October is a month that will test the nerves of the best of us. The birds we have looked after all summer become secretive and start to drift away. They go off their food, and the few you do see are usually anywhere but where you want them. It is easy to become despondent when they are doing this, and forget that they probably did exactly the same thing last year, the year before and almost certainly the year before that. October is the month they find their feet, colour up and grow up. And cause us no end of worries.
The drifting off in
