Pittswood Birds

The SPOTTED FLYCATCHER family were seen again as I walked through the College Grounds on the way to work this morning, I thought I'd seen the last of those. They may stick around for a week or so longer though, as I have recorded Spotted Flycatchers in mid sept before, in 2005 the last date was the 14th and in 2008 the 19th, but those are the only two other years that they have stayed into Sept. The mean last date for Spot flys is 29th Aug.

This afternoon I only had an hour out from 15:30, as I was meeting a surveyor over at the Lakeside Scrub area, where the local power company want to put a trench in, and move a Power line. I was there to advise him on the best time of year to start work, and how to carry out work with minimal disturbance. The work wont be carried out for a year or so yet, lets hope they heed my advice :-) Whilst talking to him a SWIFT flew over, thats a late bird for my patch, they are seldom seen this late on, only one other September sighting of Swift has been recorded later than todays date, that was last year when one was seen on the 9th. The mean last date for Swift is the 25th of August.

After that I had a quick visit to Migrant Alley, just for a scan along the Boundary hedge that divides the Greenhouses from the sheep pasture, I didn't expect much, as there was nothing there when I looked on the way home from work. However, my persistence paid off when a handsome male WHINCHAT was seen, it was a good looker, with some of his breeding plumage still showing, I got some good views of it, but did I have my camera ? NO!!

That was about it for today, I'm glad I didn't have to wait long for the next Whinchat to show up !

I took this photo from my shed this evening, I was hoping for a bird, or mouse to come and have a drink, but this Squirrel was all I got :-)