Date: 8th March 2025
Time: from 8:15 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 9°C to 10°C
It was definitely spring-like for my visit to the site this morning and much warmer than the winter weather on my last on 1st March 2025.
I had another excellent visit and added 2 species to my site list for 2025: Chiffchaff (2 briefly singing males but too distant to determine location) and Mallard (2 seen flying high over the northern section of the site in a westerly direction).
As I left home, I was cautiously optimistic that given the weather, including the wind direction, this would be the day for my first Chiffchaff of the year at the site. It was!
To me, the sight and sound of this tiny Phylloscopus leaf warbler always marks the start of spring, as much as the other arriving spring and summer migrants are a joy to welcome back.
This was a much earlier
first record of the year of Chiffchaff than in 2024 (14th March) and
2023 (20th March).
The other main
highlight of my visit was briefly hearing a calling Hawfinch and having a very fleeting view of what was almost certainly
the bird flying off into the direct sunlight. It therefore appears that at
least one bird is still present after my remarkable first site record on 23rd February 2025.
Woodpeckers were again very evident during my visit including 4 Great Spotted Woodpeckers (1 seen flying over the access track entrance by Larkins Tyres, 2 seen in the wooded area adjacent to that track including a “drumming” male and another “drumming” male heard and then seen in the central section of the cemetery) and 2 Green Woodpeckers (single birds calling in the Church Hill area and in the northern section of the site).
I also had a brief view of a Sparrowhawk from the top of Church Hill and I saw a male Chaffinch in the wooded area at the end of the access track from Larkins Tyres.
With regard to mammals, I failed to see any Red Foxes during this visit and after the excellent photo opportunities on my last visit on 1st March 2025 but I did see 2 Grey Squirrels in the wooded area adjacent to the access track from Larkins Tyres.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Hawfinch
Site totals for 2025 to date (2024 totals in brackets):
Birds = 30 (49)
Total species list for the site
Birds = 69
Love nature .... act now
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