Sunday October 26

Cloudy with a fresh south-westerly breeze. Birding alone today.

It soon became apparent that there was no overhead migration taking place, and that the brisk breeze was limiting my chances of finding many passerines.

This left the bigger land birds to catch the eye. There were about 60 Jackdaws, about 20 Carrion Crows, a few Rooks, and five Magpies at Netherstead. The recently scraped field contains lots of pigeons, most of them Stock Doves, and I estimated at least 100.

Mostly Stock Doves

At the flashes the hunting pressure is continuing to take its toll, and I counted just eight Teal. The small pool beyond the hedge did at least have something a little bit new, as a juvenile Little Grebe skulking by the island was the first since August.

Little Grebe 

The one highlight came when I decided to see if I could catch sight of any Jack Snipe before they saw me. The answer was no (so no photos), but I did flush at least five, plus 11 Common Snipe.

I trudged on and ended up at the edge of Bannams Wood where a dull day actually got worse. Somewhere along the route I must have bashed my camera and it appears that the viewing screen is now cracked.

At least it will still take photographs, as this Hawthorn Shieldbug proves.

Hawthorn Shieldbug

All in all, a pretty rubbish day.