A very productive morning on the patch (with Elaine Elespe)

This morning I met with my good birding friend Elaine Elespe for an early morning visit to a site on my patch within Thetford Forest.  We met up at 0615 and arrived at out destination at 0645 and remained until 0900.  Our primary aim was to see evidence of Red Deer rut.
Upon arrival the weather was mild with full cloud cover, but this cleared to give sunny spells later.
Only minutes following our arrival we saw a fine Red Deer stag showing interest in a nearby hind. No calls were heard and we saw no further sighting of the Deer.

Mute Swan (pair)
5 Mallard
Grey Heron
1 Buzzard
1 Goshawk (juv. female)
1 Kestrel (male)
Wood Pigeon
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Pied Wagtail (several leaving roost site)
1 Woodlark - overhead calling
Carrion Crow
Jay
Magpie
Blackbird
Mistle Thrush
5 Redwing (first of autumn)
Robin
2 Stonechat (male and female)
Wren
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Coal Tit
1 Cetti's Warbler (1st for this site) singing male
Goldcrest
Goldfinch
15+ Siskin
Reed Bunting

Highlights
This was a productive visit with Elaine starting with our observations of the Red Deer stag along with a couple of hinds.
From a birding perspective the following highlight species were heard/seen.

• Goshawk (juvenile female) found by Elaine.  Seen flying over open ground before going into woodland.
• A single Woodlark overflying and calling.
• 5 Redwings over (3+2).  My first of the this autumn.
• 2 Stonechats (male/female)
• 1 singing Cetti's Warbler - my first site record.

And finally, a big thank you to the lovely Elaine for joining me this morning.