Tuesday 13 August – Elberton.

The few spots of drizzle at the beginning gave way to bright skies and, at times, sunshine. Eleven of us set off from Elberton and were soon walking through a forest of three metre high sweet corn which, fortunately, was still dry. Reaching Littleton-on-Severn with18 bird species on our list, including House Martin, Swallow, Collared Dove and Pied Wagtail, we bade farewell to two in our group and continued up to a magnificent view-point overlooking the Severn, which was at flood-tide, and there we rested a while, having added Mallard, Goldfinch and Blue Tit to our totals. Two more members then left as the remaining seven headed further up the hill to reach our lunch stop at a viewpoint overlooking Thornbury. Refreshed, we then walked the remaining two miles back to our cars, passing through Elberton churchyard on the way and with only 23 regularly seen birds on the list, which included Blackbird, Jackdaw and Raven.