A Weekend on the Doorstep

With it being quiet on the bird scene I couldn't be bothered venturing too far this weekend. Instead on both days I undertook an extensive walk of my patch, prefering to see what I could dig up.  .
Saturday 13th
At Ladies Pool Wood, the first delight of the day appeared in the form of a Treecreeper. I have only had a handful of Treecreeper sightings this year, and this was my first in this area since March.As a tit flock moved through I picked out a Coal Tit, then, in the same tree that the Treecreeper had been, a Siskin showed, again a species not seen here since March.
A Grey Heron then passed over quite low, possibly having come off Forge Pool
The First of 5 Red Admirals flew by, which together with a Single Comma and a single Small Tortoiseshell completed the butterfly sightings on the walk today.
Over in the Barnet Brook area, I caught up with a few more species that have eluded me for a little while locally. First a Splendid Song Thrush, then a Sparrowhawk, which was harassed for a few minutes by a Raven, providing good views against the clear blue sky.
A Collard Dove was seen, they seem to come and go on my patch. ...All these bird species were not seen last week
The 'twist' today was an excursion into the sandy heath area of my patch to see if any fungi were showing.  I don't profess any great knowledge, and like them as much for aesthetic reasons as anything. Consequently I give ID's to pics sometimes as a best guess.

Amethyst Deceiver

Purple Brittlegill




Penny Bun

The Penny Bun was huge ! There were also numerous Earthball's around. I headed home wards via the paddocks where I had 2 final good bird encounters. Firstly a Green Woodpecker dropped in close by while I was chasing a moth, and finally a Mistle Thrush showed well along the bridle path. I just avoided the rain.

Green Woodpecker

 Sunday 14th

 

With the weather being so nice again, I could not resist a bit more exercise and low carbon birding. I basically did it all over again ! Today I was joined by Jason K for the Fungi stretch ( that's not an unusual  position ! ), he loves a bit of Fungi and I had promised him a big Surprise in the woods ! )
Firstly though, to get to that point, there was walking to be done, and the the birding highlights came together in a matter of minutes. Firstly, just down from the Kennels, I pick up on my first Redwings of the Autumn, 2 perched high in a tree. If that was not good enough, I then secured a patch Lifer in the form of a Grey Wagtail ! The bird was on the roof of the Kennels where several Pied Wagtails were coming and going, and indeed chased it off.
At this point JK arrived and we undertook the Fungi trail I had walked the previous day. I will leave him to tell about that final part of a great weekend