Saturday, 11 May 2024

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

Date: 11th May 2024 

Time: from 6:45 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 12°C to 16°C

This was my first visit to the site since 21st April 2024 and it was really noticeable that the oak trees had finally come in to full leaf.

The main purpose of my visit was to hopefully find and photograph some Red Fox cubs (as in previous years at this time) but, despite patiently waiting at 2 different and potentially likely locations, I failed to see even an adult.

However, it was still a successful visit given that I had my first record of Swift for the year for the site. Unfortunately, it was just a single bird that flew over the church and the top of Church Hill. It seems that the days of seeing up to 20 Swifts around the church are sadly long gone.

I also added 4 butterfly species to my site list for the year: Holly Blue (1), Orange Tip (1), Speckled Wood (1) and Small White (1). In addition, I saw 2 Commas, a species that I had already recorded this year.

The singing male Willow Warbler seen on my last 2 visits to the site had evidently moved on but both Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps were still present in good numbers. I saw a single singing male Chiffchaff and heard at least 6 other singing males plus I saw 1 singing male Blackcap and heard at least 5 other singing males.

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

Swift

Chiffchaff
Blackcap
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Robin
Wren
Dunnock
Blackbird
Starling
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull

Here are some photos from my visit …. 
















Photo: male Blackcap
















Photo: Robin















Photo: Dunnock

Photo: Small White




















































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

Birds = 36 (47)

Mammals = 3 (3)
Butterflies = 7 (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

Love nature .... act now
Restore and rewild our natural world
Please help save and enhance our laws that protect our environment and wildlife

💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature

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.