Hurst Patch!

 Having more or less shaken off the effects of yesterday's tumble (would of killed a lesser man obvs😀) I was none the less a bit battered and bruised this morning so decided a nice Autumnal stroll around the patch off the Albourne road would help me shrug off the crippling pain (so brave😲). Hadn't visited since the 4th of September, nothing much had changed the piles of cut brush were still on the field, browner and sadly devoid of Warblers, The Greylag Geese were still in the field and most amazingly the Spotted Flycatcher was also still here! Obviously it could be a different bird but would be an amazing coincidence! Despite it sitting behind a branch that the camera decided was a much better photo op😡 managed a couple of pics where you can tell what it is!

Greylag Geese

The cut brush

Spotted Flycatcher

Buoyed by this success, I hobbled on, the glades as ever looked sensational but failed to produce anything at all!! When they opened up I found quite a large flock of Bullfinch, calling all around me, but the only views I had were of white rumps disappearing into bushes, indeed despite seeing a lot of Chiffchaffs (several Chiffchaffs singing again today, the warmth must be confusing them) and a couple of Blackcaps pics were at a premium even the Buzzard dived into a tree at the first opportunity! I walked around the patch on to Church Lane, back onto the patch with little result! A few pics, with comments, below. Did have a few Swallows as well, no pics of them though!!😢

The Patch looking quite picturesque

Distant Mistle Thrush

Blue Tit trying to photobomb my berry pic!

Chiffchaff

Jay diving for cover

Buzzard also diving for cover

Buzzard

Nice to see a Chaffinch on patch

Mistle Thrush flying away!

At least you can rely on Robins!

One of the many Chiffchaff decide to pose for approximately 4 seconds!

So back at the Glades, the sun had decided to come out which was nice, suddenly there was a mighty squawk as I more or less trod on Great Spotted Woodpecker😲!! In my defence they are not usually sitting in long grass right next to the path!! Anyway it seemed none the worse for wear,  it paused briefly on a branch, gave me a withering look, gave another squawk and flew off!! Got a couple of pics though😃!!!

GSW

The glades briefly sunlit, but still birdless despite looking awesome habitat!!

Back on the first field the Spot Fly was present and posing slightly better than before, although the light was less favourable, I know never happy!!😂

Spotted Flycatcher posing slightly better

Poppies in the stubble field

Back at the car I noticed a Kestrel on a pole, so crossed the road, to try and get a bit closer, it flew off obviously😢 But a Green Woodpecker flew up out of the field and landed on a different telegraph pole, so I decided to stalk this instead although the fence didn't allow me to get to close.

Kestrel on a pole

Incoming Green Woodpecker

Not the Smoothest of Landings

All's well that ends well, also the post really is at that angle!

So as I've already crossed the road and it's still early, I abandon plans to go home and decide to head for Yellowhammer alley, I cross the A23 via the underpass, the Albourne Banksy has been hard at work but I won't share his anatomically incorrect work here😲😂! It's quite spooky walking the dark path next to the A23, I feel something is watching me, turns out something is watching me, a small Roe Deer!!

Lurker in the shadows!

I reach the daylight again and head up to the fields at the end of Bullfinch Lane, I call this area Yellowhammer Alley, the name will catch on I tell ya!! There is a small Starling murmuration going on but I can't find the cause, possibly my Kestrel from earlier!! Then probably the most Autumnish (not sure if Autumnish is a word but I like it😃!) sight of them all, a Jay flew across with an acorn although sadly by the time I got on it, it was well past!!

Starlings

Jay with Acorn

The land is open here, I scan the fields for Wheatears without success, vis mig in action with several small groups of Swallows going over and a few groups of Meadow Pipits heading south as well. Saw a couple of Skylarks and a few Pipits on the ground as well but pics weren't possible with my gear and level of skill😀 I scanned the hedges for Yellowhammers, but none on show, though I can hear a few calling from deep in the hedges, occasionally one would pop up as I walked along but my attempts at pics were laughable, I reached the gate  where the hedge turns at right angles and rather than carry on across the field, decided to have a 5 minute stand before heading back, Scanning the hedges I noticed an orange blob on the side of the hedged, Whinchat!!!! Bonus!!!! what's more it posed for pics quite well, which after the flightyness of the rest of today's cast (Spotted Flycatcher excluded obvs) was a welcome relief (not sure if flightyness is a real word either, but Shakespeare made up loads of words, so if it's good enough for the bard it's good enough for me😲!! Obviously he was a slightly better writer than me😂😂)

Whinchat

What a star!! Very bright bird, I've seen a singing spring Male (in wales) which was probably a bit brighter than this, but one of the best ones I've seen a cracker!!

Luckily for my camera battery and your eyes it flipped over the hedge out of sight, I decided to give it a couple of minutes to see if it came back, another group of Swallows went through, i noticed a brown blob on the hedge right in front of me, Yellowhammer, I think it's a young Male getting its proper plumage so not one of the really bright ones but still nice posy bird nevertheless. Obviously as soon as you get one another appears, this time a bright male, but less posy but I got a pic!!

