Autumn takes off

Autumn has finally got going in Surrey during the past week, as the first properly good October easterlies since 2020 have blown into South-East England. Birding has cranked up several gears as a result, and I've enjoyed an excellent little period that has produced some pleasing finds – and a mega to boot! We've had to wait for good conditions this autumn, but it feels worth it now they're here.

Linnets.

Wednesday 11th

Despite the muggy, mild conditions at a gloomy Thursley Common this morning, there was an autumnal feel among the cast of 43 species. The mega flock of Lesser Redpolls were perhaps the highlight, with at least 100 around Shrike Hill. More were dotted about the rest of the site, too. Hopefully we'll enjoy a good winter for this species for the first time since 2020-21.

Lesser Redpolls.

Another species thin on the ground last winter but perhaps set to perform better this time is Crossbill – amazingly the six I had today, which included five at Spur Wood, are the first to be reported at Thursley this year!

Good numbers of Siskins were present, too, but the skies were quiet following the lively vis-mig of the last two days, with some 100 Redwings and seven Fieldfares recorded. Other bits of note included three Teal at Pudmore (where some 30 Pied Wagtails left the reedbed roost) and a couple of Woodlarks in song.

Fieldfares.

After work, a walk around a mild, breezy Eashing Fields produced five Swallows south and the Stonechat pair.

Thursday 12th

A gloomy, miserable morning that reaffirmed the time of year led me to Frensham Great Pond. Here, last night, Shaun had found no fewer than three Great Egrets – a record count for south-west Surrey and would-be year tick for me. 

Thankfully two of the birds were still present, affording distant views in the grim conditions as they left their apparent reedbed roost. There was little else of note, save two drake Pochard and a Kingfisher.

Great Egret.

An early afternoon walk along the Wey at Eashing produced a Lesser Redpoll, 15 Siskins and a Raven.

Friday 13th

Another grey, wintry autumn morning, this time with rain and a fresh breeze, meaning waterbodies were the only course of action pre-work. At Frensham Great Pond, one of the Great Egrets was still present, distantly showing in the eastern reedbed and seen catching fish successfully. How long will it/they linger? Four Pochard, a Little Egret and a Kingfisher were also noted.

Great Egret.

I then had a look at Tuesley. Here, a drake Pochard was present, plus excellent numbers of Coot and my first Common Gulls of the autumn. However, they were all bettered by a smart juvenile Ringed Plover. 

Ringed Plover.

My Thursley record on Sunday was my latest ever locally but this eclipsed that, likely rounding off a fine year for the species, with this my fifth record (and fourth of the autumn).

Saturday 14th

A cool north-westerly breeze and clear skies meant the mild conditions finally disappeared this morning, which felt the birdiest it has locally for several weeks. I headed to Shackleford and was rewarded with a thoroughly enjoyable two-hour session, which saw me score my best-ever species total for the site (53).

The unequivocal highlight was a cracking male Merlin, which I seemingly flushed from the fence line between Cuckoo Corner and the hay barn. It took off strongly south, showing it's blue-grey upperparts, black primaries, medium-length tail and compact structure. I was even able to get some record shots – a rare case of this species being photographed in Surrey!

Merlin.

Merlin has been my most-wanted at Shackleford for a while now, ever since one that I didn't see was found during the big Short-toed Lark twitch in 2020. It's always a joy to bump into this diminutive falcon locally, not least due to its status as a county rarity. 

A fine supporting cast included an arguable bigger surprise than the Merlin – a female Redstart. The bird, flicking around the fence line near Bramble Island, initially sent the heartrate up before I noted the red tail! My latest in Britain by two days (and by far my latest in Surrey), this was a real curveball. Curiously, Matt had one on his Sussex patch this morning, too.

Redstart.

A Shackleford Woodlark would normally be the headline act of a visit, but one over the northern fields and model airfield today had to settle for bronze. I'm not sure if it was on the move or perhaps flushed up from the stubble (which held some 45 Skylarks), but it's only the third Shackleford record, with the last in January 2021.

Woodlark.

Other bits from the aforementioned record species total included a flock of eight Lesser Redpolls south, Red-legged Partridge, a notable mid-October count (for here) of eight Chiffchaffs, 10 Siskins, six Stonechats, a smattering of continental-looking Blackbirds, a Grey Wagtail and a lovely flock of 120 or so Linnets. A fine autumn session!

Linnets.

Buoyed by this liveliness, I strode onto Puttenham Common and Cutt Mill Ponds. Things were far quieter here, but I did note two Lesser Redpolls, 20 or so Siskins, 18 Shoveler on the House Pond and two Starlings – the latter a site tick, bizarrely enough!

Sunday 15th

The temperature dropped overnight and it was really quite chilly at the Devil's Punch Bowl, where a light frost added to a visually euphoric morning. With a gentle north-westerly and clear skies it was naturally somewhat quiet, though a light southerly trickle of finches included good numbers of Chaffinches, with three Bramblings detected among them – my first of the autumn.

