We have an enthusiastic small group of bird watchers who enjoy recording a monthly bird count in the churchyard and who also take part in events through the year. Reports can be read in our monthly parish magazine available on the News page.
Christine recently reviewed the last years observations for 2022 in the January edition of The Evangelist, and this is what she wrote.
“During the time between Christmas and New Year I put together the chart for 2022 showing what we had seen each month. I was quite surprised at the things the chart told me.
In the first place I was surprised to see there were a number of birds we saw each month. They were blackbird, black-headed gull, carrion crow, magpie and wood pigeon. If you had asked me about these birds, I should have said they were often seen but I would not have thought all of them were seen every month.
There were also birds that were seen more months than they were absent. These were dunnock, great tit, herring gull, house sparrow, jackdaw. Again, I would have said these were common birds in the churchyard and, looking at them apart from the gulls and possibly the jackdaw, they are all birds you can see in your garden, if not regularly, then from time to time.
The majority of the birds were not seen regularly but had times of year when they were present and others when they weren’t seen at all. This was especially true for the house martin and swift which are summer visitors.
There were birds which were seen once and never again. The buzzard, grey heron, lesser black backed gull and the song thrush. Were these birds on their way to somewhere else eg. Linacre reservoir, prospecting for a new territory, or is it a sign of the decline of some species?
I do think some species may have declined as we did not see any representatives of the following species all year – coal tit, great spotted woodpecker, greenfinch and wren. These are all species we have seen in the churchyard – not regularly but from time to time and could have expected to see them over the course of a year,
Draw your own conclusions from this and if you think it appropriate you could take action by feeding the birds you do see around you. A bowl of clean water, seeds and fat balls are a good start.”
In the past we have taken part in the Churches Count on Nature week.
As part of the Churches Count on nature event we
- undertook a survey of the plant species flowering in June noting 37 species.
- had an event to build nest boxes for the birds
- The church youth designed a poster for the event and are planning on making a bug hotel at their next meeting.
- Towards the end of term some of the local primary schools and the FSE scouts are planning to come to the churchyard to explore the trees using the resource Tremendous Trees produced by Caring for God’s Acre.
Our churchyard is one of the largest churchyards in our region, with a wide range of mature trees and is a haven for wildlife. The charity, Caring for God’s Acre, which is part of the National Biodiversity Network, says that the 20,000 or so burial grounds in England and Wales are equivalent in size to a national park, and because they are often uniquely undisturbed ground, they provide important habitats for wildlife.
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CHURCHYARD BIRD WATCH 2016
The bird watch in the churchyard has continued over the last year. Trish and I have tried to keep to the first Saturday of each month but other commitments have meant that from time to time we have had to change either our day or week.
As usual my friend Peter came to help us with the nest boxes. As usual the birds that had used them were great tits. The first time he came we were a little too early and there was nothing in the nest boxes. Next time there were three nest boxes in use and when we came back next time a fourth nest box was taken. The earlier chicks were ringed at the end of May and had fledged by the time we ringed the last chicks a fortnight later. In all we ringed twenty great tits but there are probably only about half of those still living as there is a high mortality rate in the early days.
We expected the work being done on the trees in the churchyard to have an adverse effect on the birds. Much to our surprise we found there were just as many birds if not more. We concluded that the birds took no notice of the workmen and found the more open areas of the churchyard much more to their liking and have continued to visit us during the following months.
We still see the same old characters within the churchyard but there have been a couple of new sightings, siskin and raven, plus some not nationally rare birds but rare for us to see in the churchyard eg redwing, tree creeper and nuthatch.
In the churchyard there are places where we almost always see birds but it is amazing some months as you can see a group of birds in a tree that has not been notable for bird life previously. There are some poplar trees on the right hand side of the churchyard and one month these were alive with birds but before and since there has been nothing in them. There is a tree in one of the gardens in the cul-de-sac bit of Dunston Lane which kept us busy for quite a while in December as there was a wren, tree creeper, blue tits and a blackbird all in its branches all at the same time.
We are now looking forward to 2017 to see what that brings us as nothing can be certain. We have a good idea of what we may see but the hope of something unusual or new is always there.
Christine Wieloch
St John’s Churchyard Wildlife 2016
Key */X = present and observed or heard
2016 | ||||||||||||
Species seen in or from the churchyard | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
Blackcap | * | |||||||||||
Black-headed Gull | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||
Blackbird | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
Blue Tit | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
Bullfinch | ||||||||||||
Buzzard | ||||||||||||
Canada Goose | ||||||||||||
Carrion Crow | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | x |
Chaffinch | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||||
Chiffchaff | ||||||||||||
Coal Tit | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | |
Collared Dove | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
Cormorant | ||||||||||||
Dunnock | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||
Grey Heron | ||||||||||||
Goldcrest | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | |||||
Goldfinch | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ** | |||
Great Spotted
Woodpecker |
* | |||||||||||
Great Tit | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | |
Greenfinch | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||||
House Martin | * | * | * | * | * | |||||||
House Sparrow | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||
Jackdaw | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
Long Tailed Tit | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||
Magpie | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
Mallard | ||||||||||||
Mistle Thrush | * | * | * | * | ||||||||
Mute Swan | * | |||||||||||
Nuthatch | * | |||||||||||
Peregrine Falcon | ||||||||||||
Pied Wagtail | ||||||||||||
Raven | * | |||||||||||
Redwing | * | * | * | |||||||||
Robin | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | |
Rook | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
Siskin | x | x | ||||||||||
Song Thrush | * | * | * | * | ||||||||
Sparrowhawk | * | * | * | |||||||||
Starling | * | * | * | * | * | |||||||
Swallow | * | |||||||||||
Swift | * | * | * | * | ||||||||
Tree Creeper | * | * | * | * | ||||||||
Willow Warbler | ||||||||||||
Waxwing | ||||||||||||
Whooper Swan | x | |||||||||||
Woodpigeon | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
Wren | * | * | * | * | * | * |
Mammals
2016 | ||||||||||||
Species | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
Unknown Bat | ||||||||||||
Domestic Cat | * | * | * | * | * | |||||||
Grey Squirrel | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
Red Fox | * | |||||||||||
Pet Dog | * | * | * | |||||||||
Mouse | * | * | * | * |
Butterflies and other Flying Insects
2016 | ||||||||||||
Species | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
Speckled Wood | * | * | * | * | * | |||||||
Holly Blue | * | * | * | |||||||||
Small White | * | * | * | * | * | |||||||
Comma | ||||||||||||
Peacock | ||||||||||||
Large White | * | * | * | * | ||||||||
Small Tortoiseshell | * | * | ||||||||||
Gatekeeper | ||||||||||||
Red Admiral |
Wasps’ nest seen in August