Pittswood Birds

My first full patch walk of February was a relatively successful one, with a nice variance of species being found, the good tally of 45 species was no doubt helped by the better weather, which included some short spells of sunshine, this was tempered by cool wind however.

New species for the February list were on offer right from the start, with a REDWING (34) and a HOUSE SPARROW (35) being the 2nd and 5th species recorded. A PIED WAGTAIL (36) also joined that list as I walked the Greenhouse Grounds, where a dozen SISKIN were seen in the Alder trees there. The nearby Greenhouse Copse gave up its customary LITTLE OWL (37), always good to get this species early in the month  :-)

Crossing the Sheep pasture and horse paddocks at Migrant Alley I counted 37 BLACK HEADED GULLS, but of more interest was a lone COMMON GULL (38) that was with them, a good find here, with just a handful of records each year.

Next up was the College Grounds, where plenty of the regular common species were found, GREENFINCH, GOLDFINCH, CHAFFINCH, COLLARED DOVE, SONGTHRUSH, GREEN and GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, COAL TIT and GOLDCREST to name a few, but I couldn't find a Bullfinch here today, nor was there a Kingfisher to add to the months list.

I made my way back over Migrant Alley, and cut through the Greenhouse Grounds again to access the Tree Nursery, where my first MEADOW PIPIT (39) for the month flew up calling, and a few minutes later a SPARROWHAWK (40) flashed past me and alighted on a fence pole for a few seconds, i'm surprised I took this long to add it to the February list! Before a visit to the Wet Woods I checked the Pub Filed, but found it totally empty of birds today, however the Wet Woods was much busier, due mainly to a mixed feeding flock of BLUE, GREAT, Coal and LONG TAILED TITS (41), with them were the first TREECREEPER (42), and NUTHATCH (43) for the month, as well as 4 Goldcrest, and 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, a STOCK DOVE was heard to sing nearby too.

Goldcrest

Treecreeper

Treecreeper

The lakes today were a bit busier than usual, with 18 MALLARDS, 4 MOORHEN, the COOT and the first CANADA GEESE (44) of the month, 14 were noisily splashing around. A CORMORANT (45) took flight as it saw me, but it was replaced by the dropping in of my old friend the feral BARNACLE GOOSE (69,46), could of done with that last week! This the 5th year that it has shown up, I wonder how old it is now ?

The feral Barnacle Goose makes it onto another year list  :-)

Canada Goose

Canada Geese

I finished the walk via the Small Holding, where I added just one more new species for February when a COMMON BUZZARD (47) was seen to fly low over, not a bad visit in all then, with the months list now at 47 species :-)