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Day 1 of feeding we had a solitary goldfinch turn up. On day 2 we had a flock, the word seems to be getting around that a new season of bird feeding has started. We also had a pair of greenfinches which was a suprise as they have been so scarce in the garden for the last few years. The finches just bite a piece of each sunflower seed that they take so a lot ends up on the ground to fatten up the wood pigeons.

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Kites Spreading East

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Not as Quiet as I Thought

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Forest of Dean

I had a day in the Forest yesterday, walking and then a ride on the preserved railway. The trouble with woodland is that you don't get the rapid views of multiple species that you get in wetlands. However, after parking at the Nags Head reserve I walked down to the Lower Hide. The ponds were pretty well down to muddy pools and I was treated to the unusual site of what must have been a family of nuthatches bathing. I had lost the sense of scale through the bins and I wasn't sure what I was looking at until a robin hopped into view to give me a relative size. The real treat was a nuthatch working its way up an oak tree. I then walked through the forest to Bix Slade and down the line of the old tramway to the wharf on the old railway by Cannop Ponds. No manarin ducks this time but I did see tufties, moorhen, and both pied and grey wagtails. I followed the railway back to the road, crossed back over the Cannop Brook and planned to follow a forestry track back to the reserve. Howe...