Monday, 30 June 2025

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 30th June 2025

Date: 30th June 2025

Time: from 8 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 19°C to 22°C

Prompted by the success of recent visits and the very warm early morning weather again, I had another visit to the site with butterflies in the grassland area of southern section of the site adjacent to St. Nicholas Lane plus the church car park and cemetery being my main target.

















It proved to be another very successful visit and I recorded 2 new species for the site for 2025, both in the southern section of the site adjacent to St. Nicholas Lane:


      Small Copper (1)

      Gatekeeper (1)

During my visit, I recorded 11 butterfly species. The number of butterfly species that I have recorded in 2025 (21) is already well in excess of that recorded in 2024 (17).

For the second successive visit, I saw a female darter species (either Common Darter or Ruddy Darter) but I have still not managed to successfully record an identification.

The other highlights during my visit were as follows:

Chiffchaff: 3 unseen singing males

Blackcap: 3 unseen singing males

Great Spotted Woodpecker: calling birds heard in the southern section of the site and in the eastern section of the cemetery

Butterflies (in addition to the above):


      Marbled White (at least 15)

 

      Large Skipper (at least 1)

      Small Skipper (at least 1)

      Essex Skipper (at least 1)


     Unidentified “golden skipper” species (at least 10)


      Peacock (2)


      Ringlet (1)


      Meadow Brown (at least 5)


      Speckled Wood (4)


      Large White (at least 3)


      Unidentified “white” species (at least 10)

Dragonflies and damselflies:


      unidentified female darter species (2)

Reeves’ Muntjac: 1 seen crossing Hilly Road and presumably the same animal seen late crossing Church Hill and “barking” in the south west corner of the site

Finally, I came across a large cluster of the fungus Chicken of the Woods in a tree cavity.

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

Blackcap

Chiffchaff
Robin
Wren
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Jay
Jackdaw
Magpie
Woodpigeon

Reeves’ Muntjac

Small Copper

Gatekeeper
Marbled White
Large Skipper
Small Skipper
Essex Skipper
Ringlet
Peacock
Speckled Wood
Large White
Meadow Brown

Unidentified darter species

Here are some photos from my visit:
















Photo: Small Copper















Photo: Gatekeeper
















Photo: Marbled White

Photo: Marbled White
















Photo: Marbled White

Photo: Marbled White















Photo: Large Skipper















Photo: Small Skipper















Photo: Small Skipper















Photo: Small Skipper

Photo: Essex Skipper





























Photo: Essex Skipper




























Photo: Ringlet




























Photo: Ringlet




























Photo: Large White





























Photo: Meadow Brown





























Photo: Chicken of the Woods





























Photo: Chicken of the Woods

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

Birds = 43 (49)

Mammals = 3 (3)
Butterflies = 21 (17)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 7 (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

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