Visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 6th October 2025

Date: 6th October 2025

Time: from 9:15 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny/cloudy, light wind, 11°C to 14°C

For my visit this morning, I focused on the southern section of the site and the church and cemetery. I hoped to relocate the Firecrest that I had seen on my last visit on 2nd October 2025 but unfortunately I was unsuccessful.

However, I was able to add another species to my 2025 site list taking the total to 48 species: Meadow Pipit (an unseen single bird calling and flying over the southern section of the site)

The other highlights with regard to birds during my visit were as follows:

Swallow: a single bird seen flying high and in a southerly direction over the southern section of the site

Sparrowhawk: female seen flying through the area behind Larkins Tyres as I returned home

Pied Wagtail: 1 seen flying over Church Hill as I returned home

Chaffinch: a calling bird seen flying high over the cemetery

Jay: at least 10 seen during my visit, including a group of 6 seen together in the southern section of the site

Green Woodpecker: 1 heard calling in the wooded area in the southern section of the site

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

Grey Squirrel is a mammal that I only see occasionally during the summer months but the crop of acorns during the autumn seems to see them re-appear (similar to Jays) and this morning I saw 5 individuals.

After seeing 3 on my last visit on 2nd October 2025, I had another sighting of a single Wall in the immediate vicinity of the church.

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

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Robin

Dunnock

Blackbird

Chaffinch

Meadow Pipit

Pied Wagtail

Starling

Sparrowhawk

Green Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Jay

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Woodpigeon

Grey Squirrel

Wall

Here are some photos from my visit ….

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

Birds = 48 (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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