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| Barton Clough: a more honest photo of its rural beauty than my usual ones |
The weather being suitably Autumnal I thought I'd nip over to Rye Bank Fields to see if there was any more evidence of passage migration (there had been reports of garden warbler and redstart over the past few days). In the event it was pretty quiet: even the jays were absent, the only evidence of passage migration being a female blackcap accompanying the mixed tit flock by Longford Stadium and sixteen swallows passing low overhead.
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| Long-tailed tit, Rye Bank Fields |
In Longford Park a couple of goldcrests showed very well in the conifer garden. Flitting about at close quarters as they were I've got a lot of photos of where they were a split second ago.
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| Goldcrest, Longford Park |
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| Goldcrest, Longford Park |
On the way back home I stopped by my local patch on the off-chance. A fairly quiet collection all told. The arrival of Autumn was heralded by the arrival of three common gulls on the school field. There were only a dozen goldfinches on the thistles, a considerable drop in numbers from last year. What would probably have been the bird of the day (but might well have been a male chaffinch) disappeared deep into a Pyrancanthus and out of sight.
Where do mistle thrushes go in August? This is the third year in a row that I have no records whatever in August then have one turn up on the first of September. Today — just to rub my nose in it — there were thirteen on the football pitch, quite an unusual number for this time of year.
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| Mistle thrushes, Lostock Park |
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