Friday, 5 September 2025

Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 5th September 2025

Date: 5th September 2025

Time: from 8:15 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 13°C to 16°C

My first visit to the site during September had a distinctly autumnal feel.

The highlights with regard to birds during my visit around the whole site were as follows:

Common Whitethroat: 1 seen foraging for berries in the northern section of the site (a very fresh looking bird and presumably a juvenile)

Chiffchaff: at least 2 seen in the northern section of the site (possibly more present)

Blackcap: male and female seen in the northern section of the site (possibly more present)

Green Woodpecker: 1 seen in the northern section of the site and 1 seen in the central section of the cemetery

Great Spotted Woodpecker: 1 heard calling in the northern section of the site and 1 seen in the wooded area in the southern section of the site

Tits: again there was an abundance of roving Blue TitsGreat Tits and Long-tailed Tits

With regard to mammals, this was the first visit for a long time where I recorded all 3 resident species:

Red Fox: 1 seen in the northern section of the site which eventually settled to enjoy the sunshine on a heap of grass cuttings (a presumed cub from this year)

Reeves’ Muntjac: 3 seen in the northern section of the site

Grey Squirrel: 1 seen in the wooded area in the southern section of the site

After an exceptionally good spring and summer for butterflies, both the numbers and diversity of species have significantly decreased. However, during this visit, I still managed to record the following:

Wall: 1 seen in the central section of the cemetery and 3 seen on or around the walls of the church

Common Blue: a very worn male seen in the northern section of the site

Small Copper: 1 seen in the central section of the cemetery

The abundance of autumn fruits and nuts, including blackberries, sloes, hips, haws, acorns and horse chestnut "conkers", is still very apparent.

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

Common Whitethroat

Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Robin
Wren
Blackbird
Green Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Jay
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon
Herring Gull

Red Fox

Reeves' Muntjac
Grey Squirrel

Wall

Common Blue
Small Copper

Here are some other photos from my visit:
















Photo: Red Fox

Photo: Red Fox

















Photo: Red Fox
















Photo: Red Fox




























Photo: Red Fox
















Photo: Wall
















Photo: Wall
















Photo: Wall
















Photo: Wall
















Photo: Common Blue

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

Birds = 44 (49)

Mammals = 4 (3)
Butterflies = 23 (17)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 11 (11)
Reptiles = 0 (0)
Amphibians = 0 (0) 

Total species list for the site 

Birds = 69

Mammals = 8
Butterflies = 26
Dragonflies and damselflies = 14
Reptiles = 1
Amphibians = 0

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