Pittswood Birds

Above : A crop of ''migrant food'' Elder berries and Hawthorne berries at the Greenhouse Complex grounds.

Not too much to report today from my patch after yesterdays excitement. This mornings walk to work produced yet another WHINCHAT at Migrant Alley, unusual to see them on the fence line so early in the morning, and two more bird species for the September list, those being a SONG THRUSH (48), seen in the Greenhouse Grounds, and LONG TAILED TIT (49), a flock of which were feeding in the College Grounds, along with a few BLUE TIT, GREAT TIT and at least 3 CHIFFCHAFF.

On my walk home across Migrant Alley the WHINCHAT had found itself a friend, and the pair of them fed on insects, which they expertly captured by flying up and grabbing them in mid air. Today is the 6th occasion when 2 have been present.

After lunch I was back out again, round the Tree Nursery, up the side of the Maize in the Pub Field, and another circuit of Migrant Alley. However, in the warm sunny conditions there was not much bird activity, GREEN WOODPECKERS were seen in the Tree Nursery, a SPARROWHAWK went up the side of the Maize crop ahead of me, and both HERRING and LESSER BLACK BACK GULLS flew over. At Migrant Alley, I located only one of the Whinchat, it was in the Tall Hedge by my skywatching seat, interestingly, it was with a COMMMON and LESSER WHITETHROAT. A bit of skywatching gave me just one more bird species for the months list, a YELLOWHAMMER (50), which brings up the 50th. Also of note going over was a YELLOW WAGTAIL, a HOBBY and another SPARROWHAWK.

Tomorrow morning I will be out early for the first full patch walk of September, and so hope to add a few species to the months list, I should to get to 60 by the end of the weekend.

Below is a photo of the most numerous butterfly seen today - a Speckled Wood