Merry Caspmas!

Having finished work early for Christmas yesterday, (Friday 23/12) I had the afternoon to myself. So, I decided to do a bit of local birding to see what I could find.

I started off by popping into Grimsbury Reservoir, however this proved to be a pretty fleeting visit with bugger all about! So next, I decided to have a drive down the A361 to Boddington Reservoir and on the way, see if I could track down some gulls in the fields close to Banbury, as I knew there had been some decent numbers around the fields here.

Good news, there appeared to be plenty big gulls about, with a sizable number heading to fields towards Chacombe. I took the road up towards the village and managed to find a large group in a cattle field. Parking in the muddy gateway, I began scoping the birds, however views were rather indifferent, with a number of inquisitive cattle constantly obscuring my view!

Eventually though I was able to get a look in! There were surprisingly good numbers of Herring Gull here, not a massively numerous bird in the area. Also plenty of LBBGs and then the cherry on the top, a lovely 1st-winter Caspian Gull, a super scarce bird in these parts! It spent a lot of time sitting down but did have a wander around a couple of times too. Shocking phone-scoped and bridge photo (with a hint of cow!) below...

The area straddles the Oxon & Northants border but having spoken to my friend Gareth Blockley, he confirmed it was in Northants. After a good scan, I also managed to muster 2 Yellow-Legged Gull (adult & 3w). Another further scan of a whole load more gulls in Oxon Upper Cherwell Valley, on the other side of the A361 also yielded a 2w Yellow Legged Gull.

I decided to still give Boddington Res a go before heading back to Grimsbury, in the vain hope the Caspo would turn up there! Bod had a bit more wildfowl than usual but overall didn't produce anything spectacular in increasingly breezy & gloomy conditions. Best here were a very smart adult Yellow Legged Gull (phone-scoped below), 22 Wigeon (a good count for here), a Little Egret, 7 Goosander (4 drakes) & a drake Shoveler.

I ended up leaving Bod at about 15:20, a bit later than I intended. I zoomed over to Grimsbury. I saw Gareth's car parked up, as I thought I might and marched up the west side of the reservoir, in the wind and light rain. There were plenty of gulls about but mostly BHGs.

As I approached Gareth, he looked rather animated, "did you get my messages??" I hadn't...some sort of signal issue and guess what, he'd seen a Caspian Gull, but now couldn't find it...bugger!! Cursing the fact I'd arrived later than I intended, I began eagerly scanning around for the bird.

After a couple of minutes...YES, I was in luck as I picked it up almost head on to me, that pale appearance was unmistakable. High fives all round, a real Christmas present, site first and patch tick to boot. It transpired that this was in fact a 2w and amazingly a different bird to my 1w earlier in the day, no more than a couple of miles away. For not having ever seen one in the area, to have two in the same day was pretty exceptional! Yet another piss-poor phone-scoped photo below, as well as Gareth's far superior video (a great effort considering the weather!)

The conditions were pretty minging, but to be honest we didn't mind too much as we stood enjoying what had been a long-awaited and much predicted patch first. After about 15 minutes it vanished and the weather was worsening too, so we headed off home with a big, big grin!

Derbyshire Dusky

It's been a little while since my last blog post! However, I haven't really done all that much birding for the last month or so, other than a little bit here and there locally and that's not really produced much of note at all!

However, on Sunday 04/12, news emerged of a Dusky Thrush, in the rather surprising location of Beeley, a sleepy little village on the edge of the Derbyshire Peak District. What's more, it wasn't just a one day wonder and by midweek, myself Gareth & Dan provisionally penciled ourselves in for a drive north on Sunday 11/12.

Fast forward to Saturday 10/12 and pleasingly the bird was still present. So, first thing Sunday, myself, Gareth & Dan met up in Banbury and took the 2 hour drive north. We arrived around 9am as planned and plonked the car up in the nearby Chatsworth estate car park (there was no parking permitted in the village over the weekend). The hospitable locals had actually put on shuttle mini-buses for visiting birders to take them down to village, however we decided to take the 15 minute walk ourselves to get a bit of fresh air in the lungs.

We soon found the area where the bird was frequenting; a tiny orchard (so tiny in fact, orchard was stretching it a bit!) surrounded by birders, adjacent to the Duke's Barn activity centre.

