Date: 12th September 2024
Time: from 8:20 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light/moderate wind, 8°C to 11°C
Whilst very sunny, there was definitely an autumnal feel to my visit this morning with the lowest temperatures for many months. In fact, my fleece and winter-lined trousers had their first outing of the autumn/winter!
Given the low temperatures, I was not expecting to see any butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies which have been my main focus for the last few months. However, remarkably, I saw 2 Red Admirals on the wing, the first in the cemetery immediately adjacent to the church and the second in the northern section of the site.
Birds finally appeared to be more active following the summer lull with roving groups of Blue Tits, Great Tits and Long-tailed Tits being especially conspicuous, particularly in the bushes around the pond in the northern section of the site.
Spring and summer visitors are still present. I initially heard the contact call of a Chiffchaff in the bushes along the track from Larkins Tyres. I then saw a single Chiffchaff plus 2 male Blackcaps and a single female Blackcap foraging in bushes around the pond in the northern section of the site.
Other highlights included 2 separate sightings of a fly-over Common Buzzard in the northern section of the site (possibly the same individual), a single Great Spotted Woodpecker also in the northern section of the site and a Green Woodpecker heard distantly calling from the top of Church Hill.
Finally, with regard to mammals, I had a brief sighting of a single Red Fox running through the northern section of the site and a single Grey Squirrel in the same area.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Blackcap
Red Fox
Red Admiral
Site totals for 2024 to date (2023 totals in brackets):
Birds = 40 (47)
Total species list for the site
Birds = 65
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