Pittswood Birds

It was much cooler this morning than the mornings of late, and with the leaden overcast sky it felt very Autumnal, the light was so poor the camera stayed at home  :-(

In the 3 and a half hour full patch visit 43 species were recorded, which is just about what I would expect for an early October morning. Of those, just 3 'summer' species were recorded a CHIFFCHAFF that is still mixing with the LONG TAILED TIT flock, which has moved across Ashes lane from the Tree Nursery to the Greenhouse Complex, a flyover HOUSE MARTIN and two WHEATEAR that fed in one of the paddocks at Migrant Alley.

The classic Autumn arrivals, like Fieldfare, Redwing, and Siskin were not noted today, but other less noticeable species are arriving, like the BLACKBIRDS, STARLINGS, and CHAFFINCH'S all of which are increasing on my patch.

On the lakes, I scanned carefully, looking under all the tree overhangs for a different duck, or any duck in fact! I did manage a pair MALLARDS, and a grey HERON fished on the shallow edges of the main lake, but those and the MOORHENS were all that was to be had today.

The Scrubby Wood had 4 BULLFINCH feeding in a hawthorn, which made the count up to seven for the day, and the usual woodland species all showed up, COAL TIT, NUTHATCH, TREECREEPER, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER and GOLDCREST being the more notable.

My 'end of walk' skywatch on my seat at Migrant Alley got me a new species for the month - a YELLOWHAMMER (61) which alighted briefly in the Tall Hedge beside my seat, other than that I only had flyovers from SPARROWHAWK, MEADOW PIPIT, and both HERRING and BLACK HEADED GULLS. A pretty standard visit today :-)


The afternoon was just as cloudy and dull, but I took these photo's at my garden feeders, not really enough light, but they brighten the post!!   :-)

GOLDFINCH

Great Tit

Collared Dove