Pittswood Birds

A LITTLE OWL called as I walked to work at 7am this morning, but there is no sign of the years first Tawny Owl yet, a species that can be hard to find on my patch.

After work I decided to walk the fields around Migrant Alley, the weather was not quite as dismal as yesterday, but there wasn't a lot in it! A bit more of the snow had melted away, and green patches could now be seen on the sheep pasture and horse paddocks, underfoot it was very wet, and very muddy, ideal for a Snipe or Woodcock to be found, or maybe even a Green Sandpiper, it has been known, but very rarely. None of those scarce birds were seen this afternoon though, they would have been disturbed long before I got out. Instead I had to make do with 4 SKYLARK that were out in the sheep pasture, a dozen REDWING in the horse paddock, 6 YELLOWHAMMER that were along a boundary hedgerow dividing the large gardens from Migrant Alley, and a single MEADOW PIPIT that was heard but not seen as it flew over.

The KESTREL was sitting on the apex of one of the Greenhouses, and 4 BULLFINCH were feeding in amongst the old raspberry canes that were under polytunnels until November, they make a good resource for the finch's when left open all winter. A few BLACK HEADED GULLS came and went, as did a more scarce COMMON GULL, and now the fields are more acessible 50-60 ROOKS and JACKDAWS were feeding on them. I walked along the Tall hedge, along the western edge of migrant alley, and then checked the alders futher down the fence line, the only birds seen here were the usual, BLACKBIRD, WREN, DUNNOCK, ROBIN and 4 GOLDFINCH'S. Whilst I was out, flyovers included, HERRING GULL, FIELDFARE, Redwing and a Skylark that dropped down to join the others seen earlier.

I'll be out early tomorrow for a full patch visit, but the weather looks pretty awful - rain all day, lets hope it's not too bad!