Pittswood Birds

I had just 3 hours this morning to kick off the June bird list, not enough time really to do my whole patch justice, but I got round most of it :-)

June is generally one of the quieter months for birds, what i've got I keep and little else arrives, although the odd visitor can still turn up or flyover   :-)

The best June tally was back in 2010, with 68 species recorded, so that's the target for the month.

It was partly cloudy when I left the house at 06:15hrs, I quickly added a few of the regular and common species as I walked along Ashes Lane, like CHAFFINCH, BLACKBIRD, WREN, WOODPIGEON, DUNNOCK, SWALLOW, SONGTHRUSH, GREEN WOODPECKER, JACKDAW, ROBIN, CARRION CROW, COLLARED DOVE, and a not so common or regular MANDARIN DUCK, a female, which flew over towards the Wet Woods.

Cutting through the Greenhouse Grounds, I only added BLUE TIT and GOLDCREST to the list, then out in the fields at Migrant Alley, I found ROOK, GOLDFINCH, STARLING, JAY, LINNET, CANADA, GREYLAG and BARNACLE GOOSE, PIED WAGTAIL and HERRING GULL, I could hear CHIFFCHAFF and COMMON WHITETHROAT singing over at the Wooded Headland to the north of the paddocks, where a PHEASANT also called.

Chiffchaff

Next stop was the College Grounds and Gardens, where the next set of species to join the list were, HOUSE SPARROW, flyover MALLARD and LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL, plus STOCK DOVE, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, LONG TAILED TIT, GREENFINCH, MAGPIE, BLACKCAP, MOORHEN and SPOTTED FLYCATCHER, which I mangaged a few record shots of :-)

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Walking back out of the College Grounds, I headed through the Wooded Headlands, only adding SPARROWHAWK to the months list, which brought up the fourtieth species for the day, then heading back through the Greenhouse Grounds, I heard the calls of SWIFT overhead, and saw, as I have done the past few days, the LITTLE OWL back on the guttering of one of the greenhouses.

I then headed off over to the Wet Woods via the Ashes Lane Field, which was empty, a scan over the adjacent Pub Field also drew a blank, but I heard a SKYLARK singing somewhere up high. In the Wet Woods, where just TREECREEPER was added to the days tally, when one was heard to sing.

The Lakes and Scrubby Woods were searched for a reasonable amount of time, but not really enough, and I only added COOT, and COAL TIT from here.

I headed home back through the Wet Woods and the Small Holding, the latter habitat eventually giving me GREAT TIT for the day, where have they all gone I wonder! The last species for the day was seen circling low over my house - a COMMON BUZZARD, very nice  :-)

So I ended up with 48 species, a good enough start for June, but still 21 more needed to beat the record tally :-)

Ive still got a few images from last weekend, so i'll post them up today, just a few insects, that I may or may not have identified correctly!

Green-legged Sawfly - put me right if it is not the case!

Drone fly, Eristalis Pratorum - again, I may be wrong  :-)

I'm confident about this one though, a Small Copper, a bit of a cheat really, as it was found off patch at Tudely Woods RSPB reserve  :-)