North Hurstpierpoint

 Staying local again we decided today to explore the Badlands north of Hurst, once again a grey misty kind of day which you will notice is not particularly good for photography! (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it😀) On the plus side a later start meant Margie was out of bed and raring to go!! We tracked through the fields behind Kemps to start with, some impressive hedges in this area ,fairly well populated by Blackbirds, Robins and Song Thrushes we also saw a party of 3 Jays though the only one I got  a picture of managed to hide behind a single twig ,lovely sharp shot of the Twig though!

Twig with Jay behind

Managed to keep the slightly out of focus vibe going for the flight shots as well.

We pushed on through the hedges, mud pools and dog poop, and a came out the other side, the birds become a little more exotic the further you get from the houses with a couple of Bullfinch heard and seen in flight and a Grey Wagtail over calling, though photo ops were at a premium. We reached the Dung Heap near Langton Lane where things improved considerably, with good views of Meadow Pipits, a Pied Wagtail which I could possibly string into a White Wagtail, a couple of Robins, a couple of Dunnocks, a couple of Chaffinches and a very smart Lesser Redpoll which also tried the hide behind a stick trick, though less successfully than the Jay!!😀. Margie often says I never take her anywhere good yet here we are again at an excellent Dung Heap! Though Margie says she prefers the Sewage Farms I also take her to occasionally, I suspect this may have been an attempt at sarcasm but went well over my head!!😲

Meadow Pipit

Robin on Dung

Pied/White Wagtail

Wagtail on Dung

Lesser Redpoll

Dunnock on Dung

Meadow Pipit near Dung

We sadly left the Dung Heap behind and headed up Langton Lane past the Turkey Farm ,before cutting back into the fields and followed the stream along, some nice autumnal colours along here and a nice flock of approx 40 Fieldfares in the trees ,they also deployed the hide behind a twig photo-avoidance strategy whilst also applying the lets be silhouettes tactic as well, so apologies for the massively lightened pics below!😕   Margie amused herself with some pictures of the Eddies made by the swirling water. 

Fieldfares

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Autumnal Tree by Margie

Swirls by Margie

Weed in water 😃by Margie 

We crossed the bridge and began the loop back into Hurst ,during my wanderings in the spring there were several Yellowhammer territories in this area couldn't find any today, presumably headed off to the nearest stubble field to survive the winter, the hedges look like they have been cut even lower this year, let's hope they return in the spring, way to neat and tidy out there would be nice if the farmers left a few rough areas for the wildlife😢. As we headed back towards Hurst I noticed a large flock of small birds which I'm 99.9% sure are Lesser Redpolls, incredibly difficult to see as once again they were just distant silhouettes,  they seem to like one particular tree coming back to it regularly after being flushed by some unseen danger whether real or imagined, I got as close as I dared but the pics are fairly pants, through the bins they looked brownish, so I don't think Siskins and the definitely weren't Goldies so as said pretty certain they were Lesser Redpolls, intriguingly there appeared to be a slightly larger bird in with them at one point, seen briefly as the flock split and returned to the trees, Mealy?? but could have been a trick of the light and seeing any detail was impossible with the light and distance involved so will be the one that got away but worth looking out for next time we are in the area, they eventually disappeared into the small plantation of Oaks, whilst I was distracted by the flock Margie was getting some pictures of Hurst Church and Wolstonbury Hill which always looks quite impressive from this viewpoint even in the dull conditions

My attempt at the scenery

Lesser Redpoll flock in favoured tree

Lesser Redpolls

Neat and Tidy Hedges let's hope there is enough left for the Yellowhammers to make a nest in them

Hurstpierpoint Church in the mist by Margie

Hurst Church and Wolstonbury Hill by Margie

Hurst Church and the Redpoll tree by Margie

Church and the Hill again by Margie

Our path brought us out once again on Langton Lane ,so we called in again at the Dung Heap ,obviously why wouldn't you😁 ,but was a disappointment with only a Robin present, so we decided to head back home through the Kemps fields seeing much the same as on the way out lots of Blackbirds and Song thrushes, Margie took a few scenic shots including one of a Mermaid riding a Dolphin??? Yeah I know, suppose if you can see it ,you can see it, oh to have a mind like that!!😂😜😲😏

Autumnal Colours by Margie

Whatever you can make of it by Margie 😀 

Another nice walk around Hurst with a reasonable selection of birds we swapped yesterdays Goldcrest for Redpolls and Fieldfares which was good ,but numbers seem low except for Blackbirds, Robins and Song Thrushes which seem reasonably abundant ,didn't really find a large tit flock although a few Blue Tits and Great Tits seen and about 3 Long-tailed Tits, likewise with finches no big flocks but saw a few of the commoner ones Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Bullfinch all seen along with the Redpolls hopefully numbers will build up as winter progresses!