The weekend and this morning

A short walk Saturday afternoon produced the first 2 LAPWINGS of the autumn plus SPARROWHAWK, BUZZARD and a few gulls, it also produced the first grounded FIELDFARE of the autumn.

Fieldfare

Yesterday my timing was poor! I got up reasonably early but should have planned my day better and had a lie in! it was frosty and foggy from when I got there and foggy to almost when I left at 10.30am, after that it was a beautiful day.

Greater Knapweed

I managed 46 species in the fog, from the sound of it there wasn't much flying over, I heard a few SISKIN and REDPOLL plus 1 REDWING and 1 FIELDFARE only. The woods were reasonably productive with 4 MARSH TITS, 4 COAL TITS, 3 TREECREEPERS and more of the rest of the tit family! GOLDCREST was also seen with the feeding flock plus 1 of 3 CHIFFCHAFF seen or heard during the walk.

Yellowhammer

This morning Pete and I recorded the moths and ended up with 51 moths of 23 species, certainly more than we were both expecting. The highlight was a Streak!, the first one of the year. Others included Black Rustic, 2 Silver Y's, 2 Red Green Carpets, Brindled Green, Yellow Line Quaker, Large Wainscot and Rosy Rustic to name a few.

Streak

I spent my short birding time this morning with Stephen, we were studying the Redpolls. Stephen had a nice pale rumped individual that was spooked by a passing, car not something that happens much at that time of morning here, I didn't connect with it but after looking at Plodding Birders blog the rules for Mealy Redpoll have got more confusing for me. There were a couple of good candidates in the flock that was left, with bright supers and very pale breast and possible paler rumps but it wasn't quite enough to add to the 110 species total so far this year! Maybe another look tomorrow and a few shots my help my cause. Otherwise I haven't got a lot more to report, 1 FIELDFARE flew west, a CHIFFCHAFF called nearby, a few SISKINS joined the Redpolls briefly and Stephen had a BLACKCAP before I arrived.