24th September, 1999

The birds have been relatively quiet recently and it has been quite difficult to locate some familiar species. One or two species, especially robins and great tits, have been calling. These birds, and some others, appear to make some efforts to maintain territories during the autumn and winter months as long as the severity of the weather does not put a great deal of pressure on them and force them to spend more time searching for food.

On the first day of the new term, I came across a wet and bedraggled feather on the edge of the cricket field. I put it in my pocket thinking, because of the brown and white markings, that it belonged to an owl. However, later in the day, when it had dried out, I found that the leading edge of the feather was a yellowish-green colour and I realised that it came from the a green woodpecker's wing. I am used to picking up feathers belonging to greater spotted woodpeckers but this was the first green woodpecker feather that I had found.

A week ago, groups of house martins and swallows could be seen circling excitedly prior to starting their migration. Numbers have now declined dramatically and there is just the occasional swallow or martin to be seen. Several swallows seen on the 21st were behaving quite differently to those seen a week ago. They were flying in a purposeful way, heading parallel to the Went, and looked as they were simply passing through the area.