Willow and I were out by 6am today, it was grey ,blustery and quite Autumn like. As we left the cottage a Tawny Owl called one last time before retiring for the day.
We entered the field with the magic hedgerow and after a quite start the birds starting to show themselves. There were not quite as many but with the colder and blustery conditions they were keeping their heads down.
The bushes provide plenty of berries and insects along this uncut hedge. I managed to find 8 plus Chiffchaff, 3 plus Willow Warbler, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, a female Blackcap and a Spotted Flycatcher.
Overhead the start of the House Martin and Swallow migration was obvious with a count of 85 plus heading south west and a further 20 plus still active around the local colony. Swallows passed in the same direction with 46 plus heading most passing straight over ,just 1 or 2 seemingly being local birds.
The first 5 Common Gulls of the Autumn flew south and A Pied Wagtail passed over .
As I walked over the pastures the first Skylark was heard passing overhead the first for a number of days. Also seen were 3 Brown Hares ,Willow was not that bothered knowing it would be futile to chase them as they were far too quick for her.
A lot more Stock Doves were around today with 7 seen today. As we neared home we managed to see a cracking male Redstart away from the usual location and a Bullfinch was heard pewing away in the hedgerow.
On the raptor front a female Kestrel ,a male Sparrow hawk and 3 Buzzards were present.
The best of the rest were a Green Woodpecker, Greater Spotted Woodpecker ,a flock of 40 plus feral Greylag Geese over . It was also noticeable that there were more Goldfinch present today with 20 plus ,a sure sign that Autumn is well and truly on its way .
