14th Oct - rain untill 1500h, cloudy, light northerly, 9C

Brandon Marsh; Yellow-browed Warbler.
I decided to head to Brandon after lunch so I had shelter, but could get out if the rain stopped.  About 1500h the rain did stop so I ventured out of the east marsh hide, soon hearing some Tits in the bushes, then the distinctive repeated call of a YBW.  Luckily it appeared in the bushes right next to me, I was able to watch it for about 3 minutes, before it moved off and able to see the distinguishing features.  How lucky was I to find it?  Fortunately 2 other visitors came along the path and I pointed it out to them.

On the east marsh the usual ducks, plenty of Teal and also present c250 Lapwing and 1 Little Grebe. A Water Rail was heard in the reeds from the Teal hide.

13th Oct - windy up to 20 mph all day, cloudy, brighter pm, 23C, Southerly

Even warmer!

Austrey; while at the National Ploughing Championships a Swallow was battling in to the wind over the field.

Shawell; late afternoon I looked around all the pools in this area, the wind was still blowing some and most birds were well hidden.  In the landfill sandpit area 88 Canada Geese, at the lagoons 118 Lapwing, a Little and Great-crested Grebe and on the back pool 57+ Teal with 4 Shoveler.

12th Oct - very windy all day, up to 20 mph, rain off and on, 19C, southerly

Ridiculous weather still 19C at 2300h tonight.

Willey; a single Redwing flew SW this morning and a Mistle Thrush around the church Yew trees.

Stanford reservoir; a brief visit to see if anything had been blown in, nothing unusual.  A Red Kite battled against the wind and there were 10+ Little Egrets at the inlet.

11th Oct - mostly cloudy, mild SE wind mod-fresh, 19C

A busy day -  unfortunately no obs, other than 15 House Sparrows at a farm that I visited where a sale was being held.

10th Oct - sunny, mod breezy SE, 24C

An amazingly warm and sunny day for October, but a change is on the way with unsettled weather.

Stanford reservoir;
This morning the ringers caught a Yellow-browed Warbler, unfortunately I could not make it in time for its release, nevertheless a great bird for the site and Midlands, even though good numbers are on the east coast at the moment.

I managed to make it about 1300h and just became searching for the YBW when Chris came with word that the ringers may have a Red-throated Pipit in the bag, so we went to look. The pipit had some features of a Red-throated such as primary feather pattern, length of tertials, bill colour but lacked the white lines down its back which are characteristic, so was considered most likely a Meadow Pipit.

So, I continued my hopeful search for the YBW.  A Red Kite flew low over the water and lifted something out of the water, it looked like a leaf the Gulls had been playing with earlier.  The number of Pochard has now increased to 14, all good signs of new arrivals.   A Buzzard was feeding on the ground of a field being cultivated.     No YBW though.

9th Oct - cloud clearing to give a sunny day, 19C, mod breeze SSW

Willey; first thing a few Redwings were in the Church Lane hedges, before flying off SW and a number of Skylarks were flying over head in a number of directions.  Mid-morning 3 Ravens flew over low heading west and calling.

Stanford reservoir; a quick look here at the paddock area and bushes for migrants, nothing new.  A few Chiffchaffs, Willow Tit plus the usual species.

8th Oct - mostly cloudy, mod-breezy SW wind, 15C

Willey; just after 0800h this morning a flock of c40 Redwing flew low and fast SW, no even calling.  Then during the morning singles were heard in various hedgerows.
Chiffchaff, Nuthatch, Great-spotted Woodpecker were all in the Church lane area.

Stanford Reservoir; a look after lunch, but the weather was not as good as forecast, quite a breeze at times.  At the inlet end Little Egret were present, a total of 14 all together.  With them a Great Egret, I managed some photos of it atop a Hawthorn bush. A Fisherman told me that there are lots of small young Pike in this area, so may be that’s what has attracted the Egrets?

Duck numbers appeared down today but the usual species were present, a couple of female Pochard in with the Tufties, only 4 Wigeon, 29 Shoveler, c10 Gadwall, a few Teal and Mallard.   A Little Grebe near the dam, on which was 2 Grey Wagtails.  Still only a couple of Common Gulls, Black-headed and Lesser Black Backed Gulls are increasing in numbers.

Passerines were hard to find due to the wind, but were about. A Cetti’s Warbler was vocal, and a couple of Chiffchaff were calling. As usual a mixed flock of Tits Goldcrest and Treecreeper along the by-pass path.  A flock of 25 Linnets flew over and headed for the cultivated field nearby.  Along the by-pass path a Bank Vole was busy gathering items, unfortunately it avoided my camera.