The walk took place on the morning of 1 November, a breezy but mild day, dry initially following a wet night, but with light rain showers later. There were eight participants (six adults and two small children), and the following twenty-three species were recorded. (One number fewer than on last year’s Autumn Walk, which took place just a day later, though ten of this year’s species were not recorded on the 2024 Walk. No winter visitors (such as the redwings and fieldfares normally seen on this Autumn Walk) were noted this time. But the most notable absentee from this list is undoubtably the house sparrow: none at all were noted in their traditional village-edge habitats at the start and end of the Walk.
Red Kite (A, B)
Kestrel (A)
Pheasant (A, B: just one bird noted in each area)
Common Gull (C: at least 1 noted among the Herring Gulls)
Herring Gull (C: scattered flock of c. 30 on the field towards South Stoke Road)
Woodpigeon (A, C)
Skylark (C)
Meadow Pipit (C)
Pied Wagtail (C: c. 6 on the fields)
Wren (A, C)
Robin (A)
Blackbird (C)
Chiffchaff (C: seen and heard calling – not unusual to come across this ‘summer visitor’ at any time of the year now!)
Goldcrest (B)
Blue Tit (B, C)
Great Tit (B, C)
Jay (C)
Magpie (C: c. 6)
Rook (A, C)
Carrion Crow (A, C)
Starling (A)
Chaffinch (B, C)
Corn Bunting (C: at least 3)