Thirteen members assembled in the walker’s car park next to the Jolly Farmer pub.  A Jay hopped around in a nearby oak tree and a Blackbird foraged for worms on the adjacent grass as we began the walk.  Moving to view the woodland next to some houses there were numerous baby birds calling and a blue tit begging to be fed by its parent on the telegraph wire.  An unusually stationary Nuthatch could be seen in the trees.

We could hear birds such as Robins, Wrens and Goldcrests calling all around us as we walked further through the woods but nothing more of note was seen until reaching the pond.  Here a single Moorhen swam across the surface, two Canada Geese flew over and a male Bullfinch put in a brief appearance, seen by two of the group.

We took the boardwalk out onto the first heathland area and immediately began to hear Whitethroat, Dartford Warbler and Linnet singing.  A surprise Grey Heron flew over us.  Eventually we had good views of Whitethroat, Stonechat and Dartford Warbler.  The Dartford Warbler in particular was very obliging, singing loudly in a pine tree and posing for photos.

On a sandy path near to the railway line that cuts across the common someone pointed out a Bee Wolf Wasp cautiously emerging from its burrow and we watched these fascinating insects for some time as it transpired there were numerous wasps in the area

Crossing the bridge over the railway line onto a second heathland area we saw a Buzzard soaring along with a couple of Red Kite.  A Green Woodpecker flew onto a dead tree and as we were watching it a Willow Warbler came into view singing at the top of the same tree.  More Stonechats were perched on vantage points.  A bird was briefly seen which presented an identification challenge, but the consensus was that it was a female Redstart.  A Song Thrush flew from the leaf litter beside us to a nearby tree as we walked.

Retracing our steps back to the cars through the woodland area added Chaffinch and Coal Tit to the list.  We arrived back having seen a total of 29 species with 5 heard.  A very pleasant walk in warm sunshine.