Pittswood Birds

This afternoon there wasn't a breath of wind, which made it feel very mild out, but I didn't venture too far from home as the sky was black with heavy rain clouds. I did a circuit of the now waterlogged Tree Nursery, finding the usual suspects, 4 MEADOW PIPIT, WRENS, ROBINS, CHAFFINCH, at least 8 SONGTHRUSHES, two GREEN WOODPECKERS, a GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER and a a bit of a surprise 5 LINNETS. An impressive slow fly past from a COMMON BUZZARD was nice to watch, it alighted in the Wet Woods, where it was immediately seen off by two CARRION CROWS!

I crossed Ashes Lane and had a look around the Greenhouse Grounds, which is also completely waterlogged, finding the LESSER REDPOLLS, SISKINS and GOLDFINCH feeding in the Alder Trees again, the brambles below had more Wrens, and Robins, as well as eight DUNNOCK, two GOLDCREST, loads of BLACKBIRDS, two more Songthrush, and a mix of BLUE and GREAT TITS. One of the KESTREL pair was up hunting, and flyovers from YELLOWHAMMER, SKYLARK, MISTLETHRUSH, BLACK HEADED and HERRING GULL made it a busier visit than yesterday.

With the sun setting fast, and a huge black shower cloud approaching from the west, the light went quicker than normal, and by 15:45hrs I was watching a procession of PIED WAGTAILS head for their roost in the Greenhouses, I counted 60 birds, but I suspect I missed a few!  Also seen coming into roost were small numbers of STARLING, they were dropping into a clump of Leylandi trees in a nearby garden.

No photo's today, the blog folder has run dry  :-(