Pittswood Birds

No fog this morning, but it was a dreary, overcast and dark morning, however, i'll take that over the fog anyday!

There wasn't an awful lot to get excited about early on as I made my way across the Ashes lane field to get to the Lakes, not surprising though, it was still practically dark at 07:30hrs. At the lakes there were comparatively few MALLARDS about, maybe 12 - 15 spread over three water bodies, where 5 MOORHEN were also seen. The MUTE SWAN pair have stayed on, will they possibly make a breeding attempt, the first ever here at Pittswood ?  A COOT and at least 1 pair of MANDARIN DUCKS made up the rest of what was seen on the water.

As the morning got a bit lighter (only just!) the birds began to be more active, lots of the common and regular species were again seen around the Scrubby Woods, some, like the COAL TIT, MISTLETHRUSH, SONGTHRUSH, DUNNOCK, WREN, ROBIN, GOLDCREST and even a TREECREEPER were all singing, the sound of calling NUTHATCH, BULLFINCH, GREEN and GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, plus flyover calls from LESSER REDPOLL and SISKIN all helped cheer the morning up a bit.

Making my way back across the Ashes Lane Field I watched a mixed flock of REDWING and FIELDFARE drop into the adjacent large garden, which has an apple tree still holding apples, this is the biggest flock of winter thrushes seen so far this year - not quite the flocks of a 1000+ that used to frequent the fields here though.

I only spent 40 minutes or so over at the Greenhouse Grounds and the fields of Migrant Alley, as there was much disturbance from work crews at the Greenhouses and students wandering across the fields of Migrant alley. It wasn't a total waste of effort though, for as well as seeing the LITTLE OWL in the Greenhouse Copse once again, I also had the bonus of watching a LITTLE EGRET (63) fly over, one more for the year list, and one more for the January total, which has now reached the third highest tally of any January  :-)

This afternoon it eventually brightened up, so i got my camera out for some garden bird shots, not very exciting, but it brightens the page!

Nuthatch

STARLING

The ''Green'' perch was popular today, this GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER .............

..................... and this COLLARED DOVE stayed just long enough for a  image

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