Saturday 13 November – Eastville Park and Stoke Park. Leader Richard Scantlebury

Six members assembled for this walk. At the river we had immediate success as almost the first tree had a Great
Spotted Woodpecker. As we were watching that, a Sparrowhawk appeared overhead. Further down the path we
came across a pair of Jays then a party of Long-tailed Tits, one of which appeared to have lost its tail – very
confusing! We stopped just before the weir to view a pair of Dippers on an exposed tree root, a brilliant view of
these local stars. Eventually each took off and flew past us. We headed to Stoke Park, first stopping at Duchess
Pond. A Grey Wagtail left as we arrived, otherwise there was very little to see apart from about ten Moorhens. We
went on to Pale Plantation with the hope of catching up with the Firecrests reported . We heard snatches of their
high-pitched song but seeing them was another matter. The Plantation held a couple of Redwings. Our walk
back to Eastville Park was uneventful apart from a pair of Greenfinches near the BT tower on Purdown. We
wandered back to the junction of the river hoping for another view of the Dippers when Claire found a perched
Kingfisher, which we watched until it flew downstream. Thanks to Rich for leading. Peter Bryant