Pittswood Birds

As today looked to be just about the best for a while, weatherwise, I decided to get a full patch walk in this morning, I like to get a minimum of 10 full patch walks in a month, and today would be the 10th for October.

The first hour or so proved difficult, as dense fog plagued the visit, not for the first time this month  :-(  However by 09:00hrs the sky began to clear, and some long sunny spells were enjoyed, with temperatures up into the high teens, which brought out Red Admiral Butterflies and Common darters again  :-)

A foggy Small Holding first thing this morning

I visited the lakes first off, via the small Holding and Wet Woods, picking up a few of the common and regular stuff as I went, STARLING, WOODPIGEON, COLLARED DOVE, HOUSE SPARROW, JACKDAW, CARRION CROW, CHAFFINCH, BLUE TIT, DUNNOCK, ROBIN, BLACKBIRD, and STOCK DOVE were the first dozen species seen, in the that order, but only JAY and PHEASANT were added before I arrived at the Lakes and Scrubby Woods, a particularly poor tally, due mostly to the fog!

On the Ornamental lake, once again the MUTE SWANS were seen, a record stay for this species on my patch! A KINGFISHER was also present again, as were a few MOORHENS, the only MALLARDS seen were 8 on the Main lake and 2 on the Small Lake, nothing more exciting was on the water.

The adjacent Scrubby woods began to come to life as the fog lifted and the morning warmed up, with GREEN and GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKERS, GOLDCREST, COAL TIT, BULLFINCH, NUTHATCH, SONGTHRUSH, and flyover SISKIN all recorded.

The second half of the walk, around the mostly farmland part of my patch, had little to offer for the days list that was actually on the ground, but flyovers from a pair, plus 4 single CORMORANTS, a few MEADOW PIPITS, at least a dozen SKYLARK, (mostly heard but unseen), a YELLOWHAMMER, a MISTLETHRUSH, and a few more single Siskin were all good species for here. A LITTLE OWL was seen on a fence post off High House Lane, a usual spot, and another called from the private garden along Ashes Lane, another usual spot :-)

Two BUZZARDS were soaring up above the Greenhouse Grounds, where the pair of KESTRELS were seen - in their usual spots! Forty Three species for the day was about par for an October day, nothing for the months list though, can I find the three more new species for this month to set a new October record?  Still seven days to go!

The female Kestrel decided she would sit for me today,

Sometimes she allows close approach, other times not

Normally if her partner is nearby, she will sit nicely, and he was

The male Kestrel rarely allows any sort of approach though

I thought i'd take a gamble, and later in the walk changed to my macro set up, hoping that a butterfly would sit for me, it didn't, but this Common Darter did  :-)

Common Darter

Common Darter, will this be the last of the Dragonflies this year?