Star turn was the cuckoo, with lots of them to be heard out on Holne Moor. just above where we were staying. A bird which we have not heard in years in Epsom. According to the magazine picked up in the Forest Inn in Hexworthy, this moor is a well known haven for them, with the cover illustration being of one such, on said moor.
Runners up were, first, the yellow hammers which visited the lawn outside our kitchen window, browsing in the lawn for seeds falling out of the bird feeders above. Very distinctive yellow heads and shoulders with striped brown bodies. And second, possibly another lifetime first sighting, a whinchat, with a small party of them being glimpsed through the monocular on top of a gorse bush, back on Holne Moor. Using the monocular confused me as to size and then I thought of coal tit. But memory, pictures and words at the RSPB site together suggest something more exotic.
Swallows and skylarks plentiful. Also sparrows (which are rare in our own garden), chaffinches, goldfinches and greenfinches. One nuthatch. One dim spotted woodpecker who took a long time to work out that the anti-squirrel bird feeder was going to keep him out too. Not sure about whether it was greater or lesser, the RSPB site not seeming to bother with sizes.
A couple of large black pheasants. Sundry rabbits. Sundry grey squirrels. Probable bats. One mouse.
Magpies occasional.
No raptors - which surprised me.
And no foxes - perhaps they are more timid out in the country, with farmers shooting them on sight.
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