The bird had only showed briefly, once at first light, however we didn't have to wait too long before it appeared around the apple trees. My first sighting was largely obscured, as it sat preening, with me looking through about 3 separate sets of branches. However there it was, a Dusky Thrush...great stuff! It disappeared off over our heads after a few decent views. This was enough for several birders at the front to move off and I got myself a nice spot right in front of the 'orchard', with Gareth & Dan not to far behind me.

We went on to get 2 or 3 further prolonged showings of the bird, never having to wait too long. All three of us gained some pretty mint views of the bird and by close to midday, we decided we'd had our fill...not before we'd enjoyed further Derbyshire hospitality with a cuppa and a sausage sarnie. Spot on! The locals really had been awesome, putting up signs around the village for birders, as well as all the refreshments and the minibus too. Good on them!

The walk back to the car was productive with views of a couple of very confiding Dipper along the river, as well as a number of calling Crossbills in some nearby spruce.

We next moved off to Cromford, south of Matlock, a regular spot for Hawfinch, high up in trees along a river gorge. We had a good scan around the area, however failed to rustle up anything of interest. We had a couple of hours to play with so being lovers of a good old gull roost, we decided to pop into Foremark Reservoir, a place regularly turning up decent Caspian Gull counts.

Foremark turned out to be a cracking little site. Fabulous numbers of gulls were to be seen, as well a long-staying female Common Scoter and a female Pintail. The main gull highlights were 3 Caspian Gulls (2 adults & a 1st-winter), as well as 2-3 adult Yellow-Legged Gulls to boot. The sunset was pretty breathtaking too and it was really entertaining meeting local birder 'Dipper', a bit of a Scillies veteran from the 80's glory days! Top day out with guys again!

SNOB!

Following a fruitless look around Grimsbury Reservoir yesterday morning, I still had another couple of hours to kill before needing to get back home.

My friend Dan was raving about a Snow Bunting that had been found close to his home near Kineton, a short drive away into Warwickshire. So I thought why not!

I met up with Dan for a look and I'm extremely glad I made the effort with views of a beautiful female Snow Bunting showing as close as just TWO metres on a farmland track, close to the village. It really was super chilled, not even budging as a couple of dog walkers passed by no more than a foot away. Completely mad! It seemed in good health and appeared to be feeding well too. Brilliant!

The Wheatear double

Late October / early November is a classic time for rare wheatears to appear in the UK. For the last few years, I've always been a bit of a lazy bones and not bothered to catch up with any.

This year however, with a gorgeous-looking male Desert Wheatear in situ near to Cley, Norfolk, I was more than tempted! On Friday 28/10, I made a bit of a last minute decision to go the next day and despite not being able to get anyone else to go with me, it was too tempting to pass up and so for a change, I had a day out by myself!

I set off mega early, with the aim of arriving at Cley east bank for sunrise to make the most of my day and also to enjoy my time there without the hoards of people that would inevitably be about.

I'm really glad I did, arriving at 07:50am to be greeted by an absolutely stunning sunrise, with not a breath of wind and surprisingly mild temperatures.

I began my walk up the east bank, with a large skein of Pink Foots over, a hunting Marsh Harrier, a few calling Bearded Tits and plenty of common wildfowl and waders en route.

At the top of the east bank, a nice Lapland Bunting flew low over west calling, further adding to an enjoyable start to my day. It was a bit of a walk along the shingle and down towards the sea pool area where the Wheatear had been showing the previous day.

A couple of birders were already there and before I reached them, I could see the Desert Wheatear bombing about, across a fairly flat, shingle area close by. One of the guys soon left and over the next 20 minutes or so, myself and the remaining birder enjoyed a stunning show.

As more birders appeared, the Wheatear disappeared for quite a while. In the meantime I had views of a couple of flyover Shorelark, an unexpected Swallow through slowly east, my latest ever, as well as having the constant backdrop of pinging Bearded Tits from the nearby reedbeds.

Most went off after the Wheatear that had been re-found c.200m west. I stayed put and was rewarded as the Wheatear returned, right in front of me, which I had to myself for a little while before everybody returned to see it. I wanted to move on, however couldn't resist staying a while longer to enjoy such great views of an awesome bird.

I eventually left to enjoy the rest of my day elsewhere. My walk back to the car produced at least 5 Red Throated Diver and a few Guillemot on the sea, another flyover Lapland Bunting high overhead, plenty of wildfowl and waders as well as views of some more Beardies.

