Pittswood Birds

Once again it was clear blue skies and warm temperatures for todays patch visit, where 51 bird species were recorded, another brilliant tally for my patch, even more so when the likes of Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Little Owl, Treecreeper and Nuthatch, all semi regulars here, were missed today.

I took quite a few photo's today, so this will be a mainly photographic post!

SONGTHRUSH

The above Songthrush was chasing around the Greenhouse Grounds with two others, also, there were 2 COMMON WHITETHROATS, the LESSER WHITETHROAT which sang again, a CHIFFCHAFF and a BLACKCAP, as well as plenty of WRENS, ROBINS, DUNNOCKS and PIED WAGTAILS, a pair of LINNETS look to be nesting here too.

SKYLARK - I'm still trying to get a better shot!

The Skylark was in the Ashes Lane Field as usual, I also saw a flock of STARLINGS which had 42 Juvenile birds present, quite good for here  :-) A few pairs of SWIFTS were seen going over, and a lone HOUSE MARTIN, as well as the SWALLOWS.

TUFTED DUCK!!

 The undoubted highlight of the day was finding a pair of TUFTED DUCK (91,71) on the main lake, a real scarce bird to have on these lakes, great to get this species on years patch list  :-) On the ornamental pond the waiting for the hatching of the MUTE SWAN eggs goes on, while the COOTS had a near miss with their two remaining chicks when a BUZZARD came in and took a nearby MOORHEN chick!

Mute Swan, when will the eggs hatch ?

The Wet Woods and Scrubby Woods between them were quite busy, another MALLARD family were seen on the pools in the Wet Woods, GREAT SPOTTED and GREEN WOODPECKERS have nests in there too. The TAWNY OWL hooted just once in the Scrubby Woods, where BULLFINCH, COAL TIT, and GOLDCREST were seen taking beakfulls of grubs back to hungry nestlings, LONG TAILED TITS were also feeding their young, and yet another RING NECKED PARAKEET flew over.

I spent over an hour chasing and photographing Damsels, and have lots of images, i'll have to keep a few for the not so suny days that no doubt lie ahead! The Beautiful Demoiselles below are from yesterday.

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I was pleased to find my first White Legged Damselfly, just one immature, but more will follow in the next few weeks.

White-legged Damselfly

Not sure what that red bit is on the end of the abdomen ?

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Later in the walk, I found my first Common Blue Butterflies of the year in the more weedier of the Ashes Lane Fields, a YELLOWHAMMER flew over whilst I photographed the flutters.

Common Blue Male

Common Blue Female