Last week, on Saturday 25th I visited Tices Meadow for some bird watching. I had read of Bearded Tit’s present. It was not long after 7am I arrived. On walking through the woodland path it opened out and there at another hedge line cut a small dumpy, neck-less, falcon appeared out of nowhere about 20m away. It flew off to the north-west with rapid wing-beats. I watched it through the binoculars for as long as it was in range. My very first thought – sparrowhawk was swiftly knocked away by Merlin.
Yesterday on Halloween I visited late afternoon. Thirty species I positively identified including 8 snipe which I asked a fellow birder for confirmation of. The record is on Birdtrack.
Two roe deer were feeding on the reserve – often there!
The light was amazing. I had good sightings of 6 bats, the largest one flew in a straight line above the hedge about 3m, disappearing over the tree-line in the distance. I could see it’s pointy tragus above its head. The size of it made me think Noctule.
The others at the corner where meadow meets trees were much smaller and flitting over in and around the trees in maddening swirls, probably Pipistrelle. Annoyingly I’d not thought of my bat detector as I’d defaulted to birding!