Before departing Cley, I popped over the road to Walsey Hills to listen in for the Dusky Warbler my mate Kieran had found several days previously. I heard it calling relatively frequently and probably saw it briefly too, as it was chased off by a Robin, but I soon hit the road again. Knowing how skulky Duskys can be, I could've been there for hours and still not seen it!

I drove west along the coast road to Burnham Overy Dunes via a stop off for coffee at the trusty Wells Co-op. BOD wasn't a place I particularly wanted to go to as I couldn't be arsed to walk all that way, plus I knew it would be milling with people. But with yet another rare wheatear, this time an Isabelline showing in recent days and reportedly still there, I kind of had to drop in.

I surprisingly found a nice easy space to park by the A149 and trudged off along the long old track to the dunes and to Gun Hill.

As predicted, the route was crawling with people. Birds on the way included a covey of Grey Partridge, plenty of Pink Foots and a couple of Bearded Tit bombing over my head calling. It wasn't too difficult to work out where the wheatear was, with a stationary army of people visible from a distance, slightly east of Gun Hill. Woopee!

The Isabelline Wheatear was visible pretty much straight away on the crest of the nearby dune ridge (grotty photo below). It proved to be quite mobile and flighty but I could still make out all the key features through the bins, particularly the striking paleness of the bird.

After a short while, I took a walk round to the beach side to get away from the hoardes. The wheatear reappeared briefly on the beach before flying back towards the dunes. Three very vocal Lapland Buntings then circled overhead for a bit but sadly didn't land and were soon on their way again. I then left to enjoy the last part of the day, looking for my own birds at Thornham.

I like birding at Thornham, I always manage to see something half decent. Again it didn't disappoint too much, soon clapping eyes on approximately 10 Twite amongst larger numbers of Linnets, close to the car park. I do love the twanging calls of Twite as they regularly take flight and circle over the saltmarsh, before again dropping to feed. Interestingly, there was a colour-ringed bird amongst them, however I couldn't get enough on it before they were off in the air again. Presumably one of the peak district birds that regularly appear here each winter.

I took a walk right out to the beach and to the mouth of Thornham channel to look for buntings and Shorelarks. I was rewarded with yet another flyover Lapland Bunting for the day, heading off inland, however nothing else too notable other than a nice selection of waders. The day was drawing to a close, ending with fantastic, memorable views of a hunting Barn Owl and a couple of Marsh Harriers in the fading light.

Woodlark!

Sunday 23/10 appeared to have the potential for some promising visible migration with low cloud and favourable winds. So, I figured a trip to the 'mountainous' Borough Hill, Daventry was in order, to see what was moving. It was also a nice change from flogging the local water bodies!

I got there for first light and set up camp in the centre of the hill. Here, a nice pair of Stonechat were in situ and in fact spent most of the time pretty close by atop a variety of weedy perches.

After a slow start birds began to move quite a bit, mostly heading in a north or north westerly direction. There was a really nice steady trickle of Chaffinches in ones and two, as well as the occasional larger groups with a party of 17 over at one point. Redwings too were going over in steady numbers.

The highlight of the early part of the morning were a group of 3 followed soon after by another Brambling that circled the hill before departing NW.

Things though seriously hotted up a little while later. I had just been looking at some thrushes heading over, when I noticed a bird flying north, low over the hill away from me. It was a lark and looked remarkibly short-tailed (!) It soon dropped down in long grass, around 100m away from me. I immediately decided to follow it up, having a sneaking suspicion that it could be a Woodlark.

I approached the rough area the bird landed and nothing! Then suddenly the bird took flight around 15 feet from me and began calling 'tleee tweee', 'tleee tweee'. Oh my, it was a Woodlark, get in!! It again landed around 150m away, right at the far north end of the hill, where to my dismay, a dog walker was approaching the exact area. The timing was absolutely 'impeccable'...typical!!

Surprise, surprise, there was no sign from where I saw the bird land and it had presumably been flushed by the dog walker. I hung around the area for a little while but no further sign. So, I began to walk back to my earlier vig mig spot. As I did so, the Woodlark again appeared from nowhere and flew right past me, calling it's head off and exhibiting the short tail and rounded wings. Unfortunately it kept going and headed off high north. 

