Pittswood Birds

Dense fog this morning hung around until 10am, thereafter it became Sunny and warm, easily the warmest day of the year so far :-)

Needless to say, as soon as I had finished work the cloud started to bubble up, and by 3pm it was cloudy - bah! I did however get to walk home in some of the warm sunshine, and at last found my first butterfly of the year, fluttering around the blossom of a Blackthorn tree in the Greenhouse Complex, it was a lovely Peacock, the first addition to my new Butterfly recording spread sheet.

I had already walked through Migrant Alley on the way back from work, and had seen no Wheatear yet on the paddocks, so I went to the Lake area first, hoping for more Butterflies, but no more were seen, I did see a new COOT on the main lake though, it will no doubt be passing through, the other two Coots were busy feeding on the ornamental lake, where two CANADA GEESE were also seen, the other four regular Canada Geese were on the main lake. Two MOORHEN were the only other lake dwellers today, well, not strictly true, as I found at least 6 frogs in the shallows of the main lake, the first time I have seen frogs here! I did once find some spawn a few years ago, but as always it's quickly gobbled up by the large fish, so I dont hold out much hope of seeing any tadpoles here.

A quick Jaunt round the Scrubby Wood found it ringing with the sound of CHIFFCHAFFS, at least 5 were heard here now, they really have arrived in force, a great sound on a warm spring day :-) The familiar songs of COAL TIT, GOLDCREST, and TREECREEPER were also heard, as well as song from the more common BLACKBIRD, DUNNOCK, WREN, ROBIN, and SONGTHRUSH.

As the last of the sunshine went, I took a walk over to Migrant Alley, passing the Pub Field on the way to look for a possible Wheatear, none was seen, just the usual Corvids, plus 8 STOCK DOVES. Once at Migrant Alley, I again had Wheatear on my mind, but the scan of fencelines, posts and paddocks proved fruitless. My seat beckoned, as my legs were aching by now, and I took up my skywatching position, again hoping for a passing Swallow or Sand Martin, neither appeared, but I did see the KESTREL and SPARROWHAWK up hunting, as well as 2 MEADOW PIPITS going north. A very distant flock of birds appeared only as a smudge in the sky, as they were so far away, but they were probably Geese of some kind - way off my patch.

After an hour I headed off home, but tomorrow will be another day closer to finding that Swallow, or Wheatear.....

Above: One of the Frogs in the Main lake