Pittswood Birds

The weather turned today, and it rained on and off for the most part. A good opportunity to do a bit of garden birdwatching, for the Garden Birdwatch Survey, something which has taken a bit of a back seat recently.
I sat down at the bedroom window at 14.00, and for 20 mins I sat and watched nothing! Then the reason for this became apparent, when a MAGPIE flew into the large leylandi, which overlooks the garden, and flushed out a male SPARROWHAWK. After things settled down, only a small trickle of birds used the garden, and the feeders. A peak of 3 GOLDFINCH, 5 GREENFINCH, 4 CHAFFINCH, 5 COLLARED DOVES, 2 BLACKBIRDS, 4 STARLING, with singles of BLUE TIT, GREAT TIT, HOUSE SPARROW, ROBIN, JACKDAW, and WOODPIGEON, not a great garden list, but as its May, the natural food is becoming more plentiful, especially for the insectivores. Thirteen species flew over, or were in the close vacinity of the garden, highlights being a skein of 7 GREY LAG GEESE, and a pair of HERRING GULLS. SWALLOWS and SWIFTS were chasing insects out on the sheep pasture, where a group of 45 starlings were collecting grubs for their 'just about to fledge' young. PIED WAGTAILS, a pair of LINNETS and a PHEASANT were around the greenhouse complex, and 3 MALLARD visited the small reservoir that collects the run off from the greenhouse roofs.

Starling - Collecting the fat pellets I put out.

A recently fledged Robin

Collared Doves

Woodpigeon