Pittswood Birds

A few bright spells, just after dawn, had me taking my camera out with me for todays patch visit, they soon disappeared though, and by 09:00hrs they were replaced by some short sharp showers, blown in on a cold NW wind.

It was noticeable once again, that the birdsong was much reduced compared to what an average May day would produce here. On leaving my house, I noted down STARLING, WOODPIGEON, JACKDAW, CHAFFINCH, SONGTHRUSH, BLUE TIT, CARRION CROW, BLACKBIRD, MAGPIE and WREN, all in quick succession, yes they all sang, or called, but only in singles, not the great mass of noise I'm used to hearing in late May.

WHITETHROAT and BLACKCAP were added to that list of singletons as I passed through the Greenhouse Grounds, where I got this distant shot of a LITTLE OWL on the Greenhouse roof.

Distant Little Owl, the fact it was out in the open so late in the day may mean it has young to find food for, fingers crossed!

 Setting off across Migrant Alley, I again noted the GREYLAG and CANADA GEESE on the pasture and paddocks, 14 of the former and 16 of the latter were seen, as well as the BARNACLE GOOSE tagging along with them. The 100 plus ROOKS, 20 plusLINNETS , with  a few GOLDFINCH mixed in with them and a few more Starlings were all out feeding on the fields too, at least 6 SWALLOWS were skimming around them all. The nearby Wooded Headland had a CHIFFCHAFF singing, as well as another Blackcap and Whitethroat, a pair of BULLFINCH were also seen flying into that area.

Some of the Canada Geese

As usual there were plenty of different bird species to be found in the College Grounds and gardens, but all few in number. The SPOTTED FLYCATCHER was heard but not seen, as was the case yesterday. PIED WAGTAIL, HOUSE SPARROW, LONG TAILED TIT, GREENFINCH, COLLARED DOVE, GREAT TIT, DUNNOCK, ROBIN, MISTLETHRUSH, MOORHEN, JAY, GREEN WOODPECKER and STOCK DOVE all appeared for the list, in that order, yes it took that long to find the likes of Robin, Dunnock and Great Tit!

As I normally do, I had a skywatch on the way back, from my seat at Migrant Alley, the 40 mins produced 5 short sharp downpours, but in between I noted a few SWIFTS, a GREY HERON, a dozen HOUSE MARTINS, most certainly just passing through, 2 LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS, 4 HERRING GULLS, a pair of MALLARDS, plus one of both SPARROWHAWK and KESTREL, those being the local birds, a possible hobby was seen very briefly, but it could equally have been one of the Peregines, my view was that short as it dived behind a distant tree line. The last bird on the list was a GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, heard drumming from the Wet Woods, but no visit was made over there, or to the Lakes and Scrubby Woods today. Still, a good count of 44 species was made for the 4 hours I was out, covering just half my patch.

Later in the afternoon I attempted some garden bird photo's, still not much about though, but the visit of one young Starling made for some fun entertainment  :-)

The first of many Juv. Starlings to visit my garden this spring, I hope

Nice gob full of fat !

Still more needed !

Stuffed full and content, at last  :-)