Wolstonbury Wander

 Margie had to work today and because I'm so wonderfully considerate, I gave her a lift even though it meant I would be late getting on site, that's 💓 for ya, also I was knackered so could have a lay in with out feeling guilty😀, so decided to stay local finding myself at the bottom of Wolstonbury Hill at 7.30AM things started well enough with a Green Woodpecker briefly in the field next to the path.

Green Woodpecker

Shame the grass was a bit long

Things were very quiet through the woodland, I headed up the western flank as it I left the tree line there were a few Chiffies in the bushes but couldn't get a picture, though a Great Spotted Woodpecker put in a brief appearance 

GSW

Nice Male

I inched up the slope admiring the view, translation had to stop regularly to gasp for breath!!😂😨

Traditional Pic of the Church

Brighton

Jack & Jill

Made the top!!

Pretty stunning views all around

Birdwise it was very quiet, I wandered around the summit to little effect eventually finding a couple of skittish Wheatears and a distant Whinchat but they all headed down the slope and I wasn't gonna follow em having struggled up here in the first place!! No Skylarks which was a real surprise this area is usually teeming with em!

Wheatear

Distant Whinchat

I took the high path towards the windmills, where I came across a couple of Wheatears on the path and a small group of Meadow Pipits, however I was the wrong side for the light, so I came up with a cunning plan that Baldrick would have been proud of! Basically was to drop into the field and come up the other side, so not that cunning really😂 But in my defence in worked well, with the birds lit lovely by the sun and even better feeding down the path straight towards me, with one bird coming within 10 feet at one point, always good when the birds come to you! 

Wheatear

Meadow Pipit, good view of the long hind claw

I know what your thinking with the last two shots, the angle it looks like I must have been laying on the floor😲 which of course is ridiculous as I would still be there unable to get back up!! 😁 No a quirk in geography means the field next to the path slopes away steeply so I was at eye level with the birds!! 

I left the birds feeding happily an excellent 20 minute session, I headed back to the hill suddenly I was surrounded by Meadow Pipits, hundreds of em!!  

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Chiffchaff

There seemed to be birds everywhere, a small flock of Goldfinches and a few Chiffies in the bushes but mainly Mipits, think there were at least 100 but could easily have been more, were a couple of Kestrels floating around the hill, but always seemed to be just out of range!

Kestrel

Robin having a sing

Hang Gliders over the Dyke

Great Black-backed Gull, a few Gulls about today!

Kestrel

Nipping off before I can close the gap

I headed down the east side I noticed some birds on the fence line, some more Wheatears and Meadow Pipits but also some Skylarks in the area hurrah!!

Skylark

Meadow Pipit

Scanning down the hill, I picked out another Whinchat but couldn't get close to it, more Mipits in the field as well!

Distant Whinchat

Goldfinch

At the bottom of the hill is a small Quarry type area, I scoured the area, but it was quiet, a small flock of Starlings was looking the best, but persistence paid off and I winkled out a Spotted Flycatcher Huzzah!

Spotted Flycatcher

A bit of quality at the end and a couple of good moments but over all a quiet walk, the lack of Skylarks ties in with other recent trips, there are usually loads here! Indeed there were very few resident birds at all couple of Blue and Great Tits, the Woodpeckers and a few Goldies, but no Linnets at all, even Pigeon and Corvid numbers were well down on previous visits, strange times!!