Swallow heading for warmer climes, soon be gone!

Young Yellowhammer not really surprising I missed him against the brilliance of the Whinchat

Slightly different angle

Bright Male Yellowhammer, very flighty today, in the spring they are proper posers!!

Then the Whinchat came back and posed even better!!!! Sorry😂😂 Although the light was more difficult!! I know never blooming happy!!! 😁

Eyeing up Lunch

Very restrained posting of pictures I feel, it was on top of that hedge for a good 4 minutes, on high speed continuous setting the number of pics can get quite out of hand😂😂😂 As I felt the day wasn't going to get much better and I'd already done 8000 steps, mostly Limped (so Brave😁 I may be milking this now!!) I decided to head back to the car, which was fairly uneventful, brief views of a Kestrel and flyover Meadow Pipits and a couple of Yellowhammers the best of it!! Not bad and only a couple of miles from home!!!

Kestrel

Misty Wolstonbury Hill

 In order to protect my 3/4 of a tank of petrol, I cancelled a planned trip out and stayed local, dropped Margie at work and headed down New Way Lane, to tackle Wolstonbury Hill, bit of drizzle in the air and low misty cloud was not filling me with confidence, although the first thing I heard getting out of the car was a singing Chiffchaff which cheered me up a bit!

There is a hill there somewhere!

Misty 

To start with my pessimism was justified, very little in the woodland fringe around the bottom, heard some Nuthatches, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker and a few bits and pieces. Things improved somewhat as I went through the gate and started up the hill, more open ground here, grassland with bushes, nice group of Chiffchaffs with a couple of Blackcaps in amongst them, pics were at a premium as the birds zipped through the branches, several Blue Tits and a couple of Stonechats and the inevitable Robins!

Chiffchaff

Stonechat

Robin

Stonechat

Blue Tit

Blue Tit

The summit was shrouded in cloud and mist so I decided to traverse the front of the slope, I followed the path like a young mountain goat, despite the near vertical drop, this route allows you to look down on a nice copse and a few bushes, although a bit distant, a few birds here, more Chiffchaffs and Blue Tits another Blackcap and a very nice male Yellowhammer!

Plenty of flowers in the grass still and lots of insects including a couple of Hornets

Not the usual panoramic views!

Chiffchaff

Yellowhammer

Yellowhammer

Terrible record shot of a Blackcap!

The mist lifted slightly so I headed up to the top along the fence line just below the summit, there were 3 Stonechats, 2 Goldfinch, a Meadow Pipit, a Chiffchaff and a Robin on the fence and bushes but the angle I was at made pics difficult!

Juvenile Goldfinch

Goldfinch and Stonechat

Stonechat

Goldfinch and a few berries!

This fence line was very busy and I hung about in the hope of something good but it was all Stonechats and Goldfinch, no Flycatchers, Redstarts or Whinchats 😢😢 which was a shame, as I was watching in the background a bird loomed through the mist flying low around the hillside, Red Kite which gave reasonable views!

Red Kite

I headed up to the summit the path is quite wide and suddenly the familiar white flash as a Wheatear flew up in front of me, Wheatear are either the best posers in the world or really elusive and unfortunately this was one of the latter, I went full stalking mode but the undulating ground played into the birds hands, so only poor shots possible!

Trig Point on top of the hill

About the best I managed of the Wheatear

Couple of Meadow Pipits

The advantage of going full stalking mode means occasionally lucking into something good other than the target bird, in this case a Green Woodpecker which for once I spotted before it spotted me hurrah!!!

Green Woodpecker

Red in the moustache makes this a male

Rather to many pics of it really but don't get many chances at them and on a slow day you take ya opportunities where you can!! Brief views of a Kestrel several Meadow Pipits around were very flighty and camera shy there was also a large flock of Finches flying around in the mist, but didn't land near me think probably Linnets rather than Goldfinches though could have been a few mixed in!

I headed down the hill, spent far to long hanging around a bush that I saw an interesting bird fly into, turned out to be a Whitethroat, a bit of drizzle now, the paths are chalk and slippery at the best of times, but in these conditions, were like an ice sheet covered in marbles, after 2 practice slips, I finally went arse over tit down the slope, luckily with the agility of a cat I managed to save the Camera and the Bins but my hand, wrist and luckily quite padded bottom were not so lucky😱😱!! I hobbled down the rest of the hill, more Chiffchaffs and some Great Tits but my heart was no longer in it so headed back to the car, home and some paracetamol 😲

Kestrel

Great Tit with berries, seems to have a growth or maybe a tick on it's face!

So a quiet walk on a grey day, few nice bits would have hoped for a bit  more in the way of migration, plenty of berries on the bushes so might be worth a look for Ring Ouzels in the next couple of weeks!!