Eyeworth - 26th October

The weather was mild and sunny. A lovely walk with the highlights being Mandarins on Eyeworth Pond and the first Redwings of the year.

7 of us met in the car park at Eyeworth Pond. On the pond were many Mallard, a few Coot and one or two Moorhen. After carefull searching we found the Mandarins hiding at the bases of some bushes on an island on the pond. After a while they swam out – there were 13 of them! As we left the pond a Grey Wagtail flew over and landed on the afr side out of view. We walked through the woods to the north east of the pond round Eyeworth Lodge. There were many fungi around – it has been a great autumn for them. We also saw several plants of Butchers Broom and some Pigs let out for pannage. A little later we saw a few Fallow Deer including a stag in full antler-ed splendour. As far a sbirds went it was pretty quiet in the woods. There were a few small flocks of tits, but they remained high in the trees out of view. Once we came out of the woods onto the heath there were more birds around. Flocks of Redwings flew from scrub patch to scrub patch. Goldcrests, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Nuthatch, Chaffinches, Robins and Blackbirds were seen and a Mistle Thrush flew over.
On the heath we saw a couple of Stonechats and very little else. Back at Eyeworth we stopped to look for a Marsh Tit that was calling and saw some Long-tailed Tits. The Mandarins were still around on the pond.

Simon Curson