{"id":1500,"date":"2009-10-10T23:10:43","date_gmt":"2009-10-10T22:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/1500"},"modified":"2013-11-12T22:01:01","modified_gmt":"2013-11-12T22:01:01","slug":"birds-on-the-sussex-downs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/birds-on-the-sussex-downs\/","title":{"rendered":"Birds on the Sussex Downs"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The inconsistency of English weather is almost the only consistent thing about it. Today we had sunshine. A few gulls were noisily roof hopping along the gardens, and a sparrowhawk glided serenely overhead while I was bagging up some garden cuttings.
<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n

A squirrel was flitting back and forth along the fence, and a goldfinch rested briefly in the trees.<\/p>\n

Later I headed out to the Downs, to the start of the Castle Hill nature reserve. A beautiful spot and one I should explore more often. The kestrels were out, hovering over the edge of the valley.
<\/span> <\/p>\n

Down below, a small flock of magpies were raucously making their presence known.
<\/span> <\/p>\n

While in the distance a lone pheasant was grazing the rich pickings in the fields.
<\/span> <\/p>\n

The crows meanwhile were fence-post hopping.
<\/span> <\/p>\n

There were sheep on the hills, and a few cattle. The herd of ponies we saw a week or so ago were still there too.
<\/span> <\/p>\n

Up above, the skylarks were singing.
<\/span> <\/p>\n

And the vibrant yellowhammers were busily flying from tree to tree.
<\/span> <\/p>\n

All told, a perfect autumn afternoon.
\"Nature<\/a><\/span>
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 400mm f\/5.6L USM lens.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[990,980,167,1004],"tags":[33,592,527,591],"class_list":["post-1500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bird-of-prey","category-birds-2","category-horse","category-south-downs-national-park-landscape-2","tag-birds","tag-ponies","tag-raptors","tag-sussex-downs","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t