Pittswood Birds

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It was a nice change to get out without fighting the elements this morning, giving me the chance for an enjoyable full patch walk. The three and a half hour walk yielded me a good total of 46 species, most of which came from the lakes and wooded areas of my patch. The pasture, paddocks and hedges of Migrant Alley were visited early on, mainly to try and find a Snipe for the months list, but that didn't happen, however, flyovers from COMMON GULL, CORMORANT and GREYLAG GOOSE were all good species to record.

The Pub Field continues to disappoint, as does the Ashes lane field, although the old shack there, again had the LITTLE OWL sitting beside it.

A look through the Wet Woods was quite productive, with a few MALLARDS, MOORHEN and a pair of MANDARIN DUCK on the overflowing pools of water there. A TREECREEPER was also seen, and a GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER was heard to drum briefly.

The highlight of the day was found on the Main Lake, when I had the good fortune to find no fewer than 6 GOOSANDER (63), 4 of those being females, these bring the December list up  to 5th place out of the twelve  recorded :-) Goosander are quite regular visitors in variable numbers during the winter months, I always look forward to finding them  :-) Also on the water were the MUTE SWAN pair, a KINGFISHER, another pair of Mandarin Ducks, and the usual Mallards and Moorhans. A BUZZARD went over as I took some distant photo's of the Goosander, it was being mobbed by a KESTREL.

A distant shot of the Goosander, always worth getting a record of though.

A look though the Scrubby Woods provided good views of LONG TAILED TIT, plus COAL TIT, and GOLDCREST that were with them. At least 2 BULLFINCH called and a MISTLE THRUSH sang, while overhead both SISKIN and LESSER REDPOLL called as the flew over.

I ended the walk back over at the Greenhouse Grounds, and sky watching from my seat at Migrant Alley, I was hoping to see a Lapwing go over, but didn't, plenty of BLACK HEADED and HERRING GULL were seen, and a large corvid flock had turned up on the pasture since I was there earlier, a mix of at least 300 ROOKS and JACKDAWS were feeding.

Long Tailed Tit

Long Tailed Tit