23rd October Friday - cloudy light E with showers, then NW becoming strong gusty (40 mph) and light rain, 10C. 17mm rain since yday morning and this evening

Willey; morning

More Redwings around first thing, c30.  In church Yew Mistle Thrush and other regulars, c10 Goldfinches around and several Chaffinches.  Four Long-tailed Tits and Chiffchaff moved through lane hedge.  A Great Spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch too.

A Red Kite over at 1300h

Stanford Reservoir; afternoon.

I had a look here for an hour before it became too wet and wild, winds gusting c45 mph.

Plenty of Shoveler, Teal and Cormorant on the water.

The Egrets were sheltering as much as possible from the wind. I counted 14 Great and 33 Little Egrets, my highest ever counts here are 18 and 44 respectively. If I could have pinned them all down I may have had more today as I did see some flying, possibly leaving the reservoir.

22nd October Thursday - brisk SW, sunny spells, 11C. 5 mm rain since yday morning.

Lilbourne Meadows; morning.

Rather quiet, duck included two Shovelers, 10 Teal, four Mallard, 10 wigeon flew in and three Mute Swans.

A few Linnets, a Kestrel, a Grey Heron, a Skylark, two Meadow Pipits and Long-tailed Tits.

Stanford reservoir; afternoon.

A really good count of Little and Great Egrets, 29 and 12 respectively.

The usual ducks, plus a female Goldeneye (my first for this winter here).  Two Little Grebes. A Water Rail heard near the draw-off tower.

A couple of mid-sized Dragonflies and a Hornet were noted.

21st October Wednesday - 8mm in last two days. Sunny start, then clouding over mid-morning then light rain, more pm, 10C. Light, mod later pm SW, 12C

Willey; morning

C15 Redwings around the Church Yew, lane hedge and Holly trees.

Male Blackcap too.  Four Chaffinches, a Goldfinch and four Greenfinch plus a Goldcrest.

20th October Tuesday - light rain am, mod spell mid-afternoon, 12C, light easterly

Clifford Hill - Barrage Lake, Northants - afternoon.

I visited here to see the American Pipit that has been present a couple of days, I've never been here before.

When I arrived no-one had seen the bird since c1100am and so the search was on. Quite a few Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails around, which proved interesting.  On the shore line a Redshank and Common Ringed Plover, plenty of the usual ducks and feral Geese plus Little and Great Crested Grebes.

No joy, but luckily I bumped in to a Wiltshire birder, and his mate on the far side called to say he 'had it', so an orderly quick walk, picking up others on the way.

It was still there and showing well, preening and feeding, often with a Meadow Pipit for comparison.

Light was poor, but I manged to get a few record photos, the salient ID features can be seen.

19th October Monday - 7 mm rain during the night. light east, sunny periods, 13C

Willey; afternoon.

A Kestrel hovered over the lane next to the allotments and settled atop the Ash tree.

A couple of Ravens were patrolling above the fields, the range of calls they have other than ‘cronking’ is amazing.

Two Mistle Thrushes after the Mountain Ash and Yew berries, plus Song Thrush and Blackbird.

18th October Sunday - sunny am, sunny spells pm, mod-brisk NE, 13C

Willey; morning

I was not happy to see a Tawny Owl road casualty on the Coal Pit lane near the village turning.  The amount of traffic now on this road is many time what it used to be with all the development in the area, the Tawny has little hope of crossing, or verge hunting without disaster. 

Late morning - a Mistle and Song Thrush in the Church Yew, plus the other regulars. A Red Kite and Sparrowhawk flew passed. Green Woodpecker called nearby.

Lilbourne Meadows; morning.

My first autumn Redwing in the corner copse.

At the island pool the Ruff was still present, but it is walking better now than it was.  14 Wigeon, 5 Mute, 8 Teal, 4 Mallard.

48 Linnets feeding and a Curlew in the adjacent field.

Three Roe deer were spotted near the large bank.

Stanford reservoir; afternoon.

The Common Scoter drake found this morning by Chris was still present.  Three 'redhead' Goosanders too.  A distant record shot in bad light was grabbed.

I saw 21 Little Egrets and five Great White Egrets.

c6 Redwings were seen.  A couple of Chiffchaffs with Long-tailed Tits, but not many other passerines about.

17th October Saturday - mod N, 13C, sunny periods

After visiting a vintage sale in Cambs, I popped over to Welney WWT

The Lady fen area was complete dry and the washes had water in the main observatory area, but also very dry eslewhere.

Whooper Swans were present, but many yet to arrive. A female Garganey was visible and was mostly asleep about from the occasional short walk when disturbed by other bird neighbours.

Three Cattle and one Great White Egret, plus a Grey Heron.  A couple of Marsh Harriers and a Buzzard were about, a Peregrine swooped in and out hunting.

Duck numbers were low, Mallard, Wigeon, Shoveler, Teal, Gadwall.

Waders included Snipe (often many flushed by the Harriers), Ruff and Black-tailed Godwit.