28th Sept - rain through the night, sunny spells, light Westerly, 18C

Willey; no Swallows seen by mid-day, still good number of Chiffchaffs in the hedges/trees.  Mid-afternoon 4 Swallows were resting a short while on the telegraph wires.  This morning there were 4 Greenfinch sitting atop the neighbours fir tree, they have feeders in the garden.

Stanford reservoir; a quick look later afternoon produced 5 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Ruff, A Greenshank, a Green Sandpiper on the inflow weir and a single Snipe flew over calling.  A Few Chiffchaffs in the bushes and a roving Tit flock.

27th Sept - sunny am, I treading cold pm light evening, 20C

Willey; a busy day, at least 4 Swallows this morning, 4 Mistle Thrushes and a good number of Chiffchaffs around.

26th Sept - very misty damp start, sun breaking through slowly, mild 18C, light easterly

Willey;  last evening I found a Great Crested Newt under the wheelie bin I was moving, managed a phone photo in the gloom.

This morning at least 10 Swallows over the village, also 5 Buzzard together and Skylark was heard flying over. In a sunny spell ~20 Starlings were up hawking insects.  Again a number of Chiffchaff were around and could be seen or heard.

Several butterflies were on the wing, Speckled wood, Red Admiral and Small White.

25th Sept - rain first thing slowly easing to a murky but mild day, light SE, 15C

Willey; once the rain eased this morning there was quite a lot of activity around the village.  A mixed flock in the church yard contained Blue, Great, Long-tailed and Coal Tits, Goldcrest and 5+ Chiffchaff.  A Nuthatch appeared and 8 Greenfinches flew over.
Over the fields just off the lane bend there was at least 50 Swallows and 10 House Martins feeding, super watching them and a Cormorant flew over eastward.

Stanford reservoir; a look this afternoon produced 5 Black-tailed Godwits, a single Ruff (reeve), at least 47 Wigeon and c200 Teal.  Otherwise things much as usual.

24th Sept - Blackwits and Swallows - sunny am, high cloud building pm, warm SE light wind, 21C

Willey; this morning there were about 20 Swallows on the wires before they scattered, about 1730h there were 30 feeding high over the village with again at least 1 House Martin.  Also, this morning there were at least 2 Chiffchaffs singing and a small number of Meadow Pipits flew over the Perkins field area.

This afternoon, about.   There were 7 Buzzards over the stubble fields in the Cloudsley Bush area (2 miles to the west of the village) and 2 Red Kites, all hunting over the fields.  Then, 2 Hobby flew eastward along the Long Spinney edge - amazing to watch all together.

Stanford reservoir; mid-afternoon I set off to here for a stroll.  The 7 Black-tailed Godwit were again present on the island, as was the single Greenshank and a Snipe among the Lapwing.  New in were 2 female Pochard with a male, otherwise duck numbers were as recently seen.  I did count/estimate the number of Greylag and Canada Geese at 400 and 250 respectively.

23rd Sept -Mistle Thrush- cloudy, slowly brightening by pm, 15C

Willey; at least 6 Swallows and at least 1 House Martin over the fields this morning.  Mid-morning 6 Mistle Thrushes flew in to the Holly tree, it is loaded with berries this year.

Rutland Water -Egleton; I decided to visit Rutland water for the afternoon, there had been an American Wigeon here for a while which I was hoping to find.  On the way near  Stockerston I noticed 8 Red Kites over a recently cultivated field.

Once at Rutland Water I headed off to lagoon 2, it was covered in Wigeon so my task of finding an American Wigeon in eclipse plumage was challenging.  Needless to have a very considerable time of searching throughout the afternoon I could not find it.  Other duck present included Pintail, Gadwall and Teal.

Two Hobby were hunting insect prey, sometimes passing very close giving superb views.   There were many insects and Dragonflies about for them to catch.

Generally things were very quiet, on lagoon 4 the only waders were Lapwing and a single Greenshank. Walking to lagoon 2  I could see 2 Great (white) Egret standing on an island.

22nd Sept - Blackwits - sunny most of the day, cloud forming late afternoon, light SSW,18C

Willey; this morning there were c20 Swallows sitting on the telegraph wires.  A couple of Raven flew over low towards the sheep fields along Moors Lane.

Stanford reservoir; a late afternoon visit here was interesting as 7 roosting Black-tailed Godwits were on the island, until something made all the Lapwings go up and they did too, they then flew off.  Also, on the island was a Ruff (reeve) and 3 Snipe, this did not fly up with the Lapwing.  A little later 3 Ruff (2 reeves and a ruff - male) flew along the reservoir, with the one still on the island, so a total of 4 Ruff are still around the reservoir.  A single Green sandpiper was on the weir again.  Wigeon numbers were up a little again, to 25, with plenty of Teal, Shoveler and Gadwall still.

A Jay was flying between the trees, whilst a mixed tit and warbler flock made its away through the water side willows.