SS15 wildlife watching

This blog was set up in mid-March 2020 during the emerging COVID-19 health crisis in the UK. It initially aimed to provide records of wildlife sightings and photographs from sites within walking distance of my home in the SS15 postcode area of Basildon in Essex during lockdown travel restrictions. Even though the pandemic has largely subsided, this blog continues to include my local wildlife sightings, my trips away from home plus some personal thoughts and reflections on other issues.

Monday, 31 March 2025

Visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve – 31st March 2025

Date: 31st March 2025

Time: from 7 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 4°C to 8°C

During my visit this morning, I added another 2 bird species to my site list for 2025 taking it to 31 species:

Stock Dove: 1 heard calling from the wooded area behind Meadow Pond.

Collared Dove: 1 seen in the wooded area by the right hand turn down from the Spanish Steps at the start of my visit and again when I left

Chiffchaffs are now well-established across all parts of the reserve and this morning I recorded 8 singing males (4 seen).

After seeing my first singing male Blackcap of the year at the reserve on my visit on 9th March 2025 but not since, I recorded 5 birds during this morning’s visit: a singing male in the scrub adjacent to the path to Fox Pond, a female at the end of the boardwalk plus singing but unseen males in the wooded area behind the storage shed, in the hedge near the Eastfield Road entrance and at the end of the boardwalk.

Other highlights during my visit were as follows:

Moorhen: 1 seen on Willow Pond and a presumed pair seen on Meadow Pond

Mallard: male seen flying over Meadow Pond plus another or the same bird seen later

Jackdaw: 1 seen flying over Meadow Pond

Starling: 1 seen by the Eastfield Road entrance

I also saw 2 Grey Squirrels, the first dozing in the sun in the trees behind Meadow Pond and another in the wooded area around the Spanish Steps

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

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Robin

Wren

Dunnock

Song Thrush

Blackbird

Starling

Stock Dove

Collared Dove

Woodpigeon

Jay

Jackdaw

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Moorhen

Mallard

Herring Gull

Grey Squirrel

Here are some photos from my visit ....

Photo: male Blackcap

Photo: male Chiffchaff

Photo: male Dunnock

Photo: Woodpigeon

Photo: Grey Squirrel

Site totals for 2025 to date (2024 totals in brackets):

Birds = 31 (38)

Mammals = 3 (3)

Butterflies = 0 (12)

Dragonflies and damselflies = 0 (11)

Reptiles = 0 (0)

Amphibians = 0 (1)

Total species list for the site:

Birds = 49

Mammals = 5

Butterflies = 22

Dragonflies and damselflies = 15

Reptiles = 2

Amphibians = 3

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Saturday, 29 March 2025

Record from my flat - Common Buzzards

After seeing my first Common Buzzard for many months from my flat on 22nd March 2025 and another on 25th March 2025, this morning I saw 3 birds soaring and “mewing” together in the sunshine at 8:50 a.m.

Unfortunately, I had only just left home so I was not in my flat to get any photos from the window. File under missed photo opportunity!

This was only my third record this year of Common Buzzard from my flat although I have seen them occasionally on my nearby St. Nicholas Church local patch site.

Sightings of Common Buzzard have been much lower in the last few years after a peak of activity during 2022. However, 2025 is already an improvement on 2024.

Summary of Common Buzzard records during the last 5 years:

2021: 11 dates involving 13 birds

2022: 26 dates involving 38 birds

2023: 8 dates involving 8 birds

2024: 3 dates involving 3 birds

2025: 3 dates involving 5 birds

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 29th March 2025

Date: 29th March 2025

Time: from 6 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 4°C to 6°C

This was my earliest visit of the year to date and it was a beautiful but cold sunny spring morning.

After seeing my first Blackcap of the year on 9th March 2025 at Noak Bridge Nature Reserve and then recording 5 singing males during my visit to Benfleet and Benfleet and Hadleigh Downs on 27th March 2025, I was fully expecting to at least hear and hopefully see my first singing male during my visit this morning.

I was not disappointed. I first heard a singing male Blackcap in the northern section of the site, albeit the song was weak and sporadic and I failed to see the bird. However, when I was returning home through the woodland in the southern section of the site, I saw a very showy singing male Blackcap.

Blackcap is obviously another addition to my site list for 2025 taking it to 36 species.

This year's arrival date for Blackcap is broadly similar to that in the last 2 years: 27th March 2024 and 2nd April 2023.

Chiffchaffs are now well-established across all parts of the site and this morning I recorded 9 singing males (2 seen).

