Pittswood Birds

The last of the fine sunny days has passed, and this afternoon was cooler, with grey clouds and a brisk wind - not very good for insect hunting! I did however make another visit to the ponds at the College Grounds this afternoon, hoping against hope to find one of those Variable Damselflies, I didn't, but thee were a few Azure Blues, Common Blues, and Blue Tailed Damsels about, bu the light was poor and the wind blew them about so the photo opportunities were few, just a couple of grainy ones were obtained

Azure Damselfly

Blue Tailed Damselfly

Whilst at the ponds I had a look around the rest of the garden for butterflies, but not a single one was seen, I did find a SPOTTED FLYCATCHER though, always good to see one of those :-)  I also saw a BLACKCAP pair carrying food to some young that were either in the nest or already fledged, but I couldn't find either so i cant confirm successful breeding just yet :-) As I was leaving the College Grounds I walked across the sports pitch there, here a crowd of JACKDAWS flew up into a line of trees, where I could just pick out a newly fledged one, so Jackdaw at least can be added to the confirmed Successfully breeding list for this year.

First fledgling Jackdaw of the year -just look at the annoying dirt on the image ( just below and to the left of its bill tip Grrrr....)

I stopped off at Migrant Alley, and watched the sky for an hour, I saw the first of the GREYLAG and CANADA GEESE start to drop into the sheep pasture, and a YELLOWHAMMER called as it went over, only the second recorded this month. SWIFTS and SWALLOWS dotted the sky, looking like the dirt on my camera sensor ( which is going into the technicians on Saturday afternoon, so no camera for two weeks !) The only raptor seen was one of the local Kestrels, while the GULLS were represented by LESSER BLACK BACKED and HERRING. Not much else to report on a bit of a flat afternoon, the last one of May, which turned into a bit of a mixed month really.

The May bird species list ended on 69, the fourth best May from eleven, and 3 species better than the mean 11 year May average, but it's the first May not to have reached 70 or more species since 2008. On the brighter side I recorded my first Spring Osprey, and my first May Redstart, these two additions bring the combined May total to 91 Species, so I really could have done better this month!

The year list is on 97, not bad for the end of May, the next possible additions probably wont be added until the Autumn now, hopefully Whinchat, Stonechat, and Sedge warbler will take me to the 100 mark, but they're not certain visitors to my patch, hopefully a few bonus species will also turn up to take me to my target of 109 for the year   :-)