Date: 1st April 2024
Time: from 8 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny/cloudy, light wind, 8°C to 11°C
I had another very productive spring visit this morning with a full walk around the site including the northern section, the cemetery and the wooded area in the south of the site on my way home.
During my visit, I recorded 20 bird species, slightly less than on my last visit on 27th March 2024. However, this did include another species added to my 2024 bird site list, namely Jay (I have no idea why it has taken so long to record my first sighting of the year!).
I also recorded my second butterfly species of the year, namely Peacock.
Other than the 2 Jays that I saw, the highlights from my visit were as follows:
Following my first records of the year on 15th March 2024 and 27th March 2024 respectively, both Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps are now well established across the site. I saw 2 singing male Chiffchaffs, saw 2 other non-singing birds and heard 5 other singing males plus I saw 2 singing male Blackcaps and heard 4 other singing males. However, this is probably an under-estimate of the numbers of both species now present.
For the second successive visit, I recorded both Common Buzzard and Sparrowhawk, singles of both species seen from the southern section of the site whilst trying to photograph a Chiffchaff and a Blackcap.
My visit included one of my best encounters with woodpecker species at the site. I saw at least 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers in the wooded area at the eastern end of the cemetery and there was a lot of excitable calling and some “drumming”. I then saw what I assume were 2 other Great Spotted Woodpeckers in the immediate vicinity of the church with one of the birds landing on the wooden spire to “drum”. I initially heard a Green Woodpecker calling in the northern section of the site and eventually had a distant view of a bird as it flew in and landed on a tree. I also heard another calling Green Woodpecker in the cemetery.
Finally, a single calling but unseen Greenfinch in the horse paddock was notable.
Whilst I was unable to get close to the 8 Peacocks that I saw at Noak Bridge Nature Reserve on 30th March 2024, a sighting of a single Peacock in the southern section of the site was a welcome addition to my 2024 butterfly site list.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Chiffchaff
Peacock
Here are some photos from my visit ….
Photo: male Blackcap
Photo: male Blackcap
Photo: Robin
Site totals for 2024 to date (2023 totals in
brackets):
Birds = 33 (47)
Total species list for the site
Birds = 65
No comments:
Post a Comment
If you feel like commenting on my blog, you can contact me by completing the comment form below. I will respond to all comments and enquiries and constructive criticism will always be welcomed.