Out for a walk today the first hints of autumn are visible with a few trees showing hints of gold among the green. It has been a poor year for both top fruit and berries with no quinces setting on my trees and no crabb apples in the lane while blackberries have been fewer and smaller than usual. I have put out a fat block, much earlier than usual but it has only been there a couple of days, not long enough to see any reaction yet.
While walking a buzzard announced itself with a loud mew before appearing over the ridge right in front of us. We were given the opportunity to compare calls a few minutes later when an equally vocal kite came into view.
The jackdaws were noisy and seemed to be flying high very much after the manner of martins or switfts. There were also smaller birds, too small to make out even with binoculars but with flight patterns similar to martins.
The arable fields between Ley Hill and Latimer have been harvested over the last couple of days. This morning I saw a group of yellowhammers in the middle of the road by a field gate. From the look of things they were eating spilled grain. Instead of flying into the hedgerow they flew away from me along the road at windscreen height. I haven't seen much else recently apart from a distant glimpse of a partridge and the occasional red kite.
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