Friday, 13 September 2024

Visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve – 13th September 2024

Date: 13th September 2024

Time: from 9:20 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 10°C to 13°C

It was slightly warmer than my visit to my St. Nicholas Church local patch site yesterday but, like that visit, I was still not expecting to see any butterfliesdragonflies and damselflies which have been my main focus for the last few months.

However, it proved to an excellent visit and I recorded the following:

Butterflies: Comma (1), Red Admiral (4), Small White (1), unidentified blue species (1)

Dragonflies and damselflies: Emperor Dragonfly (1), Common Darter (4)

Red Admirals were particularly conspicuous, evidently feeding on the sugars produced by blackberries, and provided very good photo opportunities.

It was relatively quiet with regard to birds but at least one of the spring and summer visitors is still present: I saw a single foraging Chiffchaff at the start of the boardwalk in the eastern section of the reserve and remarkably heard a briefly singing male around Meadow Pond and heard another calling bird near the storage shed.

Other highlights included Moorhen (2 adults and 4 well-grown juveniles) and Mallard (female) seen on Willow Pond plus a fly-over Pied Wagtail seen at Meadow Pond.

Whilst at Meadow Pond, I also saw a large raptor species which unfortunately was flying away rather than in to the reserve air space! Although very pale, I believe that this was a Common Buzzard.

Finally, I saw 2 Grey Squirrels, the first in the woodland around the Spanish Steps and another running across the grassland of Thorny Wood.

On my walk over to the reserve, I heard a robustly singing male Chiffchaff between Asda and the A127 bridge. With another singing male on the reserve itself, clearly these birds are not aware that the breeding season is long over and that they should be preparing to migrate south or settling in for the winter!

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

Chiffchaff

Blue Tit
Robin
Wren
Song Thrush
Goldfinch
Pied Wagtail
Jay
Magpie
Woodpigeon
Mallard
Moorhen

Grey Squirrel

Comma

Red Admiral
Small White

Emperor Dragonfly

Common Darter

Here are some photos from my visit ….
















Photo: Red Admiral
















Photo: Red Admiral
















Photo: Red Admiral

Photo: Red Admiral
















Photo: Red Admiral
















Photo: Red Admiral
















Photo: Comma
















Photo: Small White
















Photo: male Common Darter

Photo: female/immature Common Darter

Photo: female/immature Common Darter

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

Birds = 36 (36)

Mammals = 3 (2)
Butterflies = 12 (15)  
Dragonflies and damselflies = 11 (11)
Reptiles = 0 (1)
Amphibians = 1 (2)

Total species list for the site:

Birds = 49

Mammals = 4
Butterflies = 22
Dragonflies and damselflies = 15
Reptiles = 2
Amphibians = 3

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