Sunday 10th November - Autumn ends

It is difficult to exactly define when it feels autumn as a season has ended and Winter has begun, but I always feel the start of November is a defining point, after the clocks have moved and a temporary arrival of thousands of Woodpigeons and a few hundred thrushes. The trees at home have lost around half of their leaves in a spell of wet and windy weather and the first decent frosts have been a regular early morning occurrence in the last week.

The last few weekends have seen me grab a couple of hours watching at home as free-time again diminishes with full-time working. The highlight has been 2 Hawfinch sightings on the 27th and the 3rd associating loosely with a Goldfinch flock of 75+ birds frequenting the Alders. There are 30-40 Redwings which are generally in the area and are spending much time in the Holly bushes which are berry-laden, especially the one outside the back door. Only one group of 8 fly-by Fieldfare have been seen but lots of Song Thrush are still present with groups of skittish high-flying birds into double figures, plus the occasional Mistle Thrush. Other finches have been a little more scarce, maybe only 10 Chaffinch but so far I have only seen 1 Brambling, 2 Siskin, 2 Greenfinch and 2 Bullfinch. A pair of Firecrest were seen on the 27th and a Blackcap was still around on both Sundays but now seems to have moved on.

Not many raptors have been visible either with 2 Goshawk this morning, only occasional Buzzard and Sparrowhawk sightings but a Raven pair most weekends.

Goshawk