A rather drab, grey start to the day, with last night’s rain still sparkling on the bare branches of Blackthorn, or pooling on the grass in the meadows.
Overhead, the sky is blanketed with thick grey cloud, with the horizon vanishing into a thick bank of mist.
Lots of Thrushes around this morning, with many more Blackbirds than usual as I walked up through the woods – our resident birds supplemented by winter visitors from continental Europe.
A flock of Redwing dart in and out from a tall hedgerow near the Large Copse, with flashes of the rusty red feathers which give them their name. A lovely view of a Song Thrush among the branches of a Sycamore just outside the Learning Centre, with a Mistle Thrush emerging from a tangle of Old Man’s Beard near the Walling Centre.
Woodpigeons also much in evidence this morning, with a flock of 40 or so wandering around the short grass in the Car Parks and many more barrelling past overhead, with clattering wingbeats.
Several small flocks of Starlings also seen – their triangular silhouette easily distinguished even though a veil of mist.
Near the Castle, a Goldcrest skitters among the Holm Oak Canopy near the Dell, with occasional flashes of it’s bright yellow ‘mohican’, with Bullfinch, Long-tailed Tit, Blue and Great Tits among the scrub above Caravan Terrace.
A wonderful variety of autumn colour, even on a dull morning, with the soft red of Hawthorn berries, contrasting with glossy crimson Bryony berries, and the shiny orange seeds of Stinking Iris. Bramble leaves vary from shades of pale green to sulphurous yellow. Old Man’s Beard forms traceries of silver among the hedges.