Willey; First thing there was a good number of Blackbirds and several Song Thrushes, plus a single Mistle Thrush feeding in the Holly tree, church Yew and lane hawthorn hedge. This morning 11 Swallows were around the cattle fields, then the flock increased to c30, all busy feeding over the pasture. A Grey Heron flew over the fields on its way to a pond.
About 1900h a Kestrel was hunting over the cross-in-hand spinney field.
Stanford reservoir; Chris found a hen harrier hunting over the adjacent fallow field so I went to have a look, I did see it hunting for a while before it went to ground.
While looking for the Harrier a Hobby flew passed scattering the hirundines present, of which there were many - 500+House Martins, c50 Sand martins and c100 Swallows. Later a kestrel and Sparrowhawk were seen too. Golden Plover were heard calling as they flew passed, whilst a Greenshank was roosting on an island and a Snipe was probing the mud. All the usual ducks were present, also still only 1 Wigeon and Pochard. A Little Egret was feeding along the waters edge. Even ore then ever Greylag and Canada Geese seemed to be present, they seem to be making the most of the uncultivated cereal fields.
There was a couple of roving Tit/Goldcrest flocks with plenty of Chiffchaffs and occasional Willow Warbler. Several Jays were noisy and flying around, as were 2 Great-spotted Woodpeckers. A Kingfisher zipped by on its way to the nearby pool.
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