Pittswood Birds

Just 90 mins were spent out on my patch this afternoon, it was very windy, and thick cloud made it dark and gloomy, not very conducive to finding birds. Most of my time was spent around the Lake area, hoping a duck would drop in - any duck but a mallard would have done! Unfortunately, it wasn't to be, so I scanned the 48 MALLARD, just to make sure that was what they were, and once satisfied that none were mascarading female Shovelers or Gadwall, I checked out the surrounding scrub. This proved disappointing, as all I found were WRENS, DUNNOCKS and ROBINS, with the odd BULLFINCH, the nearby garden with the feeders had a good selection of common birds, CHAFFINCH, GOLDFINCH, GREENFINCH, BLUE and GREAT TIT, a GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER and a foraging JAY. I wasn't going to find any new species for the month here, so I went of over to migrant alley, checking the wet woods and Tree nursery on the way, which was very empty of birds, at least, if they were there the wind made it impossible to hear them!

Once again the wind was a problem at Migrant Alley, and I just about heard SKYLARK and MEADOW PIPIT calls being sucked along in the strong gusts. It soon got even gloomier as the sun went down, and all I noted was KESTREL and SPARROWHAWK, several small groups of PIED WAGTAILS going to the Greenhouse complex to roost, and also the LINNETS going to their roost in the ever diminishing field of Laurel shrubs in the tree nursery, I watched a flock of at least 40 drop in. Just before leaving, a RING NECKED PARAKEET flew over calling loudly, and alighted in a silver birch tree in one of the large gardens, adjacent to Migrant Alley.

Too gloomy for any pics today - not that anything stayed still enough to be photographed !