Pittswood Birds

This afternoon I paid the final visit of the month to my patch, I walked the Tree Nursery, Pub Field, and a circuit of Migrant Alley. It was another hot and humid day, and as such, not a lot could be expected, but you never know, so it's always worth getting out :-)

The only songsters heard were the COMMON WHITETHROATS, two pairs in the Tree Nursery and a pair in the boundary hedge separating Migrant Alley from the Greenhouses. Other than that I had to make do with a few SWIFTS, SWALLOWS, and HOUSE MARTINS feeding on the plentiful insect life that the hot weather is producing. A single SKYLARK was seen over the fresh cut silage field, maybe looking for its now destroyed nest site? Both KESTREL and SPARROWHAWK were seen hunting, as has been the case all month, in fact the Kestrel has been seen on 24 dates this month, and the Sparrowhawk 14. Out of interest, the other recorded Raptors this month were seen as follows: Hobby 6 dates, Peregrine 4 dates and Buzzard twice.

June has been a good month for the number of bird species recorded, the total of 68 is the best June tally out of the 9 so far recorded, and easily beats the average number of species seen in this month, which is 63.4. One species, the Stonchat, was a first sighting for any June, taking the combined June total to 83 now.

The halfway point in the year has now been reached, and my quest for 100 species by the years end has reached 95, It may seem easy to get just 5 more species in the next six months, after getting 95 in the previous six, but I can promise you it will take some doing :-)

Tomorrow is the start of a new monthly list, the total to beat is 69, set back in July 2007, now that will take some doing! July's total doesn't often exceed Junes total, in fact it has only done so in 3 of the past 8 years, but that record July haul of 69 back in 2007 beats all the June totals, thats how good a month it was!

Well thats enough of the boring stats! Here's todays photo's - not that they are much to look at :-)


A rather poor effort of the Kestrel, I should have been round the other side of it, with the light :-)
Below is a real treat, not one, but a pair of BULLFINCH on the graden feeders. Its not often you can get these birds onto tube feeders, or into the garden for that matter!