Other highlights during my visit were as follows:

Grey Heron: 1 seen flying in to the northern section of the site and perching in a tree for a few minutes before then flying to another tree by the main pond and then eventually flying off west

Stock Dove: 1 heard briefly calling in the wooded area adjacent to the access track from Larkins Tyres

Jackdaw: 1 heard flying over the paddock in the northern section of the site and 1 seen flying over the church

Green Woodpecker: 1 heard calling in the northern section of the site and another heard calling in the Church Hill area

Great Spotted Woodpecker: birds heard “drumming” in the northern section of the site, in the wooded area at the end of the eastern section of the cemetery and in the woodland opposite the church

Great Tit: this species (and Blue Tit) is very conspicuous across the site but a pair was busy nestbuilding in a hole in the old wooden cladding to the church

My Merlin app picked up (allegedly!) Common Whitethroat, Grey Wagtail, Stonechat, Linnet and Coal Tit. I usually record Common Whitethroat each spring and I have previously recorded a single Grey Wagtail in both 2023 and 2024. The last 3 species are absent from my site list and would all be very surprising records if they were to occur.

With regard to mammals, I had a brief view of a Reeves’ Muntjac in the paddock behind Larkins Tyres as I entered the site and, having visited the northern section of the site and returned to the path, I had an extended view of a Red Fox.

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

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Robin

Wren

Dunnock

Blackbird

Song Thrush

House Sparrow

Green Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Jackdaw

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Stock Dove

Woodpigeon

Grey Heron

Herring Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Red Fox

Reeves’ Muntjac

Here are some photos from my visit ….

Photo: Red Fox

Photo: male Blackcap

Photo: male Chiffchaff

Photo: Great Tit

Photo: Robin

Photo: Lesser Black-backed Gull

Photo: Grey Heron

Site totals for 2025 to date (2024 totals in brackets):

Birds = 36 (49)

Mammals = 3 (3)

Butterflies = 0 (17)

Dragonflies and damselflies = 0 (11)

Reptiles = 0 (0)

Amphibians = 0 (0)

Total species list for the site

Birds = 69

Mammals = 7

Butterflies = 25

Dragonflies and damselflies = 14

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

Thursday, 27 March 2025

Trip away from SS15 – Benfleet and Hadleigh Downs (Hadleigh Country Park), Essex – 27th March 2025

After my unsuccessful trip to Benfleet and Hadleigh Downs to see and photograph Adders on 19th March 2025, I tried again this morning.

Benfleet and Hadleigh Downs covers a large area so I again deliberately focused on a location where I had seen Adders in previous years. My slow, quiet and repeated walk in that area finally resulted in a brief sighting of a female Adder which unfortunately was very obscured although I did manage to get a single photo of the head!

With regard to birds, my visit to Benfleet and Hadleigh Downs again provided sightings of the usual expected woodland/parkland birds but also more notably Blackcap (now arrived on site with 5 singing males including 1 seen), Chiffchaff (at least 15 singing males heard including 7 seen), Sparrowhawk (1 female)

I also recorded the following butterfly species: Comma (at least 3), Peacock (at least 3) and Brimstone (at least 3). In addition, I saw several other fast-flying butterflies which were probably Peacocks and/or Red Admirals plus 2 small white butterflies which I think were female Orange Tips rather than Small Whites!

Photo: female Adder

Photo: male Chiffchaff

Photo: typical Adder habitat at Benfleet and Hadleigh Downs

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

Wednesday, 26 March 2025

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 26th March 2025

Date: 26th March 2025

Time: from 7 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 8°C to 10°C

My last few visits to the site have been in very cold temperatures but it was much warmer this morning and this, with the sunshine, made it feel very spring-like.

I have heard singing male Chiffchaffs during each of my last few visits, commencing with the first of the year on 8th March 2025. This species is now well-established across all parts of the site and this morning I recorded 9 singing males (5 seen).

However, I am still waiting for my first record of Blackcap for the year, having already recorded this species at Noak Bridge Nature Reserve on 9th March 2025.

Bird song was very noticeable this morning and, in addition to the male Chiffchaffs, the following were all evident: Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Song Thrush, Blue Tit, Great Tit.

However, winter is still hanging on and remarkably I saw 2 flocks of c.15 and c.25 Redwings flying over the northern section of the site.

Other highlights during my visit were as follows:

Mallard: male seen flying in to the small pond at the northern edge of the site

Chaffinch: female seen perched in bushes in the northern section of the site before flying in to the paddock

Jackdaw: 2 seen flying over the paddock in the northern section of the site

Green Woodpecker: 1 seen foraging on the ground in the clearing at the end of the access track from Larkins Tyres and other birds heard calling in the northern section of the site and in the Church Hill area

Great Spotted Woodpecker: 1 seen flying across the eastern section of the cemetery, 1 heard “drumming” in the wooded area adjacent to “Hilly Road” and 1 heard calling in the woodland in the southern section of the site

With regard to mammals, I did not see any Red Foxes during this visit but I did see 2 Reeves’ Muntjacs (1 in the clearing at the end of the access track from Larkins Tyres and 1 in the paddock in the northern section of the site) and 2 Grey Squirrels (1 in the northern section of the site and 1 in the western section of the cemetery).

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

Chiffchaff

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Robin

Wren

Dunnock

Redwing

Blackbird

Song Thrush

Chaffinch