Pittswood Birds

A single flyover CORMORANT was the only noteworthy bird event on the way in to work this am, and the walk back fared little better, until...............SWALLOW! (72)the first spring swallow flew over the stables opposite my house, then another appeared, all that time skywatching and I could of sat back in my front room and seen these two from the window!
After the boost of seeing the Swallows, I gulped down a drink, wolfed a sandwich, and set of for the scrubby orchard area, adjacent the lake, Blackcaps were a certainity today.............wrong! I sat for an hour amongst the brambles and hawthorne, I heard CHIFFCHAFF, CHAFFINCH, BULLFINCH, NUTHATCH,SONGTHRUSH, ROBIN, DUNNOCK all the resident species but no Blackcap!
A little less enthusiastic now, so i trudged off over to migrant alley, for a sit on my horse jump, and a skywatch, just a KESTREL, and a female SPARROWHAWK were of note- the latter flew low over the field, attracting half a dozen PIED WAGTAILS, they bravley saved the day,chasing her out of the parish.
I have got the week off now, so it will be intensive migrant hunting..............you know I have booked holiday because the wethers set to turn cold !

Just look at this Hawthorne, Its not often they are left to grow as trees, normally they are planted as hedgerow and slashed into little box shapes, rendering them useless to wildlife, and depriving me of their sweet smelling foamy white blossom. This trunk was 25cm in diameter, a whopper!

Another pic of the srcubby orchard, full of brambles - a real wildlife haven.

Scrub, glorious scrub! It has been many a year since this was an orchard, but a few apple trees still exist here, adding to the mix - wildlife love it, this is the only place on my patch where the likes of Common and Lesser whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Cuckoo, Nightingale, Turtle dove and Backcap nest. Its about the size of a football pitch in area, and does more for the wildlife, than all the gardens and farmland on the rest of my patch put together. (2, 1km squares!)

SWALLOW! yes I know it could be anything, but you'll have to take my word for it!

The earliest Swallow I have recorded on my patch was on the 23 march (2003), this bird was a day later than last years record. The average arrival date is now the 3rd April. (7 yrs records)