I then resumed watching overhead to see what else I could muster. I actually managed a few more nice bits, including a group of 6 Crossbills and yet more Chaffinches and Redwing. While on the phone to my friend Dave James, I also then had the most amazing sight of a Kingfisher cruising right past me, west across the hill!!! This surely was a migratory bird with no apparent water on any part of the hill to my knowledge and therefore quite an exciting observation. To finish my morning off, a Peregrine, Red Kite and several Buzzards were also seen as the cloud was slowly replaced by blue sky and sun.

What an enjoyable morning! Overhead totals below:

1 Redpoll sp

c.130 Chaffinch

c330 Fieldfare

c.185 Redwing

1 Woodlark

6 Crossbill

21 Starling

1 Kingfisher

5 Pied Wagtail

9 Linnet

1 Grey Wagtail

4 Brambling

1 Peregrine

1 Red Kite

1 Blackbird

1 Mute Swan

3 Goldfinch

4 Buzzard

3 Yellowhammer

1 Raven

Plus lots of Skylark & Meadow Pipit in the area

Magic week(end)!!

So, the most exciting and anticipated time of the year was upon us. Mid-October...it could only mean one thing. It was time for magic week!!

For those of you that don't know, this is now a bit of a tradition among myself and several others that we all hit Norfolk for a few days in mid-October with the anticipation of enjoying an east coast fall, or at least a few eastern rares. More often than not, we get the timing just about right too!

This year, myself, Gareth Blockley & Dan Watson set off after work on Thursday 13/10 with 4 full days birding in front of us. The winds were looking ok for at least the first day or two, so there was certainly potential for finding some decent birds.

Day 1

After a night sleeping on possibly the hardest bed known to man at our digs at the YHA, Wells, we kicked things off in nearby Wells Woods first thing on the morning of Friday 14/10.

Team morale was high, as we began sifting through the Dell, which we pleasingly, largely had to ourselves. It was apparent that there were quite a few birds about with particularly good numbers of Robins, several Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Goldcrests & Redwings. A Woodcock was flushed, a Fieldfare called nearby and there were quite a few Redpoll & Siskin in the general vicinity. We then heard news that the Olive-Backed Pipit was showing nearby so we scooted off past the NW end of the Dell, towards the back of the beach huts.

There were quite a few people there, where the bird was proving to be mega elusive. Gareth gained a fleeting view of it and then thankfully I managed to locate it in a nearby pine. I looked away to call people over and when I looked back, it had gone! Never did see it again either, which was a bit of a shame and a bit disappointing. I had at least seen it though. We wandered off in the rough direction of the dell locating a nice Redstart in the pines, as well as kicking up a couple more Woodcock.

We'd covered a fair bit of habitat by now, however we'd still failed to find a single Yellow-Browed Warbler which I have to say, was rather surprising! We did get wind of a Pallas' Warbler reported near to the drinking pool though, so we slowly made our way towards this general area but nothing.

We soon reached the main east - west track through the woods and began trying some habitat on the landward side of the path. A short way along a bird flicked up from in front of us and into a nearby tree. No way, another Olive-Backed Pipit!!!! Oh my word! we were quite some way from the first bird...this surely had to be a second. We gained some fabulous views for about a minute or so as it sat on it's branch in full view, diagnostically bobbing it's tail. Such a stunning bird up close. The combination of the camera not really coping with the light under the tree canopy, as well as the slightly excitable shake in my arms meant that the only photo I got was pretty blury, but oh well, we'd found an OBP!! I was really hoping we'd see one this year, but to find one was just epic! (1st pic by me, 2nd by Dan Watson).

Soon after, the bird flicked up to the tree directly above our heads, uttering a couple of buzzy calls. It then somehow just melted away as more and more people came over to see what we were looking at. Needless to say we were feeling pretty smug with what we'd just witnessed and we left the 15 or so birders looking for it, to carry on our search for new birds on a bit of a high!

We had a crack at the large scrubby area to the south of the pines / wells woods. Dan had a brief Lesser Whitethroat, that he considered probably of one of the asian races but it soon disppeared and never showed again. The area here had quite a few Redwing and several Blackcaps, but nothing too mega. It was then coffee time and a drive round to Burnham Overy Dunes.


We marched straight towards Gun Hill first, seeing a Wheatear and a couple of Stonechat en route. There were a steady number of birds around Gun Hill, without being super spectacular. Best things here were a Redstart, another Wheatear, quite a few Redwing, Song Thrushes, Robins and the odd Goldcrest.

