30th Sept - sunny spells am, cloud increasing light rain later, light SW, 15C

Willey; 4 Swallows on the wires this morning, 1 adult and 3 very recently fledged juveniles - will we see them in October?

Cotesbach sandy lane pools; I had a look here in the morning, very little found, although Pied Wagtail numbers have begun to increase, c15, as they did last autumn.

Stanford reservoir;  a mid-afternoon visit, with cloud increasing and rain not too far off it was a quick walk to the hide for shelter.  Three Ruff were in the flooded vegetation with Lapwings, Teal and other duck.  There was over 200 Teal today, still a good number of Shoveler too.  The high number of Greylag and Canada geese at the moment sometimes get very excited and cause the other duck to become alarmed and often fly off to a new area of water.  The female Red-crested Pochard is still here, and still only a single drake Pochard, the others seen having left which makes me wonder if this one is injured and can't flew.

The Greenshank was also feeding along the waters edge, 4 Snipe flew over and the green Sandpiper was again on the inflow weir.

A roving mixed Tit flock was in the bushes, including Chiffchaff and Goldcrest.