A couple of Greats and a small Murmeration

Really nice family weekend with Chris and the children staying with us, sunny and autumnal. Gary pointed out the call of the Greater Spotted Woodpecker on Saturday at football club in the park and on Sunday I saw one fly past as I took the boys down to the bird reserve. At Shapwick Heath we watched a Great Egret being mobbed by two angry herons, the Egret was slightly larger than the herons but slightly gangly and not as street-wize so after a few scuffles it stood rather forlornly in the deeper water away from the reeds. Watched gatekeeper butterflies and the last of the red admirals flitting about in the sunshine between the trees on the way to Noah's hide and watched people arriving to watch the first of the autumn starling murmerations. The birds are now gathering again in the reed beds after the summer away and numbering in the tens of thousands, if I head the RSPB lady correctly, and the spectacle and the numbers will now climb into the winter. Great to watch the first gangs of birds flying in towards their roosts over the house as we returned home.