Saturday 4 October 2014

I was out for 3 hours this morning, under some cloudy skies, but it remained warm even in the moderate SW wind. The first proper rain of the Autumn moved in for the early afternoon.

It was a relatively quiet patch visit, the only summer species on the ground was a CHIFFCHAFF, which was seen at the Greenhouse Grounds, while overhead 7 SWALLOWS flew S, as did a flock of 30-40 HOUSE MARTINS. Two LITTLE OWLS were seen, one in the Greenhouse Copse and one in the old shack at the Ashes Lane Field, where a KESTREL was up hunting. The highlight of the visit came early on as I walked a circuit of Migrant Alley, the high pitched calls of my first two REDWING (53) of the Autumn were heard as they flew over, the same arrival date as in the years 2003 and 2009, and the  second earliest arrival dates of the 13 years studying my patch.

The first Coal Tit of the month couldn't be found over at the scrubby or Wet Woods, only TREECREEPER, BULLFINCH and GOLDCREST were noted of the scarcer woodland species, a SPARROWHAWK and a BUZZARD flew from the Scrubby Woods as I arrived. There were fishermen on one of the lakes again, so the slim possibility of finding something on the water today became even slimmer!

My sky watch later in the morning was only notable for a flyover CORMORANT, but a few HERRING GULLS and BLACK HEADED GULLS were also seen. MEADOW PIPITS  flew to and from the sheep pasture and were joined by 3 SKYLARK for a short while.

The camera was not in use again today due to the poor light, looks like it will stay at home for a while longer looking at next week s weather!

Just a few garden bird species left in the 'blog folder' now  :-(

MAGPIE

STARLING

GREAT TIT

3 comments:

Marc Heath said...

Nice one with the Redwings,nice to know they are arriving. I shall have to pop out tonight and have a listen in the dark.

Noushka said...

Ah great!
I will soon see the Coal tit here then?!!
Great pictures in your 2 latest posts!
The Magpie is stunning, you must have been close!

Warren Baker said...

Noushka, The magpie was in my garden, just 4 meters away from me :-)