Pegged back

Well the rest of October has been very quiet - hence the lack of updates.  I did manage to get one more year tick with a Peregrine flying over carrying prey, possibly a Starling, on the 28th.  It looked very odd initially because of this, but flew off purposefully SE, presumably to somewhere it could take its meal.

I've seen 2 Dabchick several times, which I don't think are ever that common here, so nice to see.  Also a Little Egret on the 22nd.  3 House Martins over NW on the 14th were my last of the year, but no further sightings of Swallow here.  Otherwise, it's been the usual wildfowl, with numbers gradually creeping up and a handful of Snipe.

One oddity on the 28th was a colour-ringed Jackdaw.  The roost is now many hundreds, but I don't generally look too hard at them.  This bird jumped through my scope whilst I was watching the gulls - it had green above yellow on the right leg and blue above a metal ring on the left.  It looks to be a British bird, but I await further details.  I have noted a few CR gulls, but they have all been repeat sightings.

Due to the lack of patch activity, I've successfully twitched a few other birds over the past few weeks:

• A Radde's Warbler at Andover, Hampshire on the 13th.  A bogey bird that I've dipped several times over the years.
• A Semipalmated Plover at Hayling Island, Hampshire - a superb find by Andy Johnson, an old birding friend from my original patch at Dinton Pastures, Berkshire.  Together with him and Fraser Cottington, we hold (or share) the Berkshire bird race record at 121 species.
• A Ring-necked Duck at Wilstone Reservoir, Herts on the 29th.  I hadn't seen one for a few years and it was too close to ignore.
• A fantastic Hermit Thrush at Porthgwarra, Cornwall on the 30th - I don't do too many long distance twitches nowadays, but occasionally get the urge......with a White-rumped Sand thrown in for good measure.