Pittswood Birds

An update from last night, LITTLE OWL (56) was added to the months list, one was heard calling from the large gardens to the back of my house.

A cold wind, and mostly cloudy sky greeted me on my afternoon stroll over to the lakeside scrub, where birdsong had dropped off markedly, even for an afternoon the amount of birds singing was very poor. Just one CHIFFCHAFF two BLACKCAPS and a single TURTLE DOVE gave some short lived attempts at singing. GREAT TIT, ROBIN and WREN made some noise, but the likes of Cuckoo, Lesser and Common Whitethroat, and Garden warbler all went unrecorded.

On the lake a pair of CANADA GEESE had hatched out at least 3 young on the small island, but apart from 3 male MALLARD and a MOORHEN the water was empty. After an hour I decided to walk back through Marchants field and the Tree Nursery, to get to Migrant Alley, but very little was noted, GREEN WOODPECKER, JAY, and LINNET were about the best!

The sheep pasture and paddocks at Migrant Alley had ROOKS, JACKDAWS, WOODPIGEONS and PIED WAGTAILS feeding on them, a pair of YELLOWHAMMERS flew across and alighted in one of the new hedgerows, and more Linnets with a few GOLDFINCH fed on some dandelion seed heads growing along the footpath. A 45 minute skywatch from my seat produced absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing! All I saw were the local SWALLOWS and two SWIFTS feeding low over the sheep pasture. I dont expect much on my afternoon visits, its not the best time of day to see birds, but today was particularly bad, I blame the cold wind and dull conditions :-)


Above is a Chiffchaff, seen in the scrub. Below is a Great Tit also seen in the scrub

Below is one of the canada Goose parents, keeping a beady eye on me, the goslings were too far away to photograph.