I set the alarm for 6:45am but only dragged myself out of bed after 10. Patching would surely have been more productive had I got up earlier but it was still eventful. First up was a check over the KL School playing fields where 53+ Pied Wagtails had reached their biggest peak so far. On arriving at the Clouded Yellow field there was no sign of any thanks to the clouds so I opted for a bit of scanning across the valley for raptors. It was still rather chilly but 4 Red Kites and 5 Buzzards were thermalling together along with a Sparrowhawk. After several hours, the sun eventually came out and Clouded Yellows appeared all around! I spent several enjoyable hours wandering around the two fields and clocked up a total of 7 in the first and 8 in the second field! This may have involved some overlap but after some proper coverage and counting I estimate there were at least 13!! A couple of other lepidoptera on the wing too including 1 Small Copper, Common Whites, Large Whites, Small Tortoiseshell and Silver Y moths. Unfortunately, I missed the Brown Argus that Ephraim got some gripping photos of on the opposite end of the field, still a tart tick for myself.
More scanning over the opposite side of the valley paid off with a Raven circling between Bedmond and Long Dean, the second on patch in the past 3 days and a Red Fox strolled through the field in front of me in broad daylight.
Patching continued into the later part of the day in the field behind the RSSKL where I heard a Little Owl calling from Langley Lodge (a newly discovered site for this species on patch!) A short "tsee" call from overhead alerted me to a flyover male Yellow Wagtail, my first on patch for the autumn! 3 Ring-necked Parakeets also flew south over Langley Lodge (they represent the first I have seen north of the Berrybushes Wood boundary).
Patching is really kicking off!!!
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