Other bits of note included a sprinkling of Redwings and Fieldfares, two Marsh Tits, 35 Lesser Redpolls, 50 Siskins and two male Sparrowhawks having an aerial tussle.

The view from Gibbet Hill.

Monday 16th

A red-letter morning. It was freezing cold first thing, with the temperature below zero and a hard frost coating the ground. I had a lazy start and wasn't at Eashing Fields until a little after 8 am – I figured I'd do a little vis-mig before work, but the clear conditions didn't fill me with optimism.

Unsurprisingly, the skies were very quiet – no thrushes moving, and only a miniscule trickle of finches which could barely be described as migration. In fact, the highlight had been an enormous flock of 32 Ring-necked Parakeets over towards Peper Harow – easily the highest total ever recorded in south-west Surrey and evidence that this species is thriving in its little corner of the area.

With my fingers beginning to freeze and work beckoning, I packed up my camera, put my recorder in my pocket (still on, thankfully … ) and left my Sky Bench vantage point to walk home. As I approached the gate between The Meadow and Top Field, I was struck my a familiar 'ticking' call coming from the east of me. 'A ticking bunting' I instantaneously thought, before remembering where I was. A weird Robin? No – that didn't sound right at all, and this bird was clearly flying while calling. Yellowhammer perhaps? Now, that'd be a fine Eashing area record, so I quickly began to scan the skies.

Upon doing so, I picked up a small, compact bunting. It wasn't far up at all and continued to call. I was essentially dealing with a silhouette, but I noted the conical bill, before that wonderful but rare feeling of utter shock ran through me – a flipping Little Bunting!

I was frozen on the spot. The bird wasn't high up, was on it's on and was vocal. I prayed that it would drop in to The Meadow, where a few Meadow Pipits and Reed Buntings hang out. But it kept on flying, towards A3 Copse which flanks the slip road, and bounded away to the west over the A3.

Fuck. I was in a pure state of shock. My first thought was deep frustration – it all happened so quickly and out of the blue that I had no time to even think about getting my camera out. A single observer, flyover Little Bunting with no photo … yikes! I knew my recorder was still running, but I wasn't confident it would have picked up what is a fairly subtle call – at Eashing Fields, the din of the A3 and the many dog walkers makes for poor recording quality.

Such was my dismay at this bird disappearing without a photo, I almost considered forgetting it – for a bird of such magnitude, I wanted better evidence. But I soon saw sense – there was absolutely no doubt that I'd just seen a Little Bunting, a species I'm very familiar with. Indeed, this bird was nearly three years to the day after the one I found at Thursley Common in 2020.

I performed a half-hour search but knew the bird hadn't dropped in, so it felt fruitless to say the least. Eventually I couldn't be later for work, and had to leave. Later in the day, I was mightily relived to hear that the recorder had in fact picked up the bird. Thank god!

What a crazy record. There had been next to no vis-mig – but the wind was in the south-east, and that direction is sometimes all you need in south-west Surrey. The bunting also becomes the 100th species recorded at Eashing Fields (my 98th), which are essentially a couple of dog-walking fields!

Who needs cameras!

Tuesday 17th

With a gentle north-easterly blowing and cloudy skies, it felt promising this morning as I headed to Thursley. My session started with a bang, too – I was walking up the boardwalk to Pudmore when I heard a Water Pipit call amid the flurry of Meadow Pipit vocalisations. I clocked the bird which, in similar fashion to the bunting yesterday, disappeared from view before I could do anything about it.

However, it appeared to drop down onto the pools on Elstead Common, so I headed there. Thankfully the bird had indeed relocated here – but it took off again, back to Pudmore. I headed back. This time, though, the pipit played ball, as it showed on and off for around 20 minutes. It was highly mobile between Pudmore and West Bog but, thankfully, was very vocal, allowing for easy detection.

Water Pipit.

I even managed some views on the deck, occasionally with Meadow Pipits. Very nice – a county rarity and a fine Thursley record (in fact only the third, and first for more than three decades!). Annoyingly I knew Dave couldn't twitch it, but I was simply happy to have nailed it, especially after yesterday's slippery customer at Eashing Fields. I heard the pipit again when looping back past Pudmore on my way home – hopefully it'll stick.

Water Pipit.

Chasing the Water Pipit around took up most of the two-hour session, but other bits of note included a mighty flock of 200 Lesser Redpolls (with some 300 across the entire site!), a group of 50 Fieldfares on Shrike Hill, Snipe, Water Rail and four Teal at Pudmore and a Raven over the Moat.

I walked Eashing Farm in the evening, by which time the north-easterly wind had picked up a fair bit. Five Stonechats in Finch Field were a sign of the seasonal passage of this species and a decent 1-km count. Other bits included two Chiffchaffs, two Skylarks and a Red-legged Partridge.

Stonechat.