A final call to join us for our Autumn Migration Tour tomorrow morning; see details
here
The magic month had a fantastic start this morning with another day on which several uncommon visitors were encountered. The top-biller was a
Firecrest which made a brief appearance with a tit flock near the Reads Rest Lane entrance to Banstead Woods (
PGo, our 12th record of this species and the 94th species recorded on the patch this year). The first-winter male
Redstart had stayed the night and was favouring the fallen tree between Bog Field and Owl Meadow again but today had the company of a
Spotted Flycatcher, a
Whinchat and a
Garden Warbler, as well as the
Lesser Whitethroat again. Another
Whinchat was found near Reads Rest Cottages. At least three
Wheatears were logged across the farm and the adult male
Peregrine paid another visit as it terrorised the pigeon flock in Bog Field. A single
Meadow Pipit was heard flying over Broadfield where a
Rook was seen and 80
Swallows and 20
House Martins were feeding. Tallies of common migrant warblers at the farm included four
Willow Warblers, 13
Chiffchaffs, four
Whitethroats and a
Blackcap. A
Lesser Black-backed Gull flew over and further sightings in the CF sector included 10
Buzzards, two
Sparrowhawks, three
Kestrels, two
Little Owls, 20
Linnets, a
Skylark and two
Yellowhammers. In BW, an extra
Willow Warbler and another
Blackcap were near the Reads Rest Lane entrance.
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| 1cy ♂ Redstart |
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
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| Whinchat |
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| Whinchat (second bird) |
David Campbell (photos 1-3), Steve Gale and Paul Goodman (photo 4)
