One of the most pleasant aspects of this time of the year is the palette of colours provided by the foliage of trees and with some good weather over the last few days I decided that a good place to appreciate these colours was at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve in Kent where I hoped that these colours would be magnified by their reflections in the water in this collection of old gravel pits. Of course, being a birder I chose a location that had the possibility of turning up a few interesting species too and I was able to see a good variety of nice birds as well as being treated to a good display of autumn colour.

Birds such as varied as Blue Tit, Eurasian Jay, Siskin, Redwing, Shoveler and Long-tailed Tit added to the colour while Goldeneye, Grey Wagtail and Caspian Gull provided interest as scarce birds for the area. A late or wintering Blackcap was a little surprising too but the autumn colours inspired me to make a short video to capture the atmosphere I experienced while birding at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve.

As I parked my car I heard a strange scolding sound coming from an oak tree above me and on checking it proved to be a colourful Eurasian Jay. I am very familiar with a variety of calls that this Jay makes but this noise was something I have not heard before; there is always something to learn.

Arriving shortly after dawn meant that I had the place to myself and there was a huge flurry of activity from small birds including numerous flocks of Long-tailed Tits, Bue Tits and Great Tits which were also joined by several trilling Goldcrests, a Coal Tit, Treecreeper and a male Blackcap that will perhaps spend the winter here; I have certainly seen them in mid-winter in this area before.

Walking a short distance along a trail I found a spot that gave me a good view over the lakes and could see the colours that I had anticipated.

Although I spent the morning birding I was inspired to come back later in the day to capture the colours on video, along with some of the birds, sounds and atmosphere of the location.

Back to the birding. Large numbers of gulls on the lake included a few Common Gulls, lots of Herring Gulls, at least one first winter Yellow-legged Gull, a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a hulking second winter Caspian Gulls. All too far away for meaningful photos so I settled for a nice shot of a Black-headed Gull.

There were plenty of ducks to scan through on the water, most numerous of which was Tufted Duck and Mallard but also present were Gadwall, two Goldeneye, a few Wigeon, around 20 Pochard and lots of Teal.

The Common Teal in the photo above was doing something interesting. It was standing in shallow water, paddling the muddy bottom of the lake and then feeding in the stirred up sediment. This is something I have not noticed before, but perhaps I just haven’t paid enough attention in the past.

A colourful Grey Wagtail was another visitor to the lake, staying at the water’s edge along with a flock of noisy Lapwings.

Large numbers of Greylag and Canada Geese were on the lake too along with a few Egyptian Geese but more interesting to me were good numbers of Great Crested Grebes, now into winter plumage but still a very graceful bird.

One of the birds I have been trying to photograph recently is Siskin. These lovely little finches have been turning up in ever-growing numbers recently and I have seen plenty of them, never getting in a position to get a nice shot. Well, this continued today as I saw several small groups but never had any photographic opportunities. Never mind, it was nice to watch them feeding on alder trees. A few Redwings were equally as elusive as was a Fieldfare but this Great Spotted Woodpecker was more obliging.

Woodpeckers are always on my list of favourites but I finished my birding back in the car park with a bird that was voted Britain’s favourite species: Robin. These cheeky characters are quite vocal at this time of year and this car park-dwelling individual was rather tame.

All in all this was a nice morning of birds but the thin that will stick with me the most from this visit are the autumnal colours and the overall atmosphere.