Saturday, 24 February 2024

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 listMallard, 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 = 13
Reptiles = 1
Amphibians = 0

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