Local patch

Barton Clough, rosebay willowherbs in the foreground

A quiet, very quiet, hour's wander round my local patch. No blackbirds, just the one robin and a lone chiffchaff. The blackcaps and whitethroats have evidently moved on. Only three goldfinches, this time last year there were dozens.

I've come to the conclusion we've lost our local buzzard. I hope it's moved on to more productive pastures.

There should be plenty for the Winter thrushes to eat when they turn up.

Pyracanthus

Gulls flying overhead included half a dozen lesser black-backed gulls, a couple of first calendar-year common gulls and a first calendar-year yellow-legged gull, all drifting South towards the Mersey Valley.