Pittswood Birds

What an absolutely belting summers day! Wall to wall sunshine all day long, and although it was too hot for me to handle, i'm sure many folk loved it!

I was out early - 05:15, in order to get the coolest and most productive part of the day, and a steady stream of birds species were noted as I walked along Ashes lane, through the Tree Nursery and up the side of the Maize crop in the pub field, where the Roe deer was seen again. Birds seen were:
WOODPIGEON, SWALLOW, COLLARED DOVE, CHAFFINCH, GREENFINCH, BLACKBIRD, WREN, HOUSE SPARROW, JACKDAW, PIED WAGTAIL, GREENWOODPECKER, HERRING GULL, BLUE TIT, SKYLARK, GOLDFINCH STARLING, CARRION CROW, SONGTHRUSH, STOCK DOVE, JAY, WHITETHROAT, ROBIN, MOORHEN, MALLARD, LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL, GREY HERON, BLACK HEADEED GULL, PHEASANT and DUNNOCK - in that order of appearance. :-)

Entering Migrant Alley I could see the ROOKS already feeding in one field of sheep pasture, and a family group of LINNETS on a fence rail. Another field of sheep pasture had my first GREYLAG GEESE (53) of the month on it - 7 in fact, and before I had crossed the fields and paddocks, a further group of 14, then 8 came and joined them.

A TURTLE DOVE and a CHIFFCHAFF were singing from the scrub at the north end of Migrant Alley, could be one of the last visits I hear the Turtle Dove sing, they are seldom heard from late July onwards. The College Grounds were my next habitat, and around the Stable area, Swallows, SWIFTS and HOUSE MARTINS all fed on the same aerial prey. Along the Stream and in the gardens, BULLFINCH, LONG TAILED TIT, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, BLACKCAP, SPOTTED FLYCATCHER were seen, also, and at last, MAGPIE and GREAT TIT were finally found.

Finishing up the first half of my walk along Ashes lane again, a LESSER WHITETHROAT was seen in the hegderow - almost giving a photo opportunity, and taking the daylist to a whopping 44, very good for just one half of the walk, however, that didn't leave a lot to be discovered on the second half!

I did find the first MISTLE THRUSH (54) of the month in the Small Holding, just befor entering the Wet woods, which was nice and cool, but devoid of much birdlife apart from at least 2 calling TREECREEPERS. Next stop was the lakes, and the surrounding scrub, on the water was just a family of CANADA GEESE, but the scrub was a bit more productive, GOLDCREST, COAL TIT, and NUTHATCH all joined the list, making a total of 50 for the day, very good for July!

Below are the 8 Greylags that joined the 7 at Migrant Alley

and below are the 14 that came in seconds later

This Purple Hairstreak was found in the lakeside Scrub area, still not found one with it's wings open :-(

After my walk I watched the garden feeders for a while and was well pleased when the pair of Bullfinch's turned up.

Also, a few seconds later this Great Spotted woodpecker came in.