Blakehill Wildlife Jan - Mar 2008

Where observers’ names given, they refer to last quoted date only. If no name given after sighting, it refers to RG.

Mute Swan   Pair flying from Blakehill straight up Chelworth Road, 23 Jan. (Neil Pullen)

Canada Goose   2, over purley Farmhouse, 30 Mar. (2nd record) (Neil Pullen)

Teal  2, 5 March (Terry & Gaynor Dabner) – 2^nd record

Red Legged Partridge 2, 17 Feb, male crowing on 26 Mar.

Buzzard Max for quarter 4 on 6 Jan.(Dave Lee)

Merlin Six sightings involving 2 birds, a male and a female: Male 1 Jan (Dave Lee); male, east end,1 Feb; presumed female perched distantly on a fencepost from 4.45pm, 2 Feb (Jon Mercer); 1 on post, unsexed, 9 Feb; a f. on fence near Purley Farmhouse, 12 Feb.; female on post, chased off by Crow, 2 March, later seen on another post, possibly same bird or may have been male but unconfirmed.

Peregrine Seven sightings, including one of 2 together: Adult on ground, centre of site, mobbed Buzzard flying nearby 6 Jan (Dave Lee); stooping persistently at Lapwing but unsuccessful, eventually alighted on ground, east of site, 12 Jan; 1 over, 27 Jan (Simon Wicks via WOS website); pair NW at 4.30pm, 2 Feb (Jon Mercer); 1 on ground S. of site, flew off W. carrying prey, 10 Feb (Dave and Steve Lee); 1 split a flock of gulls, power dived, caught one and devoured it on the ground, 27 Feb, (Bob Shiret) – photographed; 1 on ground with prey again, 16 March. Easily the best ever quarter for Blakehill.

Bob Shiret

Moorhen  Incredibly the first ever noticed at Blakehill were 2 seen on 30 Mar. "strolling across the grass from Blakehill towards the War Memorial. Bizarre - I have seen them further up Chelworth Road near a pond in the industrial estate." (Neil Pullen)

Lapwing 1 pursued unsuccessfully by Peregrine, 12 Jan; c125 over, 9 Feb, the largest number so far; 40 over on 10 Feb (Dave & Steve Lee); 8 feeding, 12 Feb; 1, 19 Feb., and another lone bird with all the Snipe at Stoke Common Meadows on 2 March.

Common Snipe Present all quarter, max for Blakehill 21 on 16 Mar (Stephen Edwards); and seen in double figures on several occasions by various observers. Present in even higher numbers at Stoke Common Meadows, 50 on 9 Feb, and an estimated 90 on 2 March, the highest number I’ve seen for ages. Easily best ever quarter.

Jack Snipe 1 flushed Blakehill 16 Feb (Bob Shiret) – first sighting there – and another flushed at Stoke Common Meadows on 2 March – the second sighting of the winter there.

Green Sandpiper 1, 16 Feb (Bob Shiret), the second record.

Barn Owl 1 hunting near car park, carried prey to fence post at 5pm on 10 Feb, photographed (Dave and Steve Lee); 1, 5pm on 27 Feb (Bob Shiret)

Steve Lee

Short Eared Owl 2, 25 Jan (Stephen Edwards); 2, 21 Feb (Laura Mynott & Stephen Edwards); 3, 11 March (Stephen Edwards); 2, 16 March (Stephen Edwards); 1, 22 March (Stephen Edwards).

Green Woodpecker 1 or 2 seen or heard all quarter.

Great Spotted Woodpecker Drumming, 12 Jan, then not heard again till 17 Mar (Terry & Gaynor Dabner). Also drumming at Stoke Common Meadows, 9 Feb. Often seen at peanut feeder, Purley farmhouse (Neil Pullen).

Skylark c6 12 Jan; 15, 9 Feb; then generally distributed and song frequently heard.

Meadow Pipit Double figure counts: c10 12 Jan; 18, 9 Feb; 12, 17 Feb; c15 19 Feb; c20, 16 March; c25 including first song heard, 17 March; pair present 28 March. 20, Stoke Common Meadows, 9 Feb.

