Eric Brown is back with more on the wild things he sees in his Sidcup garden and elsewhere around this part of the world.

Sometimes it is possible to witness not just rare wildlife but unusual wildlife behaviour too. With luck and persistence you might experience that fleeting moment that leaves you wondering "did I really just see that?".

At the end of August I set off hoping to see some interesting birds pausing on their migration south for the winter. My destination was an area of farmland, fields, pastures and woodland well known in the Bexley area as a stopping off point for migrants.

I won’t name the place as it’s home to rare breeding birds easily disturbed by large numbers of people but it is a 10-minute bus ride from Sidcup High Street in the Wilmington direction.

Many of the fields are divided into paddocks with horses grazing. Horses mean manure which equals insects which attract birds. So it was no surprise to see 50 jackdaws poking around in the manure for tasty morsels. At least 30 pied wagtails took their cue from the jackdaws and then a flock of 1,000 starlings landed to join the fun.

Suddenly a flash of white on a small bird shone like a pale traffic light as it took off from the ground and landed on a fence. A wheatear feeding up before departing on its long journey to Africa for the winter.

Its name is derived from Old English for its most obvious feature - 'white arse'. The combination of white throat, buff breast and black and white head on an adult also never ceases to impress.

A high-pitched mewing sound betrayed the presence of a buzzard which emerged from the wood and ascended slowly.

Then a kee-kee-kee call from the wood. Two hobbys flew into a tree. One made a tremendous racket and could have been a youngster begging food from the adult.

An already exciting morning was about to get even better. As I retraced my steps downhill the adult hobby swooped past me low and fast before effortlessly plucking a starling from the scattering flock with its feet and heading back to the woods.

It was something I’d never seen before. That "did I really just see that?" moment.