Damp

The grey low cloud present when I arrived this evening soon started to produce drizzle. With no wind to speak of I soon found I was getting very wet.

About 40 Goldfinches were on thistles at Netherstead, but the trudge to the flash produced very little. I am starting to think there is something wrong with the flash this year. There should be plenty of Green Sandpipers by now, but not a single wader was present (apart from a couple of Lapwings).

As the rain set in I found I was hearing lots of birds calling "hweet". Six in all. Of these, I suspected four could be Redstarts and two Chiffchaffs. However, the two species sound very similar, and the only bird I actually saw was confirmed to be a female or immature Redstart.

Back at Netherstead I decided to sit in the car and watch the rain pelting down onto soggy Pied Wagtails and Reed Buntings in the reed-bed roost.

The only other species I saw in the reeds was a single Reed Warbler. As the cloud slowly eased away, the sun came out and the sky became a spectacular mix of grey and pink clouds set against a bright blue background. On the drive home I stopped to take a picture of a Buzzard silhouetted against a part of this backdrop.