SS15 wildlife watching: Visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve

Date: 17th April 2024

Time: from 8 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 6°C to 8°C

It was a surprisingly cold morning for my first April visit to the reserve this year but nonetheless it proved to a very successful one with 20 bird species recorded, including a first site record plus 3 further first records of the year.

Firstly, and perhaps slightly unexpectedly, I had my first site record of Willow Warbler, a singing male which I first located in one of the bushes at the edge of Meadow Pond and, later on, presumably the same bird in bushes adjacent to the track to Fox Pond. Last year, I had a singing male Willow Warbler at my St. Nicholas Church local patch sites for 2 days but despite much searching I failed to see it before it moved on. This species was once relatively common in Essex but it is now relatively difficult to record.

The 3 first records for the year were Lesser Whitethroat, Greenfinch and Pied Wagtail.

As in April 2023, I first heard a singing male Lesser Whitethroat in the bushes at the end of the southern section of the boardwalk in the eastern section of the reserve. However, it relocated to the bushes adjacent to the boardwalk leading to Meadow Pond and I eventually had good views of it in the bushes around Meadow Pond itself.

Greenfinch and Pied Wagtail were both fly-over records of calling birds, the former over Willow Pond although I failed to see it and the latter over Meadow Pond.

Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps were easy to hear and see across the reserve but particularly in the eastern section of the reserve from the boardwalk and around Meadow Pond. I saw 2 singing male Chiffchaffs and heard 3 other singing males plus I saw 3 Blackcaps, including 2 singing males plus a female, and heard 5 other singing males.

Chiffchaffs proved to be very easy to photograph unlike the Willow Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat where, despite having good views of both birds, I disappointingly failed to get any photos.

With regard to other birds, the presumed pair of Moorhens were again present on Meadow Pond and I heard another calling bird on Willow Pond which I failed to see.

There were no Mallards on Meadow Pond or Willow Pond during this visit but I did see 3 birds flying over as I arrived at the reserve and I saw a male flying over Meadow Pond.

As I made my way back from the storage shed to the Spanish Steps, I heard a calling Green Woodpecker in the wooded area stretching to the north towards Willow Pond.

Unlike my last visit on 30th March 2024 when I saw 3 butterfly species, the much colder temperature this morning inevitably meant that I saw none.

Finally, I saw 4 Grey Squirrels during my visit, 1 near the Spanish Steps, 1 at Meadow Pond and 2 at Fox Pond.

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

Willow Warbler

Lesser Whitethroat

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Robin

Wren