Another wet afternoon..

 So another trip to Gayhurst Quarry.
All of Tuesday's Sandpipers had gone, with just the juvenile Little Ringed Plover lingering on Fishing Pit.
Geese have arrived in numbers, with over a hundred Greylags and about 50 Canadas.
 On Reedy Pit one of the young Little Grebes seems to have disappeared and just one Little Egret was there today.
 Motorway Pit is collecting birds with large numbers of Lapwings, Coots, Black-headed Gulls and Mallards. There were a pair of Gadwall, still around a dozen Common Terns and a Kingfisher on the stream.
 A lone Swift flew over and a flock of around 50 Swallows buzzed around the local cow herd.

My New Best Friend

This young Blackbird kept me company this morning.
He followed me around, often only a foot or two from my side, every now and then gobbling up a spider or other insect that I had disturbed.

Gayhurst Quarry

A trip down to GQ in the rain this afternoon.
Not so many small birds on show, but a Marsh Tit on the feeders of the last garden on the walk down was the first here for a while.
 Fishing Pit is looking spot on for waders at the moment and 2 Common Sandpipers, 2 Green Sandpipers and a juvenile Little Ringed Plover seemed to support this. The drake Wigeon was still present as well as 6 Cormorants and about the same amount of Great-crested Grebes. 2 Pochard appeared briefly but flew off.
 Spinney Pit held 2 Little Egrets, half a dozen Tufted Ducks and the Mute Swan family of 7.
 On Reedy Pit an adult Little Grebe suddenly has 2 stripey youngsters, I must have missed these on my last couple of visits.
 The level on Motorway Pit has gone right down and exposed lots of small islands. These were covered in Lapwings, Black-headed Gulls and still a few Common Terns. There was an eclipse drake Gadwall and 2 more Little Egrets. Sadly I noticed one of the smaller, swan brood has disappeared, but it is not the Polish one.

 A walk up to Quarryhall was not that productive, other than a few Skylarks, a pair of Linnets and a couple of Tree Sparrows.

Moulsoe meander.

An early morning walk around the fields between Moulsoe and Broughton Grounds today in the hope of finding a Whinchat or other autumn migrant.
 This wasn't to be, but lots of other small birds around. Whitethroats were plentiful and seemed to be everywhere. Lots of Linnets, Goldfinches, Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings and assorted Tits. Several Stock Doves , a couple of Buzzards, a Yellow Wagtail and a Green Woodpecker were good finds.
 However todays 'best bird' was once again a mammal - 3 Roe Deer that wandered out of the hedge on the side of a Wheat field. It looked like 2 females and a youngster, as one of the adults kept licking the sides of the smaller individual. I enjoyed views of these animals for about a minute before they just slunk off into the corn.

 Having arrived home I had just got out of the car, when I heard the un-mistakeable cronking call of a Raven. Looking up, sure enough there were two birds having a bit of a tussle with the local Buzzards. A Kestrel also joined in on the fun.

Lunchtime at Gayhurst

A lunchtime visit to Gayhurst Quarry today.
As with most other places there was very little around.
The drake Wigeon was still on Fishing Pit as well a couple of Common Sandpipers.
On Spinney Pit the larger of the two Swan broods was still present with the leucistic 'Polish Swan' looking even more striking alongside it's greyer siblings. Motorway Pit had 5 Little Egrets scattered around, along with another Common Sandpiper on the western shore. A single Kingfisher, a juvenile Teal and half a dozen Common Terns remained along with 3 or 4 youngsters.
Up at Quarryhall, just one Yellow Wagtail, several Skylarks, a pair of Linnets and a couple of Stock Doves were present.


At work this afternoon, this inquisitive young Magpie seemed to be behind me everytime I looked around. Shame I'd already eaten my sandwiches.

Blackwits at Willen

A quick look at Willen North Lake before work today.
Three Little Egrets were on the island, two of which were in the trees.Lots of Lapwings were on the spit and amongst these were a couple of Oystercatchers and more surprisingly two Black-tailed Godwits.
 There were still several Common Terns around including a couple of pairs with young on one of the rafts.

Attenborough today.

A pleasant but unspectacular walk around Attenborough nature reserve in Notts this afternoon.
Best sighting was a Weasel that ran along a wall just feet away and kept popping it's head out to look at me.
 Lots of common birds around including Bullfinch, Garden Warbler, Blackcap and Tree Sparrow.
On the Clifton Pond 3 Little Egrets, Kingfisher and a smart Yellow-legged Gull were seen and over on the Wet Marsh a single Green Sandpiper.