Lapwings, greylag geese, coots, black-headed gulls, cormorants and a heron. in the Loder Valley, Wakehurst Place, Sussex, England

 Lapwings can be seen all year round in the UK.  They leave upland areas after the breeding season and move to lowland fields for the winter. Large numbers of N European birds arrive in autumn for the winter. Source; RSPB click for more info'.
I can't remember seeing them in the Loder Valley before though, here on the 14th of September 2014.
An exceptionally dry September means the water level is low, exposing mud for birds to probe.

As well as the Lapwings there were Greylag geese, coots, black-headed gulls, mallards, cormorants, a crow pecking at a dead gull and a heron.

Views across the High Weald of Sussex from Cuckfield to Wolstonbury Hill and Wolstonbury to Cuckfield

Cuckfield, like many villages in the High Weald of Sussex, sits on a high ridge.  To the south it overlooks the Low Weald including Hurstpierpoint to the South Downs and the characteristic wooded "eyes" of Wolstonbury Hill, seen above in a zoomed photo' from the High Street.
I thought to share the reverse view -- from Wolstonbury Hill towards Cuckfield.  Yesterday the weather conditions were conducive to such a shot.
Here it is below;

 The Elizabethan house in the foreground is Danny House and the church like building in the middlegound is Hurstpierpoint College, a public school.

Cuckfield can be identified by the church spire with open fields in front.

More red colours of Autumn on the South Downs of Sussex; rose hips and Bryony.

 Wolstonbury Hill in Sussex yesterday was dotted with  bright red berries on hawthorn bushes and also rose hips above.

 Bryony berries were plentiful and if this is Black Bryony are poisonous, unlike rose hips, which taste good after the first frosts of winter.