Thursday 26 September 2013

Bits and pieces...

Not too much going on lately but still some odds and ends to keep the interest up. Yesterday I found a Great White Egret at a private site in Essex and also kicked up a Redwing there, my first of the autumn. On the patch today I picked up three extremely high Common Snipes as they flew north, but only because I was watching two Hobbies in the scope at the time; they were so high that they were only just identifiable at 60x... it just goes to show what must go missing. There was also a Stonechat at the farm today, a Canada Goose flew over and there were singles of Blackcap and Common Whitethroat still on site. On Tuesday I found a (or the?) Grasshopper Warbler in the favourite place for scarce patch warblers, the scrappy area in Canons Farmyard. Monday was impressive for hirundine passage with 700+ House Martins and c135 Swallows. Rooks are starting to appear more now... I had a late Chalkhill Blue at Banstead Woods on Friday.

Great White Egret in Essex yesterday

Stonechat at the farm today

Grasshopper Warbler in the farmyard on Tuesday. Can you see it?

Chalkhill Blue at Banstead Woods last Friday. Pretty late...

Kestrel at the farm on Monday