After a year when I have been unable to do much birding due to an increased work load, I have finally some time to get out in the field once again. This time, I ventured to a previously un-visited site on the far north-western boundary of the recording area - namely St Johns and Bunker Hill.
I began by walking up the main track, but this was too busy to provide much in the way of birds, and hence I started to walk down a very wet side track. This proved to be a good move, as I almost immediately flushed a large flock of Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Mistle Thrushes, and Redwings. Mistle Thrushes seemed to be present in greater numbers than the Song Thrushes, but it was hard to tell, even with fewer leaves on the trees.
In the same area, a little further along, I found a tit flock, in the midst of which was probably the best bird of the day - the humble Treecreeper. I did not stay long at the top of Bunker's Hill, but I saw nothing up there whatsoever, bar a single Carrion Crow and numerous dog-walkers! However, it was coming back down through a holly strewn footpath that rendered the second best bird of the walk - a Firecrest, flitting around, which I sadly failed to photograph.
