A good list of birds within the Cemy.

Tuesday 18th October 2022.

A very heavy dew in the Cemetery first thing this morning.

It was a beautiful morning with wall to wall clear blue sky, hardly any wind at all and relatively mild for this time of year (13 degrees Centigrade). Taking my usual anticlockwise route around my local patch, Highland Road Cemetery, I had already notched up 12 species by the end of the footpath on the west side that had included a calling Chiffchaff and a small flock of 3 Skylark flying high east. There was a heavy dew on the grass here this morning, signalling that it must have been very cold last night, but not too cold for a frost.

Above, the dew settling on the spiders webs. Below, many insects took advantage of the flowing Ivy Plants including this Tapered Drone Fly, one of our larger Hoverflies. 

A very good total of 27 bird species were seen or heard this morning and probably the best of an entertaining bunch was the Firecrest, which was first heard calling then seen flitting about the Holm Oak Clump of trees in the centre of the Cemetery. They are regular at this site and kind of expected for this time of year, though I am hoping for the rare Yellow-browed Warbler to make another appearance here. Long-tailed Tits are scarce at this location, but this morning's flock of around a dozen birds was quite exceptional, though I did see them the last time I was here. They normally come attached with a few other species and this time they were joined by at least one Goldcrest, a Blue Tit and a Chiffchaff.

Above, Goldfinches heading east over the Cemetery. Below, the colour of the trees look gorgeous in the Autumn sunshine.

The female Sparrowhawk also put in a brief appearance as she sailed quietly over the east side of the Cemetery then flew over the rooftops, scattering all the local Pigeons, Gulls and Starlings. I was lucky to come across the Green Woodpecker this morning as I found it perched on one of those concrete ornamental pots by a grave, though it didn't hang around long. There was a bit of visible migration this morning, what with a few Skylarks and Meadow Pipits going over and finally, Siskins are on the move and although I did not actually see the birds, at least two or three flew very high over; so very difficult to locate them as they fly so high up and against a clear blue sky, near impossible to find.

Above, the Green Woodpecker posed nicely for a few seconds. Below, Wood Pigeons will get into any position to get at an acorn! 

The mild and sunny weather brought out the insects too, with the flowering Ivy Plants attracting plenty of Common Wasps and Hoverflies, notably a few Drone Flies and Tapered Drone Flies. There were two butterflies seen this morning with one Red Admiral showing well on the last remaining flowers of a Buddleia plant and probably another one flying east of the Cemetery. Yes, a lovely walk around the Cemetery this morning and I also met some nice people walking their dogs and having a friendly chat with them. 

Above, a pair of Jays showed well occasionally and below, one of the dozen or so Long-tailed Tits.  

Birds seen or heard within the Cemetery this morning included the following:

• Herring Gull
• Black-headed Gull
• Carrion Crow
• Jay
• Magpie
• Blue Tit
• Great Tit
• Long-tailed Tit
• Chiffchaff
• House Sparrow
• Starling
• Wood Pigeon
• Feral Pigeon
• Collared Dove
• Sparrowhawk
• Green Woodpecker
• Goldcrest
• Firecrest
• Skylark
• Meadow Pipit
• Greenfinch
• Goldfinch
• Siskin
• Wren
• Pied Wagtail 
• Blackbird
• Song Thrush

Photos taken today at the Cemetery from top to bottom: Jay, Long-tailed Tits, the Bracket fungus Red-belted Polypore and a Red Admiral.

Another interesting read coming up as my latest copy of the HOS Kingfisher magazine drops through the letterbox this morning. It was nice to see a lot of Andy Tew's photos within this edition.