Oct. 13th

Another morning of slim pickings on the moth front apart from 2 Vestals which saved the day, as we have only recorded these on a couple of other occasions. Otherwise it was manily one each again of a few of our commoner moths, Merveille Du Jour, Feathered Thorn etc...

Feathered Thorn

My birding walk today wasn't really much of a walk! I skirted the outer edges of the car park then stood in the overflow car park for the remainder of my visit. I was happy with 36 species in 50 minutes! The main reason for standing still was that there were several REDWINGS going over, 229 in total for the short time I was there. As well as these, the other highlights were, 1 BRAMBLING, 1 FIELDFARE, 43 CHAFFINCH, 30+ SISKIN, 20+ REDPOLL, 18 SKYLARK, 5 HERRING GULL, 1 GREY HERON, 1 COMMON GULL, 9 GOLDFINCH, 2 CHIFFCHAFF, 1 BLACKCAP and the LITTLE OWL called from Park Field, oh yes, and I think there was a partridge in there somewhere!!! Anyway it was a really enjoyable start to the day, Brambling being a real bonus as I haven't heard of too many in the county as yet, it gave it's buzzy call and I picked it up on the edge of a 15 strong Chaffinch flock. The bird species total for the month stands at 57. Unfortunately the light never got above a murky grey and the birds were no more than silhouettes in the lens.

Oct 12th

I was on time this morning!! to see just a handful of moths! For a reasonably warm night there wasn't a lot to record, although the moon was pretty full so may have affected the numbers. We did have a Feathered Thorn, 2 Lunar Underwings, a for cry from a week or two ago, Merveille Du Jour, Red Line and Yellow Line Quaker plus several Green Brindled Crescents.
I took a different route today which meant a nice view to the south of the castle and a quick look at the hedges at the highest point of the patch. There were 2 CHIFFCHAFF in the hedge and a few bits going over. Flocks, if you can call them that, were generally small, 3's and 4's of CHAFFINCH, flew mainly south west with the odd SISKIN and REDPOLL heading more in a southerly direction, 4 PIED WAGTAILS also flew south followed by about 8 MEADOW PIPITS. HOUSE MARTINS went by in two flocks, a 9 and a 4. Back in the car park I found a BLACKCAP and the first COMMON GULL of the autumn flew over. No pics this morning and I didn't get back this evening, maybe tomorrow.

Oct. 11th - Including birds on Post???

Arriving at 7am, it was still only half light and didn't really improve until about 7.30. Gradually a few birds started to show themselves. Several MEADOW PIPITS got up from the clover, probably 15-20 in all, I could hear lots of LINNETS and when they came into view the flock numbered up around the 150 mark, I took some record pics of part of the flock, just to see if my estimate was close and got to 80 birds in the frame after half the flock flew off north, that makes it the largest flock I've had here in 14 years. There isn't loads of other stuff to report, a MANDARIN flew across the field which was the first for a while, there were still several REDPOLLS and SISKINS flying over plus a lone REDWING and a KESTREL was chased into a hybrid Oak by a Crow. Back at the car park I heard GOLDCREST and saw 6 BULLFINCHES but as Warren reported on his Pittswood Blog yesterday there were no Chiffchaffs here today, in actual fact, no summer visitors at all!! (my Dad did have 1 Swallow and a couple of House Martins after I had left)

I did a quick visit after work, as the light was so bad this morning for photography. I added CHIFFCHAFF to the day list and LITTLE OWL. I also managed just a couple of photos.

Mistle Thrush

Little Owl

Little Owl (take two)

Oct. 10th

I was so late this morning, I just about missed 'mothing', I was there just long enough to see the Grey Shoulder Knot, a November Moth, Beaded Chestnut and a few Sallows.
The birding this morning started with a lone REDPOLL circling overhead a couple of times and before too long a flock of about 30 birds was found in a Silver Birch near the restaurant kitchen. These were joined by a few GOLDFINCHES and SISKIN.

Still hoping for a better Redpoll pic.

I checked out the Lodge field, which was ploughed yesterday when it held around 160 HERRING GULLS and single figures of BLACK HEADED and LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS, this morning though it only held 2 Herring Gulls. There was 1 CHIFFCHAFF in the hedge below the veg garden and a couple of REDWING went over as I walked the hedge towards the stream. I headed to the lake and added GOLDCREST and MISTLE THRUSH, as well as GREY HERON.

Blue Tit

The little bit of the wood I went through was quiet but on the way back up to the car via Park Field there was again a good flock of at least 8 BULLFINCH and a dozen or so LONG TAILED TITS.
Below are a couple of random pics I took yesterday.......

