Update

As dealing with imbeciles in the Planning Authority became too much for me yesterday I abandoned the fight and headed out on patch. Plenty of Goldfinch and Bullfinch still around but fortunately they don't need the benefit of feeders. As I watched their antics the first of three skeins of Barnacle Geese approached high overhead from the south being heard long before they became visible. The first two of 22 and 65 birds turned west and presumably followed the A69 west to the Solway whilst the final 78 kept on going north no doubt to Budle Bay where they will then swing west and go around the Cheviots. A pair of Kestrels battled the corvids attracted by all the grass cutting being carried out whilst a further three hunted deep in the heart of the Carr. Good numbers indicating a high vole population and the hope of Owls to come.

Up the bridle track near Banks Pond numerous acorns were scattered about, no doubt brought by the Jays cackling on in the nearby wood but unable to be buried in the solid ground.

And another masterful shot but I had to include it as it took me ages to photograph one of the many Swallows hunting insects disturbed by the grass cutting but this one was without a tail and looked most strange, almost bat like.