A blustery morning with some showers sweeping across the skies, the sky full of twittering and calling as flocks of small birds whizzed over.
Masses of Swallows passing, their pointed wings and shape making them easy to identify which is not the case for many of the other birds.
The constant twittering of Meadow Pipits caught the ear, and their brown colours could be made out against the grey clouds, as could the long tails and up and down flight of the Pied Wagtails as they too travelled over.
On the ground, amongst the grass I was able to identify a couple of Skylarks, their heads just visible above the regrowth of the grass.
Some Linnets and Goldfinches also recorded as well as a group of Bullfinches, the white rump helping with my diagnosis.
The large swiss roll hay bales have mostly now been moved to one field – 50+ all lined up, but perched on the top was a Wheatear, its crisp markings showing well and the white rump showing when it moved onto the next hay perch.
The hedgerows are a bounty of fruit at present from the clouded blueish-purple balls of sloe berries on the Blackthorns to the bright red haws of Hawthorn, the succulent blackberries on the mass of Bramble and on the long ropes of Black Bryony its brilliant red berries dangling alongside the hips of the Dog Rose.
In the woodlands the high pitched calls of the Goldcrests alerted me to these tiny birds, I was able to spot them as they flitted between the branches of the Sycamore and Horse Chestnut, the leaves of which are beginning to turn a gorgeous chestnut brown.
While finding these I noticed the white belly of a Treecreeper as it rose up the rough branch of a Holm Oak.
Sliding across the ground after the recent rain a good variety of Snails and Slugs including Cochlicella acuta, Discus Rotundus, Helicigona lapicida and Arion Ater.