Grey Wagtail 1, at puddle near Leigh entrance 12 Jan (second record).

Pied Wagtail A male of the West European race, the "White Wagtail", was feeding with a female Pied Wagtail (the British race), at the cattle pen on 26 Mar, then it flew off E. at 4.30pm (First Blakehill record).

Stonechat Present all quarter, mainly 4 or 5 birds seen by many observers, but 7 considered to have been present on 2 March, 4 in east, 3 in west. Last was a male in full breeding plumage on 26 March.

Wheatear 4 (3 males) present on 19 March, one day later than the earliest (Laura Mynott & RG); pair on 22 March (Dave Lee); 2 males on 28 March.

Fieldfare Common all quarter. Notable flocks, c250, 1 Jan; c200, 16 March. Still 4 present on 28 Mar.

Redwing Not as numerous as Fieldfare, but present all quarter, max c100, 1 Jan. Still at least 1 present on 28 Mar.

Chiffchaff 4 on 26 March included 3 singing males.

Long Tailed Tit   Purley Farmhouse: seen on 19 occasions in quarter, always on peanut feeder, max 5, seems to be becoming more regular (Neil Pullen)

Raven 1, 1 Jan (Dave Lee); 1, 28 Jan (John Booth)

House Sparrow Apart from the usual places also a male seen Purley Farmhouse under feeder on 7/9 Mar. (Neil Pullen)

Chaffinch A male tuning up 1 Feb.

Siskin 2 flying N. over east end of site on 4 March.

Bullfinch Purley Farmhouse 6 Jan till 16 Feb occasionally feeding on tree buds (tree flowered on 14 Feb.) (Neil Pullen) Also 1, 5 March (Terry & Gaynor Dabner). 3, Stoke Common Meadows, 9 Feb.

Yellowhammer 1 over, 12 Jan; pair seen, 19 Feb.

Reed Bunting Purley Farmhouse records: First seen 14 Feb, max, 5, also 3 ringed individuals: Male: left leg green over yellow, right leg yellow over white; male: rl red/pink over white, ll blue over blue; male: rl black over yellow over silver tag, ll red over pink. "Reed Buntings are now regular visitors seen every time I look with a few become resident." (Neil Pullen all the foregoing). However only other records are 3 individuals: 1, west, and 1, east, 12 Jan. and a female in the east on 4 March.Butterflies and Moths

Brimstone One on 31 Mar. (Neil Pullen)

An extraordinary record of a Small Tortoiseshell flying at the Chelworth Entrance on 12 Feb, and a male and a female there next day looking ready to mate!

Brown Hairstreak egg count on 19 Feb – 11 eggs found, as well as a similar number of eggs of the Blue Bordered Carpet (Michael Sammes, Geoff Hiscocks, Brian Danby et al.) 2 more found by Terry and Gaynor Dabner on 5 March, and 2 more again by the same observers on 17 March.

Brown Hare 5, max for the quarter, on 22 Mar (Dave Lee); 4 on 8/10 Feb and 17 Mar, (RG, Dave & Steve Lee, Terry & Gaynor Dabner); 3+ on 9 March (Dave & Steve Lee); 2 on 1/16 March (RG & Dave & Steve Lee); 1 on 12/27 Jan, 1/9/17 Feb and 26 Mar. 1, Stoke Common Meadows, 9 Feb.

Terry Dabner

Badger A notable record of one emerging from sett at 3pm on 5 March (Terry & Gaynor Dabner), not unprecedented, but the one seen in 2006 was injured. Also, well used latrine reported by Dave & Steve Lee on 9 March.

Roe Deer Plenty as usual but no high counts reported

Muntjac 1, 28 Jan (John Booth) – the first for Blakehill

Bank Vole Found under reptile mats in the garden of Purley Farmhouse (Neil Pullen)

House Mouse Found under reptile mats in the garden of Purley Farmhouse (Neil Pullen)

Also: the first frogspawn found at Blakehill was in the very shallow, rather stagnant ponds in Pool Ground on 2 March.

Robin Griffiths