SPOTTED AT SAVERNAKE

A couple of weeks back, someone from my local U3A birders group sent me a link to some events  being held at Savernake Forest near Marlborough, which included a guided bird walk. 
I have not visited the forest very much except in July searching for Purple Emperor butterflies, so thought this might be a good opportunity to find out what can be seen there. 
Consequently 9.30 am. this morning saw me signing in for my prebooked place on the walk starting from a central point on Grand Avenue, a track which runs north to south through the forest. 

There were about a fourteen of us including five children, plus our guide and his companion who kindly carried his telescope around for us to use if something interesting  needed a closer view. 

We started off down one of the tracks and walked for a while before stopping to listen for any birds that might be around. Blue tits and great tits were unsurprisingly the first birds we saw, then a little further we stopped to use the telescope to see a flock of mistle thrushes which had just flown into perch on top of a conifer. 

At this point, I happened to turn round and saw a small brown bird with a light breast perched on the edge of a branch overhanging the path firther on. I couldn't identify it straightaway but then thought.. surely it can't be a spotted flycatcher? 

I wanted to take a photo but just at the moment a cyclist approached from the oppostite direction which caused it to fly off. I mentioned what I'd just seen to someone next to me and he agreed that it was a bit late for them. It must have been a more common bird then, but I hadn't really had a good enough view.
As we got ready to continue our walk, there was a bit of movement in the bushes to our left, a marsh tit flew out and landed in a nearby tree. Then I saw that bird again.. this time, the leader confirmed my original thought,  it was in fact a spotted flycatcher, though an exceptionally late one!  Most of managed to see it though I couldn't manage a photo. I also found a goldcrest in a nearby conifer. 

Along the walk  we also heard and saw a number of nuthatches and tree creepers, as well as the more common robin and dunnock. 

After doing a circuit, we returned to Grand Avenue at which point the families with children left us ( it was nearly 11 am when the walk was scheduled to end) . However, our guide volunteered to take the remaining 5 of us on a further loop of the forest which took another hour. In this time we saw a buzzard and kestrel, but nothing else additional to our sightings so far. 

However, with calm and dry weather, it was an enjoyable morning in the forest.

Bird seen on the walk:
blue tit, great tit, coal tit, marsh tit, robin, dunnock, tree creeper, nuthatch, blackbird, wood piegeon, goldcrest, spotted flycatcher, buzzard, kestrel, mistle thrush, jackdaw, rook.