I spent a short while before work this morning down in Aveley Bay where three Short-eared Owls performed well if slightly grumpily in the damp conditions.
A Goldcrest called from the Gorse (Jason had a Dartford Warbler there shortly afterwards) and Skylarks were everywhere. However, the oddity of my visit was Great Spotted Woodpecker that dropped in from up high and bounded around a bit before settling briefly by the car park before moving to the wispy stalks of dead crucifer along the river edge where it perched incongruously for a few minutes
It then headed back off inland. I have seen out of place lost looking Great Spots down here in the autumn before and whether it is a local bird dispersing of a continental immigrant we shall never know...
5-11-15