Nov 5th. A walk up the north face of Moel Findeg near the Owain Glyndwr pub uncovered a very large flock of winter thrushes with 250+ Redwings and 10-30 each of Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush and Blackbirds (I suspect a few Song Thrushes may be among the Redwings, but they are hard to pick out in large flocks). As I reached the top of the hill, a large Sparrowhawk flew past me, hugging the ground, and put up a second Sparrowhawk, also a large female which succeeded in seeing the intruder off. Up at Moel Arthur car park the day before, a similar Sparrowhawk had flashed across the road, barely a foot above the ground and so easily overlooked by the casual walker. Pipits and chats had largely deserted the moorland here, but I saw a large bird flying low along the Cilcain ridge, long, strong and direct, like a duck, but the binoculars revealed a Red Grouse landing in the heather. Ironically, grouse are much easier to see on shooting moors than here, where they run safe and free, but where the populations, both Red and Black, seem to be at least stable.