with the increasing population, it is now very easy to see Red Kites in various parts of the country and it has been on my Essex list for some years (usually spotted from the M25 or M11!).

My record shot of this morning's Red Kite is not exactly brilliant so here are some better photos of Red Kites that I have taken in mid-Wales in recent years ....

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Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature