An interesting and frustrating morning on the hill today.
A flock of around 100 birds were spooked by a Red Kite off the top of the hill and flew around the hill area above me for a time.
The flock consisted of mainly Linnet with a few Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer but there was one bird calling and I could not put a name to the call but it stood out as different.
This bird was being hassled by a few Linnet, it was then joined by 2 others giving the same call and they broke away from the main flock and headed south.
I lost them in the haze towards the downs and the rest of the flock settled down out of sight on the top of the hill.
The birds were the same size and shape as Linnet but I could not see any detail on them in the misty conditions.
On arriving back home I checked some calls on “Xeno-Canto” and it appears to confirm my suspicion that these 3 birds could well have been Twite.
They will have to go down as “possibles” as I am a bit rusty on Twite calls and I could not get any other ID criteria on them!
Anyway back to the definite stuff:
3 Raven flew north, 2 out of the mist earlier and another about 2 hours later.
A few Swallow and House Martin still making their way south and a slight increase in Skylark and Meadow Pipit numbers and a couple of Pied Wagtail.
No sign today of any Redstart on the hill but quite a few Chiffchaff still in the area.
3 Kestrel, 5 Red Kite and 3 Buzzard frequenting the hill and 3 Mistle Thrush for a brief time.
Still a good number of Egyptian Geese with the Goose flock down near the 4 Arches today and several Chiffchaff on Cholsey Marsh (per TW).
Dragonflies: 1 Southern Hawker and 5 Common Darter.
Butterflies: 1 Brimstone, 1 Large White, 3 Small White, 20 + Red Admiral, 2 Small Tortoiseshell and a possible Small Blue.
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