Having picked through Gun Hill with a fine tooth comb, we walked back through the dunes and on towards the west end of Holkham Pines. On the way, we came across a nice Ring Ouzel, a couple of distant Great White Egret out on the marsh and the Great Grey Shrike that had been hanging around for the previous few days, which actually showed really nicely.

Before entering the pines, we got onto a couple of Lesser Whitethroats in brambles close to the west end. Despite our best efforts, we couldn't turn them into anything other than standard Lesserthroats. After that, we spent quite a bit of time grilling the tit flocks along the southern edge of the pines from the main track. We were pretty well rewarded too, with all-too-brief views of a Pallas' Warbler which also called, the first time I'd heard one. We also had a Yellow-Browed Warbler and prolonged views of an exquisite Firecrest.

A fantastic first day was by now, drawing to a close, however not completely finished, with us enjoying 3 Short Eared Owl & 2-3 Barn Owls hunting the marsh in the fading light. What a class end to the day! It was then time for some fish & chips and of course, the pub!

Day 2

Following a marginally better sleep (but not much!) it was back to Wells Woods again for another big effort.

Today, myself, Dan & Gareth were joined by our mate and Norfolk resident Johny. We began in the scrubby and wooded areas just west of the Dell. It was a pretty gloomy morning and there did appear to be quite a few birds about.

The first good bird of the day was one I didn't actually get to see! Dan got onto a Pallas' Warbler hanging around with a bunch of Goldcrests. The others got onto it too, however, despite moving around next to the Birch tree it was in, all I could get onto were Goldcrests, before it melted away. Frustrating but couldn't be helped!

Walking through this general area, and the Dell produced 3 Yellow-Brows, 5 Woodcock, several Chiffchaff and best of all another Pallas's Warbler in the dell, again discovered by Dan 'the Phyllosc Hunter' Watson. This one was far more obliging (poor photo below) and hung around in the same general area for quite a while. I do bloody love Pallas' Warblers, they're a serious treat! So I stood on the mound in the centre of the dell, for quite a while, watching it flit about. 

As the morning went on, the gloom was slowly being transformed into clearer skies and sunshine. This didn't appear to stop birds moving initially though, with several small parties of Redwings coming in off. A Lapland Bunting heading over SW, calling loudly, was a nice surprise, swiftly followed by a cream crown Marsh Harrier. An even bigger surprise was a juvenile Whitethroat that Johny picked up flicking around a pine in the dell. A bit of a mad record to say the least!

It was then time for a coffee and a change of scenery and so we went for a wander along the coastal path east of Wells. 3 Wheatear were scurrying around along the bank while the sunshine and clear skies brought out a few raptors, with 3 Red Kites over the saltmarsh, flushing up tonnes of wildfowl and a group of 5 Buzzards drifting high south. 1 or 2 Brambling dropped into some nearby scrub, a big skein of Pinkfoots flew west and a Kingfisher flashed along a nearby channel.

We then came across a small copse, a real dense tangle of branches. It looked perfect to hide away some goodies and low and behold it was. We enjoyed 2, possibly 3 very local Yellow-Brows, however Dan stole the show with yet another Pallas' Warbler (the boy was on fire!) that showed all too briefly for him and despite our utmost efforts, was never seen again.

We traced our steps back to Wells and after a bit of a think, decided we would drive the short distance east to Warham Greens to look for raptors and also to catch up with the Radde's Warbler that had been lingering for a few days.

We parked up at the rather muddy surroundings of the concrete pad on Garden Drove and headed down the track. The Radde's was well and truly surrounded with an army camera wielders, peering into the hedge. We joined the back of the scrum and almost immediately I had some brilliant views of the bird skulking around in the bottom branches of a sycamore, allowing me to take in all those diagnostics; the pale chin, super duper supercillium and orange undertail. After that we were more than happy to move on. Great to see, but not the most enjoyable of birding.

We walked around west along the coastal path but found very little, although a handful of Brambling including a stonking male was nice.

Before dusk fell, myself, Johny and Gareth went for seconds on the Radde's and we were all glad we did, with now far fewer birders present. Over the course of 15-20 minutes, we were also treated to really good views (as Radde's views go!), no more than 10 or so feet away as it skulked around low in the hedgerow. Fabulous stuff!

