Walking off the 'blues' 23/10.

It has been an up and down week. The high point was the visit to Whichford Pottery (see previous post); the low point was an uncomfortable and incomplete visit to the Dentist on Friday morning meaning that I have to return next Tuesday in the hope that the treatment will be satisfactorily completed without any more pain!

To walk of the 'blues' Anita and I took a late afternoon stroll around Epsom Common. Initially there appeared to be little activity but on reaching the Great Pond there were at least 8 Black-headed Gulls circling the water and occasionally diving in the hope of catching a meal. The sun had disappeared and with a darkening sky I still felt the need to capture something so here is the best but not sharpest image of one of the gulls.Other distant sightings were Grey Heron, Coot and Moorhen working the fringes of the pond. As we headed out onto the rough pasture area we noted that the electric fences have been removed and obviously the grazing cattle have moved on. Anita spotted movement and a Kestrel that had alighted briefly in a nearby tree flew away from us. We heard the characteristic 'kschaach' call of distant Jays and the 'kick'..'kick' sounds of Great Spotted Woodpeckers from within the woodland. We traversed the open area picking up Goldfinches flitting high overhead by their 'tickelitt' calls; then watched several Great Spotted Woodpeckers alight high above us before moving on and then picked up a small party of 8 Long-tailed Tits accompanied by a few Blue Tits frantically feeding as they moved from bush to bush keeping well ahead of us. Heading back towards the Great Pond we disturbed two Roe Deer who promptly bounded away far too quickly for any photos and disappeared amongst the Salix surrounding the pond. Anita subsequently relocated them in the bins walking through the water. Throughout our walk the most obvious sounds emanated from various Robins who kindly waited for their pictures to be taken.
Throughout our stroll I was slightly worried by the lack of berries that would provide food for our winter Thrushes apart from small areas of rose hips and the occasional tree with a larder full of Crab Apples.As we returned around the pond a fisherman who was trying to reel in his catch requested some help as his line had got entangled with the lines from his other two rods. He had been attempting to land this 15lb Carp for around 20 minutes and said his arms were getting tired! He eventually netted his catch and asked me to take a picture using his camera-phone before releasing his quarry back into the pond. I then took my own shot; asked him for his e-mail address and a few hours hours later I sent him this image which Eddie is happy for me to post.