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A male lesser spotted woodpecker has been drumming on 'the clump' (the large oaks on the edge of the heath, about 200m south of the car park) over the last few days - you'll have to get here early though, as the last two days it has been showing best from between 07.00 and 08.00. Whilst trying...

Some distinct signs of autumn over the last week: the first few redwings have appeared around the trail (I saw/heard about 20 early on Sunday morning), a few redpolls and siskins and single grey wagtail have been overhead the last few mornings, and goldcrests are now appearing with increasing frequency...

Migrants appeared today! Wheatear on south brooks, several swallows and sand martins low over the north brooks (accompanied by the background of a singing chiffchaff at the hanger viewpoint) made it all seem very springlike. Well, if it wasn't grey, murky and a tad chilly. When the sun has burst...

Some more rain over the last fews days has brought more pintail (ca.120) and black-tailed godwits (ca.50) to the site, to go with the many hundreds of lapwing, wigeon and teal. Firecrest(s) still present around the trail, crossbills still sporadically appearing on the heath. Many fieldfares and redwings...

Yesteday - a short-eared owl over south brooks/near Winpenny hide (it seemed to head off to the north), plus juvenile marsh harrier over the north brooks. A small group of crossbills were on the heath, where there are reasonable numbers of siskins and redpolls to be found. 2 ravens were also seen overhead...

2 juvenile marsh harriers spent some of the morning hunting over the north brooks today, putting the wind up ca.200 wigeon and ca.150 teal and occasionally annoying each other. 4 ruff and single golden plover amongst ca.200 lapwings. First fieldfares and redwings of the autumn arriving - small parties...

Out early this morning to see if there were any sand martins or swallows feeding over the brooks - no such luck, but I'm sure they will be here soon. The only spring migrants I could find were 2 or 3 chiffchaffs singing between the hanger viewpoint and Nettley's hide. There was quite a lot of...

Very murky over the last few days - when visibility allows up to 50 golden plover and up to about 80 black-tailed godwits can be seen on the brooks. A few dunlin and 1 or 2 ruff are still to be found amongst flocks of lapwing. On saturday afternoon (about 14.30 - 15.30) 2 barn owls were hunting nr the...

Few birds using the very frozen, snow-covered brooks over the last few days - most of the wildfowl is confined to the river, although there was a flock of ca.170 lapwings on the north brooks and another 50 on the south brooks. Highlights this morning were a raven overhead heading SE, a barn owl hunting...

The snow of last week has gone and the remaining ducks (wigeon and teal) are mostly confined to the river due to the ice, although there is a gradual thaw going on. A few lapwing and snipe are scattered across the brooks, and surpisingly a redshank and a green sandpiper were present this morning. Many...

Around the trail, after the strong winds and torrential rain this morning, plenty small birds were active - (lesser) redpolls in the birches nr the visitor centre, redwings and fieldfares all over the place, blue and great tits in the hedgerows, 2 or 3 green woodpeckers and a few small parties of goldfinches...

First frosts of the autumn over the last two nights has given the site a much more wintry feel. There are few redpolls to be found feeding the birches around the trail, a few siskins in the pines on the heath and small groups of fieldfares and redwings have been seen passing overhead. Yesterday morning...

A little stint, the tiniest of tiny passage waders, reported by a few visitors yesterday - it has been a complete blank for them here so far this autumn. The brooks are generally very busy with wildfowl, with hundreds of wigeon, teal, shoveler, pintail mallard, lapwing, greylag geese and canada geese...