In the middle of rural Sussex, I am lucky enough to have a decent sized country garden with a diversity of habitats such as a small woodland, hedgerows, a small group of fruit trees and a wildflower meadow. However, apart from the annual RSPB Big garden birdwatch, I have never really recorded the wildlife of our garden. Past casual observations have included Newts and Slow worms in the compost heap, Bats flying around at dusk, and a resident Hedgehog (Although I haven't seen him for a few years now). So anyway, I decided I would record the the birds in our garden this Autumn. I was pleasantly surprised by my findings - Highlights included a Firecrest and 2 Spotted Flycatchers seen in the wood - both scarce species in my parish. I put some seed down in various places, and this was visited, once found by the birds, I watched a steady stream of Blue Tits, Great Tits and Robins,
occasionally accompanied by a Nuthatch, Great-spotted Woodpecker or Chiffchaff. One on particular occasion, I was delighted to stumble across a mixed tit flock, consisting of Great, Blue, and Long-tailed tits plus the odd Coal Tit and about 3 Goldcrests. This really made my day seeing all of these little birds take refuge in our garden.
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