Tuesday 25th August - Blackdown

Another early morning walk on Blackdown between 7am and 9.45am. Holiday season means the dogs are currently less prolific which is a bonus.

All the birds found were in 3 or 4 flocks scattered across the site. With predominantly Blue, Great, Coal, Long-tailed and Marsh Tit, Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Bullfinch and Great Spotted Woodpecker. making up the commoner species. The autumn highlight ...I would say more than 40 Chiffchaff and 30 Willow Warbler were seen . With one flock of c30 birds in particular being made up of entirely these phyllosc' warblers. Although,  I only saw 2 Blackcaps, which was surprising. The best were 9 Spotted Flycatchers .. and I think that's at least 9 as they were very active and I was conscious of not double counting between the flocks. Also 4 Tree Pipits were flighty enough to be migrant birds. 2 Linnets, 3 Stonechats and one Kestrel made up the rest of the list.

The rain started just as I was leaving and lasted the rest of the day.

Spotted Flycatcher