Saturday 14 August – Chipping Sodbury Common Leader: Linda Moysey

Eight members including the leader met at 0900 in Hatters Lane. The weather was 17-19°C, humid and overcast at first, sunny later and a light breeze. We walked up the hill along Trinity Lane past the golf club entrance into the common. Passing the large house (marked The Windmill on OS map) we looked for cattle, hoping to see Yellow Wagtail, but the cattle were a long way away across the common. We did, however, see a number of Blue Tits, Great Tits and Chiffchaffs in the garden. We proceeded downhill into the scrubby area where the main action was a large flock (c100) of Goldfinches some with Linnets mixed in, feeding off the thistles, with some good views of a splendid male Linnet. This took our attention for a good length of time as we tried to see what else was about or in the flock, notably twelve Swallows, one Whitethroat, one Lesser Whitethroat, one female Redstart and one Kestrel, with one Buzzard and one Peregrine in the distance. A Green Woodpecker was heard calling frequently. We stopped by a known Little Owl roost, but the bird wasn’t showing. We walked back through the scrubby area, which was now much quieter, and back to the start, finishing around 12:30. 27 bird species seen or heard altogether. Many thanks to Linda for leading this walk. Alan Daniells