Pittswood Birds

A new month begins! August can bring a few interesting birds to my patch as they make their way south for the Autumn and with the previous 5 Augusts reaching an average species tally of 73, I'm looking forward to seeing what my turn up  :-)

This morning though was a bit slow, mainly due to the foggy conditions that persisted from 06:00hrs until gone 08:00hrs, I still managed an creditable 45 species for the 5 hour patch visit, plus a TAWNY OWL that was heard outside the front of my house ''kewicking'' at 04:15hrs, the first one i've recorded since May.

Here's what what seen in the order it appeared ;

Leaving my house and walking along Ashes lane was quite productive with, GOLDFINCH, COLLARED DOVE, JACKDAW, PIED WAGTAIL, GREENFINCH, WREN, CHAFFINCH, BLACKBIRD, MAGPIE, JAY, ROBIN, DUNNOCK, SWALLOW, WOODPIGEON, SONGTHRUSH, BLUE TIT, LINNET, BULLFINCH, and GREAT TIT all being seen in the 200 yards to the Greenhouse Grounds, where only WHITETHROAT, GOLDCREST and HOUSE SPARROW were added to the list.

Migrant Alley was shrouded in the worst of the fog, and produced little, just CARRION CROW, ROOK, STARLING, GREEN WOODPECKER and flyovers from HERRING GULL and STOCK DOVE were to be found, a CHIFFCHAFF called from the Wooded Headlands, the 30th species for the month.

I walked the long way around the Small Holding, hoping to find the Spotted Flycatchers that bred in one of the adjacent large Gardens, but failed to see them, however I did hear NUTHATCH and COAL TIT calling there. Moving through the Wet Woods I added GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER to the August tally, then the Lakes added a further 7 species, with MUTE SWAN, CANADA GOOSE, GREYLAG GOOSE, MALLARD, COOT, MOORHEN and GREY HERON being found.

The adjacent Scrubby Woods provided BLACKCAP and TREECREEPER for the months count, as well as the bird of the day for me when at least 6 SAND MARTINS flew low over, calling as they sped E.

I made my way back homewards, crossing the Ashes Lane Fields, and added LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL when a single flew over and also COMMON BUZZARD when 3 where seen soaring over the Greenhouse Grounds.

So, 46 species to kick off the month then, but the challenge is to beat the record August tally of 78 set back in 2010, I think it will be very difficult, when some of the species seen then, no longer breed on my patch, and some of the migrant species seemingly have left already, but it's worth the try!

Not much for the camera early on in the fog, but whilst in the Scrubby Woods I had close approach to this male Southern Hawker Dragonfly  :-)  I took 133 photo's of it, so i'll put some images on tomorrows post too, as the weather looks like its not going to be compatible with photography.