With a few hours to spare I took a short drive to Knole Park in Sevenoals, Kent, to see if I could find any Redwings which have started to arrive from Scandinavia. It was great that I saw my first one very shortly after I arrived but it took some time before I got a really good view of this smart little Thrush but it was easy to identify them as they flew overhead in small groups and, in one case, a flock of about 30 birds. With bumper crops of Hawthorn berries and yew berries it was no surprise to see these and 5 Mistle Thrushes plus 2 Song Thrushes feeding alongside them. I eventually got a photo but with very poor light it was always going to be just a record shot. However, with rutting deer and some beautiful autumn colours it turned into a very nice walk.

Redwing

There were also good numbers of small birds feeding in flocks including Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Coal Tits, Nuthatches, Treecreepers and even a singing Chiffchaff.

Coal Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Despite the fairly gloomy weather there were quite a few birds including a coup,e of flyover Meadow Pipits, a Skylark and a Ring Ouzel that I heard a lot of but got only a brief glimpse as it flew away. A pair of Stonechats did their best to add to the autumn colours.

Common Stonechat

Having exhausted the birding I took the opportunity to take some nice autumnal photographs of deer and the colourful trees. Knole Park is a nice place for a walk at any time of the year but autumn is probably the best time to see the deer at their best.

Fallow Deer

Fallow Deer