Pittswood Birds

It was still a bit breezy for this mornings full patch walk, but at least it had warmed up a bit, and some good sunny spells developed during the morning.

I paid a visit to the College Grounds first off, passing through the greenhouse Grounds and Migrant Alley as I went, finding the regularly seen species easily enough, this LINNET was with a female, they were waiting for me to pass before visiting their nest site.

Male Linnet

Once at the College Grounds I had a fleeting glimpse of one of the SPOTTED FLYCATCHERS, but the grounds and gardens were more notable for the young fledglings seen, which included 4 SONGTHRUSH, 5 WREN, 4 MOORHEN, 2 CHIFFCHAFF, 1 GOLDCREST, 1 GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER and the first young JAYS of the year, the 30th species to be confirmed successfully breeding on the patch this year, also, CHAFFINCH and WOODPIGEON were seen feeding chicks on their respective nests. Below are a few photo's I took whilst there, I got quite a lot and will post more of them on the rainy days next week  :-)

Wren feeding one of it's young

Another of the newly fledged Wrens, this one has a bill deformity, a crossbilled Wren - patch tick! Perhaps not  :-(

Goldcrest

Chiffchaff

On leaving the College Grounds, a fox family of two adults and four cubs were seen playing about in the sunshine.

Half the Fox family

I retraced my steps back through Migrant Alley, seeing and hearing the TURTLE DOVE at the top of its pylon song post, i'd already heard the pair over at the College Grounds, what a ground sound they make :-) On revisiting the Greenhouse Grounds I found two fledgling WHITETHROATS hiding up in a hawthorn bush,waiting to be fed

Hungry Whitethroat fledgeling

Hungry Whitethroat fledgeling

When I finally got to the Scrubby Woods and lake area, I was greeted by more Turtle Dove song, plus the BLACKCAPS that are still singing strongly, another pair of Chiffchaff were seen feeding two youngsters in an Oak tree, while COAL TIT, NUTHATCH and TREECREEPER called from deep in the woods. My first LONG TAILED TITS for a couple of weeks were also seen, but without young with them, a pair of BULLFINCH were carrying food, I should see their young about soon  :-)

I spent some time photographing Odenata whilst in and around the Woods and lake ( which was empty of birds apart from the COOT family) photo's of Beautiful Demoiselle, Common Blue, Azure and White-legged Damselfly were taken, as well as my first Black-tailed Skimmer of the year, which was seen later in the Tree Nursery.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

It was whilst chasing the few butterflies about in the Tree Nursery that I added KESTREL, SPARROWHAWK and a fantastic HOBBY to the day l;ist, they were seen all up hunting over the area, as was the above LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL.  Butterfly wise it was notable for my first record of Large Skipper for the year, which I photographed mating, i'll post the photo's later in the week, I took so many today i've got enough to keep the blog going for when the rain comes back  :-)