Sunday September 1

A reasonably warm day with a light westerly breeze. I was birding with Dave today, although John Y turned up later. The first hour was a tiny bit dull. We found that the four Whinchats were still present, and I managed to photograph a male Kestrel.

The flashes and pool also failed to produce anything much, and we ended up wandering back along the line of the brook feeling a little glum. At this point the day brightened up. One of the best things about this time of the year is that you can sometimes run into a mixed Warbler flock. Ours comprised a dozen Chiffchaffs, three Lesser Whitethroats, Whitethroat, two Blackcaps, a Willow Warbler, a Treecreeper, and a Spotted Flycatcher. They were all too quick for me to get a shot, but it was a terrific interlude.

Shortly afterwards we found two soaring Hobbies. They never came close, but a call from John Y after we had left confirmed he had had excellent views of one of them over the main pool.

I persuaded Dave we should check out the south end where I had scoped a lot of small birds, mostly Greenfinches, this morning. Unfortunately it was a lot quieter, but I did see a Brimstone among the Small Whites there.

Memory Lane will feature another Sept 1st, but 17 years ago.