There's also a line that goes, "The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft".
For me, it is not the melancholy song of the Robin red breast that ushers in Autumn but rather the shrill overhead "whistle" of the Redwing, "Seez! Seez!" which simply says that our little Scandinavian chums have arrived.
By Thursday (16th October) I was getting impatient to see the first Redwing of the season. Plenty of Mistle Thrushes were gathering in the orchards but no sign of their smaller cousins.
But I had a feeling in my water and I was sure it wasn't just that pesky bladder infection again.
It turns out that Thursday wasn't a bad day at all.
Good company in the hide (Ay up Alan!) and a good selection of birds: great views of the Kingfisher (including a bit of a scrap when she chased off an intruder to her patch), 3 Jays, 2 Green Woodpeckers, a Kestrel, 7 Snipe (best number yet), and a Grey Heron.
Then slowly but surely they started to stream across the skies, with a few birds pausing to rest in the hedges and trees.
Oh yes, the Eagle has landed! Well, not literally of course..... but Redwings. Lots of lovely Redwings. The first of the season.
Autumn has arrived.
I returned to the hide on Saturday with my daughter, hopeful that we could get some photographs. A few Redwing were lurking in the distant trees but too far away for a good photograph.
A handful of Goldfinches flew close to the hide and feasted on the thistle patch:
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| That can't be comfortable |
We had to wait a full half hour before this little beauty turned up:
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| Female Kingfisher |
Other birds on the patch: 20 Mistle Thrushes, 2 Little Grebes, 3 jays, A Sparrowhawk, 2 Buzzards, 2 Mute Swan, 7 Moorhen, 5 Mallards, 6 Stock Dove and a single Meadow Pipit.
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