Pittswood Birds

At last some sunshine for a full patch walk! What a difference a bit of sunshine makes  :-)  Still a bit chilly in the wind first thing, but i'll take that over recent days.

Bird song was a bit limited in the cool of the morning, or had I missed it it all, I didn't get out until 06:00hrs, the SONGTHRUSH, ROBIN, BLACKBIRD, WREN, DUNNOCK, MISTLE THRUSH, CHAFFINCH, and WHITETHROAT were all heard though as I walked down Ashes Lane towards the Greenhouse Complex and Migrant Alley, where singing from another Whitethroat and a BLACKCAP were heard, whilst overhead SWALLOWS were feeding and a few parties of SWIFTS moved through, small groups of five- ten birds moved through throughout the morning, with them was the odd HOUSE MARTIN.

Migrant Alley had 7 CANADA GEESE and a flock of 35 LINNETS on the paddocks and pasture, the wooded headland had a LESSER WHITETHROAT singing , but no Turtle Doves there as yet. Moving into the College Grounds I heard the first CHIFFCHAFF of the day, but a treat was in store here, as I found the first SPOTTED FLYCATCHER (95, 61) of the year, good to see they have returned to this traditional breeding site  :-) This species is the last summer migrant (that breeds on my patch) that I can expect now, any other summer migrant will be just passing through, and represents a bonus bird for my patch year list. Such a bird appeared just ten minutes later, when a REED WARBLER (96, 62) was heard, then glimpsed as it moved about in a small patch of phragmites, and I mean small, just a couple of square meters of this precious habitat!

The Wet Woods, Lakes and Scrubby Woods were all searched, and 8 more species were added to the day list, they were TRECREEPER, JAY, LONG TAILED TIT, GREYLAG GOOSE, MALLARD, COOT, PHEASANT, and STOCK DOVE. It was very disappointing however not to hear a Garden warbler, Turtle Dove or Cuckoo on such a fine morning, the latter should be calling none stop by now, I hope the one recorded in April hasn't decided to move off to better pastures  :-(  Coal Tit and Bullfinch also went unrecorded today, as did two birds I thought I'd have on the months list by now, Nuthatch and Yellowhammer.

A BUZZARD, and a KESTREL made the daylist up to 47 as I walked home, but no Sparrowhawk today, should have been an over 50 species day today - must look a bit harder tomorrow!
Plenty of photo's today - i'll save some for when the weather reverts back to default mode ( wet and dull!)  but here's a selection from them.

Robin - not had one brighten the blog for a while now!

They're back!  Spotted Flycatcher, I love 'em  :-)

Spotted Flycatcher

Common Whitethroat

This was an interesting find at the Greenhouse Grounds - a swarm of honey bees