Thursday September 12

A cloudy morning with a couple of light showers. A light south-westerly.

I had a bit of a surprise on arrival as i discovered a BBC production company had commandeered by normal parking place, leaving me to decide to park at the church.

Naturally I enquired as to what they were filming, and it turned out to be an episode of Shakespeare and Hathaway, a sit-com which I must admit I haven't seen.

Back to the birds. There was another hefty tit flock to sift through, and I ended up with totals of nine Blackcaps and 14 Chiffchaffs. The flash field contained 33 Teal, seven Snipe, 44 Lapwings, 85 Mallard, about 100 Greylag Geese, and the Wigeon which has reappeared after going missing during the Alldayer.

The best birds for the day turned out to be in the horse paddocks at Netherstead, where two Wheatears hopped around the horses' hooves.

Wheatear

A very small horse was particularly fascinated by my new tripod.

The walk back added a flock of 40 Canada Geese heading south, and the first Stonechat of the autumn.