Rather laughably, the birding improved once I returned from Norfolk!
On Saturday 16/10 an early morning visit to Grimsbury Res yielded a Rock Pipit, my first one there for three years and always a welcome find. But the best was yet to come...
The following Saturday (23/10), I again gave Grimsbury a go first thing, joining up with fellow patcher Gareth. We sat in situ at the northern end hoping for a bit of vis mig. A dutch-ringed Black Headed Gull closeby was nice before we heard a short-sharp 'seeeep' up behind us over the wood. Low and behold, a Hawfinch cruised purposefully over our heads and away from us, relatively low towards the SE corner of the res. A brilliant patch tick for me and Gareth's 2nd at Grimbo (pic below from several years back during the 2017/18 invasion).
On a high, we wandered down the W side of the res to scan the trees along the river to see if it had dropped in. No sign, but we did enjoy both flyover Brambling and Redpoll. A short while later more excitement as two egrets came in from the south over the cattle field. One was a Little, but the other a Cattle Egret - a site first and a patch tick for both of us. Amazing!!
Elsewhere, I had been hoping to score something else half decent at Hinton Airfield before the autumn was out and also had in mind, the possibility of adding Merlin to my local yearlist, with the site seemingly ideal.
On Sunday 17/10, I went for a quick walk there and saw my first Stonechat for the site, a female that showed beautifully in the golden evening light. c200 Golden Plover were also wheeling around, glistening as they changed direction.
Then on the morning of Sunday 24/10, I enjoyed a very decent couple of hours, racking up 40 species in total.
As luck would have it, I twice encountered an immature male Merlin over the main section of the airfield after the Skylarks. In addition were 2+ vocal Brambling, 4 Grey Partridge, a strong trickle of Chaffinch numbering 101 birds and regular small flocks of Starling totaling 220.
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