Normality returns

The events of Saturday will remain indelibly etched in my memory for the rest of my days - the first decent fall of birds at Newland's Farm in the the thirteen years Bev and I have lived in our bungalow. So yes; it was a very special occurrence and one that I am unlikely to witness again. Just what factors combined to produce the fall are known only to the geographic and weather Gods! That they coincided with a mass autumn bird movement just compounds the issue and makes the chances of a repeat even more unlikely. Still, the fact that it happened at all is reward enough for me.
There are still a few Redwings around this morning, stragglers - nothing more. A Reed Bunting, flushed from the main footpath was my first of the autumn and a welcome reminder of what lies in store in the coming months. A return to the everyday slog of the local patch watcher - a Reed Bunting being a good bird amidst the Carrion Crows and Wood Pigeons of the Newland's cauliflower fields.
There are still two stubble fields remaining, so there is a chance of another decent bird, or two, before the plough is called into action in preparation for the next potato crop. A Short-eared Owl would be nice - I missed the only one, which was flushed by a dog walker from stubble, in October 2008!



Still a few stragglers around the area. Reading the reports about tired migrants dropping to the ground, at Forness and Reculver, it seems likely that these are birds re-fuelling before continuing on their way

I did get out pike fishing on Sunday morning - the session cut short by the onset of torrential rain. However, at 08.00hrs, a small "jack" pike took a fancy to my dyed/flavoured mackerel tail and put on a spirited show of defiance as I attempted to bring it to the waiting net. Not quite what I'd have liked but, it was a pike and, as such, a result on my first trip of the season to the RMC.

A Woodpigeon - the normal fare for the coming period of grey days and grey birds around Newland's