8th Oct - Guided Walk

The morning started with a good mix of people turning up, it was nice to be fully booked, with some new faces and quite a few who had joined us before. There was light drizzle as I got out of the car but that's pretty much the last time I remember noticing it. It was a slow start, mainly due to it being slightly cloudy, it took a while for the birds to wake up!
When they did, we had a good mix, there were plenty of YELLOWHAMMERS by the restaurant and a few finches were flying around, we had several flocks of REDPOLL and SISKIN, the most Redpolls I've seen so far this autumn. Several MISTLE THRUSHES were being vocal throughout the morning but we only saw 1 SONG THRUSH. The lake was quiet apart from a short burst of calling from an unseen KINGFISHER and a CHIFFCHAFF. The woods had several small mixed flocks and we added MARSH TIT, COAL TIT, LONG TAILED TIT, TREECREEPER, GOLDCREST and NUTHATCH. 2 JAYS flapped lazily across park field and one of many BULLFINCHES heard, only just gave itself up with a brief flight view. After the break we headed for the fields, adding good numbers of SKYLARKS, LINNETS and a few MEADOW PIPITS. Birds of prey were few and far between, with 1 KESTREL and 1 BUZZARD being our only return. During the morning we had several small flocks of SWALLOWS and MARTINS going over but I was hoping for the first winter thrushes which didn't materialise. A total of 44 species was a good total after a slowish start on what was a thoroughly enjoyable morning. That's the last guided walk this year but they will start again in March 2012.
At home, Pete the warden took down a tree for me this afternoon and I heard my first 2 Redwings of the autumn go over :-)

Oct. 7th

I got up early to check the moths again, then ran late!, luckily when I text to say I would be late, it turned out the traps weren't on anyway!! This was fine, as it meant more time walking, it was pretty cool this morning but it was a really nice start to the day. Before the sun rose I had already seen LITTLE OWL and heard CHIFFCHAFF as well as being accompanied by a good number of ROBINS. The next birds I saw were a SPARROWHAWK and a ROOK, silhouetted in a pale mauve sky, initially the Rook didn't pay much attention the slow buoyantly flying hawk but eventually it did give chase, as it chased, another Sparrowhawk came into view, whose undulating flight reminded me more of February and March rather than October. Amazingly the next fly by, this time much closer, was a KESTREL and the sun still wasn't in quite in view. As with the last few days Pipits and Larks were numerous but there were no Swallows or Martins today. I took a longer route out to Digdog Lane, which takes in the only place I've recorded Long Eared Owl on the patch, this was quiet, although, either another Sparowhawk or one of the earlier ones passed low overhead being pursued by a few noisy LINNETS. I did find a BLACKCAP today but the highlight of the walk came when I heard CROSSBILLS calling and 12 birds flew west over the field by the stream. A KINGFISHER called as it navigated the stream but I didn't see it. Apart from the Crossbills the number of finches flying around today was low. Back up by the restaurant 12 YELLOWHAMMERS were sat on the roof, reminiscent of how the Swallows and Martins sit as they gather before they head south.

Dodgy Crossbills in flight

Basking Yellowhammer

Oct 5th and 6th

We recorded the moths for the last two days, despite last nights blustery conditions. On the morning of the 5th we did record a Scarce Bordered Straw, a migrant that has been turning up on the south coast in good numbers this week, this was a first for us here and possibly overdue. Other migrants have been a bit scarce but the micro, Rusty Dot Pearl, has put in a couple of appearances. Numbers this morning were low but there were a few bits and pieces including another Large Wainscot.
On the bird front it's been more about a little build up in numbers this week, this morning probably just had the best figures for most birds with 40+ SKYLARK, 60 LINNET and 40+ MEADOW PIPITS.

Linnets

This morning also saw 300+ HOUSE MARTINS and 50 or so SWALLOWS, after relatively few in the warm spell at the beginning of the week, when just a handful of House Martins were seen. Yesterday though did top the YELLOWHAMMER poll with at least 47 birds present. Other bits and pieces in the last two days include another GREY WAGTAIL this morning, no Blackcaps but still 2 or 3 CHIFFCHAFF, the largest SISKIN flock numbered 34, add to that a KESTREL, SPARROWHAWK and 2 GREY HERONS and that probably sums up the best bits. Pictures have been hard to come by with the light being so poor before 8am when I head off to work, I did try :-)

Kestrel

Grey Heron