Friday September 16

For the first hour and a half I was dodging the increasingly frequent showers while a moderate north-westerly breeze caused the temperature to be a lot lower than yesterday. Eventually the sun came out.

Today's star bird turned up as I was putting my boots on. A Red Kite flew over, mobbed by a corvid. Not as rare as they used to be, but still enough to lift the spirits.

Red Kite

The next thing to come to my attention was a constant trickle of Meadow Pipits heading south, with a final total of 60. I also recorded 80 House Martins and 35 Swallows heading west.

I moved on towards the flash field, where 19 Snipe were flying around and at least 56 Teal kept company with six Green Sandpipers and a Greenshank.

Greenshank

I estimated 100 Goldfinches in the fields containing thistles, but there was no sign of Sunday's mystery bird.

Finally a potential note to British Birds. A Woodpigeon has been present near the base of a telegraph pole at Netherstead stables for at least a week. When I first saw it I had assumed it was injured, and chose not to approach it. I was surprised to see it was still there when I got back to the car today, and so decided to see how badly it was hurt. However, as I approached, it flew off strongly. I noticed some brown sticks or vegetation on the ground where it had been, so thought perhaps it had found something particularly nutritious to eat. What I actually found was this:

It appears that the dopey bird has built a nest, and though it contains no eggs or young, is determinedly sitting on it. A ground-nesting deranged Woodpigeon, whatever next.