29 October 2025 - Hollingworth Lake

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2+Bramblings, Redwings, Song Thrushes, Redpoll

There seemed to be a lot more movement in small birds this morning. In the hedge at the top of Ealees Valley that runs parallel with the road, a few thrushes were in evidence, and at one point there were 4 Song Thrushes together, although I only managed to photograph three. In the big hedge, the Redwings were flitting about and occasionally perching up, but being quite difficult to count. Three Redpoll flew from the top of a birch tree, calling.

At one point I thought I heard Pinkfeet, then just as I emerged from some tree cover, spotted a small skein of geese just disappearing over the hill and behind some trees. I quickly took some shots, mainly to see if I could get a count, but some are obscured. I estimated there were c.18.

I came to the old Sea Cadet hut and was looking around to see what could be found, when I thought I heard Brambling calling. I looked up at the top of the sycamores, and could see quite a few birds flitting around, including Chaffinches, Goldfinches, and after scrutinising, was able to identify at least two Brambling. I took some photos of one, but they were very mobile and difficult to even see, let alone photograph, so the resulting picture is really bad, and only provided as a record shot. At one point, a sizeable flock of finches flew out of the sycamores, maybe 20 or more. They could have been all (or mostly) Bramblings, but I couldn't get any detail on them in flight because of the poor light. It's unusual to see a flock of Chaffinch like that, so I guess we'll never know.

Song Thrushes, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 2000 (view full size image)

Pinkfeet Disappearing, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 472 mm, ISO 250 (view full size image)

Redwing, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 6400 (view full size image)

Redwing-, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 1250 (view full size image)

Brambling, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 800 (view full size image)