A cloudy morning with a moderate north-easterly breeze. There has been a lot of rain since my last visit, so I was expecting a rise in water-levels. I was nevertheless taken aback by the change in the pool. It has gone from a muddy scrape with a puddle of water at one end to, well, looking like a pool again.
Before I reached it I managed to miss an opportunity to photograph a female Siskin which flew into the hedge in front of the Netherstead barns before briefly dropping into the vegetation by the small pool to have a quick drink. All too quick for me unfortunately. It has been a very poor autumn again for this species.
Moving on to the pool again, the hedgerow from where the photo was taken contained lots of buntings; 20 Yellowhammers and 12 Reed Buntings, plus a pair of Stonechats. One of the Yellowhammers was noticeably colourless, and I managed one rubbish photo before it flew off. Probably just a very dull female Yellowhammer, but I wouldn't mind a better look.
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| Spot the birds competition (two normal Yellowhammers and a grey one) |
The higher water-levels proved their worth at the flash field. Although the Teal count was back to 60 birds, they had been joined by five Shovelers and a Wigeon. These were the first Shovelers this autumn, and the second-largest party ever.
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| The only shot with all five Shovelers |
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| Two males and a female (the other two were imm males) |
The walk back incorporated a walk across the stubble, where I counted 150 Woodpigeons, 120 Jackdaws, 11 Skylarks, and a Snipe.
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