Pittswood Birds

The final visit of the month took place in dull, humid and at times wet conditions. A thunderstorm was raging to the south of my patch, but it didn't arrive overhead. The hunt for at least one more species new to the month, to equal the high of 71 achieved in April 2006 and again in April this year, was a failure. The day total only reached 40 species, conditions were just not with me.
There were some brighter moments birdwise, the BARN OWL was seen at its roost, and a YELLOW WAGTAIL flew over migrant alley.
A second visit later in the afternoon, mainly to migrant alley, was a successful one in the respect that I located 3 Yellow Wagtails feeding in the paddocks, also I added COAL TIT, SKYLARK and LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL to the day list.

So Augusts species total ended on 70, an excellent total, and in itself is a record for August, easily beating last years high of 66. The combined total for all Augusts is 77, with the average figure for the month now 62.5. Four new species new to August were found - Reed Warbler, Common Tern, Barn Owl and Peregrine. I wonder what September will bring? The highest species total for the coming month is 70 - the chase is on!

The 3 pics. below are of the 3 Yellow Wagtails that turned up at Migrant Alley this afternoon.