Pittswood Birds

Sunrise on another glorious sunny day  :-)

After some short lived fog, the day became sunny and mild again, allowing for another 5 hours out on my patch. Not an awful lot is changing here, the first spring migrant is eagerly anticipated, but until then its a case of checking whats still here.

A GREY HERON and a pair of GREYLAG GEESE flew over early on, and the LITTLE OWL was on it's roof top perch at the old shack thats in the Ashes lane Field.

This one is particularly wary, so I don't approach it too close!

Over on the lakes, no surprise duck species awaited me, each day that goes by now it will become less likely that there will be, until Autumn  :-)  There were however 15 CANADA GEESE and the feral BARNACLE GOOSE on the water, as well as the MUTE SWAN and COOT pair, the third Coot that has been here for the past two days has left, just 6 MALLARD and 4 MOORHEN were also seen.

I spent some time just listening in the Scrubby Woods, with the Chiffchaff song high in my mind, but it is just a few days early for this, the undoubted first spring migrant that appears on my patch, to sing just yet, the earliest singer I have had here is the 10th March and that occurred back in 2003. I did hear TREECREEPER and COAL TIT sing though, as well as BLACKBIRD, MISTLETHRUSH, SONGTHRUSH, WREN, ROBIN, DUNNOCK, GOLDCREST, GREENFINCH, and CHAFFINCH, I also heard the NUTHATCH'S calling as well as a few BULLFINCH, and 3 GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKERS chased through a nearby large Oak.

Three raptor species were seen up hunting over the fields and Greenhouse Grounds, 2 of those were BUZZARDS, plus one each of SPARROWHAWK and KESTREL. The Greenhouse Copse was again home to a Little Owl, and the Greenhouse Grounds had of note a few MEADOW PIPITS and 4 REDWING, as well as, at last, a YELLOWHAMMER (58) for the March List.

I also found this Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly at the Greenhouse Grounds.

Small Tortoiseshell

 Back at home this afternoon, the garden feeders had attracted just 2 SISKIN, but also the LESSER REDPOLL, here's a few images of the Redpoll.

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Lesser Redpoll