Birds - Autumn

Robins

As many other songsters have migrated or stopped singing the beautiful, melancholic song of the Robin can be more obviously from October and throughout the winter, often at dawn and dusk. They will sing through the night next to street lights. With its bright red breast it is familiar throughout the year and especially at Christmas! Males and females look identical. Despite their cute appearance, they are aggressively territorial and are quick to drive away intruders
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These birds are often seen flitting about in gardens and hedgerows. Try enticing them into your garden by leaving them seeds or small pieces of fruit in a spot safe from predators (like the cat). As the leaves fall from the trees they will become more conspicuous, their bright breast alerting you to their presence

Rook Roosts

As the afternoon light fades, birds fly to towards the roost from all directions, and first gather on the ground and fall silent. Then at some signal, they take to the air and swirl in huge flocks around the tops of the trees before pouring into the roost with a great cacophony of sound. Look for straggling lines of bird heading towards roost sites, rooks will sometimes visit the breeding trees or rookeries before moving on to roost
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In Sutton just before the road to Erith drops down onto the fen, there are some fine old oaks, and above them multitudes of Rooks. Early morning or in the late afternoon is a good time to see them they start to gather (N+52 23’ 14” E+0 6’ 18”)

Finch Flocks

With fields of turnips and potatoes a feature of our fenland farming scene, it's well worth looking in them for wintering finch flocks, especially after the onset of hard weather. Birds such as Linnet, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Brambling,Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer and Tree Sparrowcome into the weedy fields during cold spells.  They can often be seen in tight swirling flocks flying over the fields before dropping down to become almost invisible as they feed on the ground
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