Tuesday 10th November - Lockdown 2 - Day 6

 A similar start to the day with the weather as yesterday, with some overnight rain and a stubborn low cloud and drizzle which slowly lifted after 9am. I delayed my walk again to let the skies clear a little. A surprise at home was a flyover Mute Swan, probably only the second time I've seen one here. Plenty of thrushes around with around 20 each of Fieldfare and Redwing.

I walked to the East of the village again and headed up to the lower slopes of Blackdown but via Lower House Farm and Blackdown House. There are 2 routes, the more direct but steeper route is via Reith but the woodland walk on that route is largely uninspiring as the woods have fairly thick Rhododendron under-story and I have only ever seen very little in the way of birds in those woods, even in spring. The route I took is longer but potentially more interesting. I didn't head all the way up to the Blackdown ridge and the heathland but once I reached the road above Blackdown House,  I headed down the hill via Reith, partly because it took me 2 hours to get to that point and I wanted to be back around lunchtime.

The early part of the walk was again the most productive, the Linnet flock was still at the edge of the same field and I think my estimate of c100 birds was light, A photo of part of the flock reveals 215 birds, so the whole lot maybe 350-400, fairly impressive for a local count when we don't normally see more than a handful, and tempting for a Merlin or two as well !. A few Chaffinches and 2 Brambling were also seen. The more open fields had Fieldfare, Redwing and at least 8 Yellowhammer, a few Meadow Pipit and a Skylark and some Pied Wagtails around the horse stables. The higher I went the less birds there were but some of the views were magnificent, leaving the horse fields and through the Blackdown vineyard you could see for miles to the South back over Fernhurst and to the South Downs ridge.

The local lockdown list is up to 55 and still missing some birds I would expect and loads that I wouldn't expect.

The Linnets were using a tall rather inaccessible Ash as their perching post.

Linnets - It took me by surprise when the flock errupted from the Kale crop as to how many there were

Over 200 in this picture

Large bird flocks always give a great spectacle, didn't think there would be a Linnet one close by.

A single Linnet amongst the Winter Wheat

A couple of the Yellowhammers

Walking past some of the horse fields looking back to the Woolbeeding ridge

A bit higher through the Blackdown vineyard

Looking South/SouthEast from Blackdown House, towards South Downs and in the distance probably the East/West Sussex coastal towns 

View from Reith towards Hampshire

View from Reith to Woolbeeding 

The woods on the way down are quite dense

..and the path is a muddy stream, spending more time watching where your feet are going rather than looking for birds.