Day: October 19, 2020

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19th October 2020 – Stoke Park Estate, Bristol

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It’s that place again! We only had time for a local walk and made the most of the morning sunshine by having a walk around the park and up into the woods and along to Purdown with its comms tower.

We didn’t see any birds in the swampy area near to Duchess Pond – it’s usually been a good place for stonechats, whinchats, reed bunting, meadow pipits and even a kestrel.
As we climbed up past the “castle” (Dower House) we saw 4 buzzards overhead but only one came close to photograph
Very hazy and atmospheric looking back to the parish church in Stapleton
The sun shining through the trees made this part of our walk in the woods particularly attractive
We were drawn by the chatttering of a small flock of starlings in a tree
The sharp cheeping sound of goldfinches was also easy to pick out
The slope looks almost flat – the camera deceives
The motorway is hardly noticeable to the eye, unfortunately not to the ear
Duchess Pond at the bottom of the hill and the Dower House at the top
The obelisk above Duchess Pond
11 chicks now down to three
The cormorant was having a rest from diving and then drying itself
The graffiti beneath the motorway brings home the fact that the park is right on the edge of the urban sprawl