Wednesday 31st October

Was over early this morning and there didn’t appear to be any sign of the Slavonian Grebe from yesterday. I made my way around and it was quite quiet but I came across the grebe at the east end feeding close in. There were quite a few birds around for a change with six Pochard on the main pool. There were a lot of Fieldfare and Redwing going over and flocks of Siskin were around in numbers with well over 50 counted.

A flock of 13 Lapwing went over heading west. I met Dave Hutton photographing the grebe and I joined him before leaving and checking out Bixhill Lane. I was scanning the field when a distant call caught my attention, I saw a bird drop in at about 200 yards distance. I was thinking it was probably a pipit so I set my scope up and worked the area. I picked up the head and shoulders of what looked like a Lark with a obvious supercillium  almost immediately in dropped down. It was either a young Skylark with a pronounced super, or a Woodlark. The supercillium looked too marked for a Skylark but Woodlark is a big call in Warwickshire. I saw Dave making his way back past me. I told him what I had seen and suspected so we decided to walk over. As we arrived in the general area first one Skylark when up followed by three other birds probably Skylark,  I don’t know if I was relieved or disappointed!

Slavonian Grebe, Pete Forbes

Slav Grebe, Dave Hutton

Slav Grebe, Dave Hutton