October 26th 2010

Despite being windy, cold, dull and raining I tried Draycote Water for yesterdays Whooper Swans but not surprisingly they had moved on after resting from there migration. There was a good passage of Skylarks with well over 500 counted going over in small groups along with smaller numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare. Among them were two birds that need further investigation as I don’t possess the grey matter to remember calls although the flight, size and jizz reminded me of one species I'm familiar with I saw no plumage details. Also seen were 15 Linnet, 67 Goldfinch, 40 Meadow Pipit, 230 Redwing, 120 Fieldfare, female Goosander, Snipe, 5 Goldeneye, 5 Gadwall, Kingfisher, 16 Teal, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker and Shelduck.
The weather looked as if it was clearing so pushed on to Napton Reservoir as this location also had 2 Whooper Swans yesterday which would have been a site tick for me but this was a big mistake as the wind increased and the rain came back with vengeance so not a pleasant visit – 68 Skylark, 6 Reed Bunting, 70 Redwing, 3 Water Rail, Grey Wagtail, 4 Shoveler, 3 Snipe, 3 Goldcrest and 15 Long-tailed Tit.
Now well and truly soaked I continued on to Napton on the Hill in the forlorn hope that the Waxwing would be still around as 30+ had turned up in county at Nuneaton today but after squelching around for two hours I gave up. Raven over the church, 5 Goldcrest in churchyard, Chiffchaff near Church Leyes Farm, Green Sandpiper in the old brickyard and hundreds of Redwing and Skylarks on the north western side.

Richard