Yellow Wagtails

The last week of August has proven to be the time to look out for Yellow Wagatils. These birds are migrating south - maybe from breeding grounds on  the Marlborough Downs.
Fow the last few years I have seen them feeding amongst my cattle at West Harnham. 2 days ago (27th) I found a flock of 50 birds there. I hadn't realised that they were there until I moved the cattle forward and then the wagtails followed over the fence.
50 is quite exceptional - the highest count I've made,
Not a good photo but here are some on the bush in the middle

Down at our own meadows I found just a single bird yesterday.

Here's an obliging female Reed Bunting appropriately on a reed stem.

Down in Late Autimn

The small field of arable reversion created three or four years ago has been quite successful this year. May be no orchids as yet but plenty of other flowering plants to keep the bees happy.
Notable in the spring was the amount of cowslips now coming through.
Now in August the birds foot trefoil and Scabious  is very attractive and almost abundant!

The mirky background was due to low cloud - a sign that autumn must now be coming in! This was taken on 21/8 - and I usually predict that one of these mornings will come between the 15th and 21st - so only a day late this year.

Gadwall

Gadwall are quite secretive compared to thir cousins the Mallard. Proving the fact of them breeding has always been a challenge. Seemingly later breeders they have the advantage of more vegitation to hide within. I suspected they were breeding several years before I eventually managed to glimpse a female with young. somehow Mallards are much earier - the females always seem to make far more noise.
This last few weeks I've mange to find two pairs - one a I knew about for some time and its two ducklings are failry well grown now, but there is another - though with only one chick.
The first time I found here she flew off the ditch it was on circled around calling and then landed on the main river very alert some 50 metres away. So it was only a matter of time before I spotted any brood.
The RSPB had a useful collection of data on bird species and this is the link for the Gadwall:
Gadwall on RSPB website