Dusk brought a stunning moon and also the welcome sight of a distant, hunting ringtail Hen Harrier to finish the day. It was then yet again, dinner and pub time!

Day 3

We decided to have another go at Burnham Overy Dunes. Lesson learned here, always study the forecast! Sure we knew what the winds were doing and thought they'd probably be a chance of a shower, however we were blissfully unaware that it was set to rain for much of the morning! Urggggh!

It was bloody hard work both in terms of the the conditions and also the lack birds. Following a very clear night, it was obvious there had been a real clear out. A venture into the west end of Holkham Pines, largely for shelter, produced one Yellow-Browed Warbler but otherwise, very little.

We ventured out into the dunes & Gun Hill to give the area a bit more scrutiny, once the rain had ceased. There was little quality or quantity, however we did come across both a standard-looking Lesser Whitethroat at the east end of the dunes and what appeared to be a pretty good candidate for a Asian Lesser Whitethroat, probably of the sub-species Halimodendri. Views though, were limited as it flicked and skulked through small clumps of suaeda.

By this point it was very much lunchtime and we were all seriously knackered and ready for copious amounts of food and coffee!

Team morale was significantly increased with a bloody good feed at a little cafe in Wells (which produced some stupendous Carrot Cake!). In the meantime, a Cattle Egret had turned up, at Blakeney Freshes a little further East. Yeah, why not!

We headed for the vantage point of Friary Hills to view the area. It took a little while, but the bird did eventually appear, in flight about a mile away, on the far side of the marshes before landing amongst a small group of cattle. Not exactly the most exhilarating sighting of a Cattle Egret but cool to see and my first for a good 2-3 years. A Green Sandpiper was seen in flight a couple of times, as were 1 or 2 Marsh Harrier.




The weather by now was stunning with barely a breath of wind and golden, late afternoon sunshine. We completed our day with a walk out into the saltmarsh off Stiffkey. It was a stunner of a walk, with some fab light and some real evocative views of wildfowl and raptors.

For me there were two main highlights here. The sheer number of wildfowl, particularly Wigeon, Pintail & Brent Geese and also the backlit view of a hunting female Hen Harrier cruising backwards and forwards, hunting the saltmarsh. 

Also seen was a fly-by juvenile Peregrine, an exhausted Redwing, a flock of Fieldfares in off, a lone Wheatear, and 2-3 Greenshank.

Coming back, we also enjoyed a steady trickle of Little Egrets heading over west to roost at Stiffkey Fen, numbering at least 60 and counting when we left.


Day 4

Our last full day in Norfolk. It was a fine, fine day weather-wise, however the winds were extremely anti-sibe with a southerly, coupled with bright sunshine. We decided to finish at the dudes paradise of Titchwell with the potential of seeing plenty of birds in good light, plus also to mix it up really, having spent the majority of our time sifting through birches and sycamores!! It made a nice change not having to look up at everything!

We began with a Kingfisher bombing across the path, before looking through a nice selection of waders on the freshmarsh with a fair amount of Golden Plover, still a handful of Avocets, plenty of Ruff and bucket loads of Teal among other things. Best birds here though were 3 Little Stints still about, milling around for food.

The next lagoon held a really confiding Curlew Sandpiper, busily feeding away, pretty close to the path.

On then to the beach and a bit of a look at the old sea. All the usual waders were on the beach including several Sanderling. It was nice to pick out a couple of Velvet Scoter (1CY male & a female). Also seen were a few Razorbills, Guillemot, several Red Breasted Merganser & a good 20+ Great Crested Grebe. What was also pretty cool was the sight of several skeins of Pink Footed Geese cruising in off the sea and inland. Proper migration in action.

We slowly walked back, noting a second Curlew Sandpiper on the freshmarsh, but otherwise everything was very much the same.

We took a minor detour along the boardwalk towards the meadow trail. Here Dan & Gareth picked out a foraging Brambling and I had brief views of a Yellow-Browed Warbler flitting through the willows with a small tit flock. We then had another calling like mad and showing for a short while in the car park, right by my car!

By mid-afternoon it felt like it was time to head for home. Before we did, we had a quick look up at nearby Choseley Drying Barns in the vein hope of catching a Corn Bunting. However, just like the previous couple of times I'd been up there, we drew a blank. Have they completely disappeared from the area I wonder?

We then hit the road, drawing to a close yet another magic, magic week(end)!