Pittswood Birds

This morning it was chilly and grey, and it was the first visit in December that I could give all morning to do my monthly tally of all the birds encountered. In all 815 birds, of 43 species were seen. surprisingly, the WOODPIGEON, with 80 individuals scattered around, wasn't the most numerous. This honour went to a flock of 108 ROOKS, feeding on the sheep pasture at migrant alley. At the other end of the scale were, MARSH TIT, TREECREEPER, SPARROWHAWK, KESTREL, COAL TIT and STOCK DOVE, all of which, singles were seen. The latter a new species for the month. A large number of BLACKBIRDS were around (57) and Plenty of LONG TAILED TIT (26).The sports field at Hadlow College held 23 BLACK HEADED GULLS, amongst them were 75 STARLINGS. The winter thrushes were scattered about, but FIELDFARE (66) and REDWING (10) was a good count. Three CORMORANT flew over the lake area, where a GREY HERON fished, one of four seen, and in the waterlogged woods the largest flock of long tailed tits (16) for the day foraged with their usual companions. It was disappointing not to find any Siskin, Brambling or that now infuriating Redpoll !