Pittswood Birds

A late record from yesterday evening, but a good one, was hearing a TAWNY OWL (77) hooting, it called from the Wet Woods at 19:30.

Below are a couple of Garden pics taken this afternoon. The first is of the Red Admiral, the second is of the GOLDFINCH'S at the Garden Feeders

The feeder is further away from my window now. Ive had to move it into cover to make it more difficult for the Sparrowhawk :-)

Back to this morning, and conditions couldn't have been more different from yesterday, it was calm and clear with a touch of frost.

The first bird on the list today was a GOLDCREST, its high pitch calls easily pierced to crisp air, just one of 6 seen today. I walked the Tree Nursery, Pub Field, Migrant Alley, the College Grounds and back home for a halfway drink, recording all that was expected, 37 species in all. Notable ones were again hearing the call of a REED BUNTING as it flew over the Tree Nursery, a LESSER REDPOLL that flew over the College Grounds, and a SISKIN that dropped down into an Alder tree, also at the College Grounds. For the 2 hours it took to complete the first half of my patch, a continuous stream of WOODPIGEONS went high over heading south, involving many hundreds of birds.

The sunny conditions continued on into the second half of my visit, through the Small Holding, Wet Woods, Lakes and scrub area. Just 5 more species were added to the day list here, NUTHATCH, and LONG TAILED TIT, plus GREY HERON, MALLARD and MOORHEN on the water. Three more species were seen as I walked home across Marchants Field and the Tree Nursery, all of them Raptors, first the SPARROWHAWK - late today :-) , then the KESTREL hunting over at the Greenhouses, lastly a pair of COMMON BUZZARDS that were up high over Migrant Alley.

45 species for the day is a good tally for late October, and 51 species for the weekend is a fair reflection on my patch. The Tawny Owl seen last evening brings the months list of 77 within touching distance of the best monthly count ever, which at the moment goes to the August just gone, and the September of last year, both had 78 species recorded.

A few more photo's were taken this morning; Below is a PIED WAGTAIL at Migrant Alley

Next is a flight of GREYLAG GEESE that went over the Tree Nursery early on.

Below is a shot of one of the groups of Woodpigeon that streamed over for most of the morning ( click on photo to see them a bit better)

Lastly a photo over the College Stream ( actually the river Bourne) you can make out the far bank, which some ''Management experts'' have totally cleared, depriving birds and animals of a place of refuge and nesting opportunities for next spring.