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Autumn Colour

Suddenly, in the last few days, the leaves have turned red or gold. It had seemed that autumn was heading for a season of sludge colours until then.

Locally I haven't seen much. Goldfinches briefly visited the garden and a flock of long tailed tits were working along a hedgerow nearby. Although I have never seen another pheasant in the garden one has been calling close to the boundary. Over at Hemel yesterday I saw a trio of cormorants flying close to the line of the canal above Boxmoor, heading up the valley. That isn't an area where they are common.

Today a last minute decision was made to go to Fishers Green in the Lee Valley Country Park which meant that I was without a pair of bins. I never got around to putting a spare pair in the glove box after I changed the car earlier this year. There was a fairly standard selection of birds on the water including mute swans, black headed gulls, pochard, tufted duck, gadwall, great crested grebe, lapwing, dabchick and coot. On the feeding station near the car park there was a pair of green woodpeckers. I have often seen great spotted woodpeckers on feeders but this is first time that I have seen greens using one.

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