Thursday 20th July - Before the Fall

Not really meaningful terminology, 'Fall' is the American equivalent of Autumn and that season doesn't officially start until the end of September. But if your a bird, the start of what is termed autumn migration is often straight after breeding , so for some this is in July typically waders start moving and generally more noticeable towards the end of July for some of the passerines. The few weeks before that can only be described as the doldrums and perhaps one of the quietest times on the bird front and the last couple of weeks have been exactly that which is just as well as the its been pretty hectic with the girls finishing school for the Summer and work full-on.

There have been a few raptor highlights with a Goshawk circling low over the village on the 1st and one again on the 16th. A walk on Blackdown on the 17th was very quiet other than a Honey Buzzard caught drifting over the West side, looking like a sub-adult . The Swift numbers at home were also high that week often with Groups reaching 30 birds and c20 House Martins with 3 or 4 Swallows hawking in the slightly humid conditions.

Regular at the feeders in the garden are still a pair of Bullfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker large numbers of Blue Tits and Great Tits including fledged young is a good sign of a reasonable breeding season.

Honey buzzard

appearance of a sub-adult male bird.