I decided to let the rain clear before I started my walk this morning, so didn't leave the house till about 07.15am.
In the top field the first birds I came across were a couple of Mistle Thrushes,5 Fieldfares and 4 Redwings that I flushed from the wildlife area next to the new affordable housing. Also in this corner was a Reed Bunting, not a bad start to the day.Overhead 40 Jackdaws flew over with a couple of Rooks.As I continued towards the lake most of the commoner species were added to the list.A Kestrel was sitting on a fence post at the rear of the cottages in Furnace Lane, then something caught my attention as it flew low eastwards, a Swallow! only the second November date on the patch, the other being on 06/11/10.
In the field at the rear of the pumping station there were 300+ Woodpigeons and 9 Stock Doves.
The lake was once again quiet although the Great Crested Grebe numbers had doubled to 2. In the orchard adjacent to the lake was a flock of 300 fieldfares and 30 Chaffinches but interestingly I only saw 1 Redwing.
I decided to have a walk in the wet wood at the southern end as I could hear a Sparrowhawk calling and found a pair which seemed to be displaying to each other.
The tit flock in the wetwood held Blue, Great,Coal, Long Tailed and best of all 2 Marsh Tits as well as Treecreeper and Goldcrest.
By the end of my walk I had seen 46 species which I was very pleased with.