A mild and sunny morning, with just a light northwesterley breeze greeted me today. The four hour walk round produced 43 species - six that weren't seen yesterday, SONG THRUSH, GOLDFINCH, MARSH TIT, GREY HERON, STOCK DOVE and LAPWING. The Marsh Tit was only the fourth sighting away from the garden this year. On the lake two CORMORANT were fishing, until a fox flushed them off. Through the woods a small group of Tits fed, along with 3 TREECREEPER and 2 GOLDCREST. The November list is now on 50, so it will be getting harder to add any new species. The highest November total is 57 achieved in 2002, the lowest was 52 achieved in 2004 - the chase is on!

Collared Dove

A 4hr walk around the patch produced 44 species, athough two of those were only seen in my garden, MARSH TIT and surprisingly GOLDFINCH - not one was seen on the walk, also unseen was the songthrush, the first time this species has evaded me this year. All birds were counted, and as is usually the case WOODPIGEON was most common with 900 approx. This included a continual southerly movement, of which some I wasn't in a position to see. The most surprising species seen was a CHIFFCHAFF, probably the bird seen on 23rd of OCT. as it was in the same vicinity. A small flock of 6 SISKIN fed in alders and a CORMORANT flew over. These represented the best birds of the day. Quite early in the walk I heard what I thought was a blackbird in full song, when I located the source I found it was a STARLING expertly mimicking said turdus. (Apologies for picture quality!!)

Coal Tit

Nuthatch