Little Cressingham and Threxton

A beautiful cool dawn with a feel of autumn about it and my day started with a 4 mile dog walk around the Little Cressingham area.
Highlights on this walk included:

6 Common Buzzards
2 Little Owls (singles at 2 localities)
Reeve's Pheasant x Common Pheasant
1 Kestrel
Blackcap  

Threxton (Evening into dusk)
With the sun fast sinking to the west, I decided to visit Threxton to check for migrants along the Watton brook valley and various ditches between the church and Woodcock Hall.  Although many will feel that sewage treatment works are not particularly endearing places to visit they are in fact superb magnets for migrants and resident birds.  Sewage treatment works provide good feeding for birds with swarms of millions of midges gathering around the tops of trees and bushes which form a screen.  Well established Hawthorn and Elder also provide good feeding and the conifer screen will offer warmth and places for roosting.
This evenings visit produced a few Chiffchaffs as well as probable local Goldcrests and Long-tailed Tits.  Chiffchaffs will roam with Tit flocks in their search for food and occasionally a few may remian through the winter months providing the weather is not too severe.  Sewage Treatment have their own micro-climates in winter where midges and other invertebrates provide feeding for over-wintering warbler species.  The relative warmth of dense cover which forms screens to these works will provide good roost sites during the long winter nights.
Also seen this evening was a number of Stock Doves (6+), around the plant and adjoining farmland. Stock Doves are more of a well-proportioned bird compared to Wood Pigeons which are very large with a small head.  In flight, Stock Doves are easily recognised by their mostly lead-grey body, the  wings are similarly grey but have a diagnostic Black border.