Pittswood Birds

A disappointing walk round the patch this morning, birds were hard to find. The barrage of shotguns to the south didn't help, nor the strong southwest wind. The lake area provided some decent sightings, 2 CORMORANT, a GREY HERON, 25 MALLARD and the overwintering LITTLE GREBE were all present, a KINGFISHER flew up and alighted just feet from me, but as usual it flew off again before I could photograph it. One of the sheep fields in migrant alley held 500 winter thrushes, mostly FIELDFARE but at least 50 were REDWING and 2 were MISTLE THRUSH. Just 37 species were recorded, with some noteable ommisions, like Goldfinch, in fact there were very few finch's seen at all.

A new hedgerow has just been planted in migrant alley, this could be good news for wildlife if it is left to mature properly, but I fear as soon as it shows some promise it will be tamed with the dredded hedge flailing machine. Hadlow college farm the field, I wonder if they have a cutting regime for their new hedges, or are they just planting them to forfill any obligations for a stewardship grant?
Hedgerow Planting - A Real Attempt To Help Wildlife?
Snowdrops In My Garden, Spring Is Around The Corner
Daffodils Ready For Blooming