Pittswood Birds

A strong SW wind blew this afternoon, negating the effect of any warmth from the watery Autumn sunshine, and it was the wind that made the walk through the Small Holding, Wet Woods and Lake area a rather dull affair, as little could be heard above the roar of the wind through the tree tops, although at one point whilst in the Wet woods I thought I could hear the calls of LONG TAILED TITS high in the canopy.

A view into the Wet Woods ( now bone dry!)

Walking the path from the Wet Woods to the Lake area normally throws up a Treecreeper, Goldcrest or Nuthatch, sometimes all three, however today they were all elsewhere. On reaching the lake, I at last saw a bird  -   MALLARDS,  24 were spread between the 3 water bodies, 14 of those on the main lake, an increase on yesterday giving me hope that something might join them soon. 8 MOORHEN and a GREY HERON completed the water bird life. A quick look around the Scrubby Woods and the general area only produced a SPARROWHAWK, which further compounded the lack of bird life here!

This is the footpath from the Wet Woods to the Lake area, looking back towards the woods. Behind the hedge on the left is the garden with ''lolipopped' oaks and a well manicured large lawn, on the right is the garden that is well wooded

I eventually made my way over to The Tree Nursery, and Migrant Alley, I walked through the Laurel shrubs in the Nursery, hoping to flush up something interesting, and did actually manage to see a male BLACKCAP fly out and into the boundary Hedgerow, the last one seen was on the 9th. Also four BLACKBIRDS and two SONGTHRUSH flew up, and dropped down further along the shrub line.

This is a view to the East from the edge of the Wet Woods looking over a sheep pasture, and the Tree Nursery to the left of the Oak tree. Behind the hedge is the Pub Field

I arrived at a blustery Migrant Alley, and had time to do a circuit of the sheep pasture and paddocks, where 16 LINNET, 8 GOLDFINCH, and a flock of 200+ STARLINGS were found, the latter flock was scanned for a Rose coloured Starling, but of course, that wasn't there  :-)

Flyovers included HERRING, BLACK HEADED, and LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL, 2 single LESSER REDPOLL, a YELLOWHAMMER plus the sighting of a KESTREL and a pair of BUZZARDS up hunting over the area. That was it for today!