Pittswood Birds

A frost this morning soon cleared, but cloud and mist rolled in making for a disappointing few hours, until this cleared as well, when it then became sunny and warm.

I was out for most of the day, undertaking a full patch walk during the morning hours, then recording Butterflies and sky watching during the afternoon. A good tally of bird species were eventually winkled out, 50 in all, but generally, actual numbers of birds were low.

The standout species for me this morning were the pair of MEDITERRANEAN GULLS (58), that flew over Migrant Alley, a good species for the April list. On the sheep pasture and paddocks, the dozen LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS and two dozen HERRING GULLS were seen again, but just 1 BLACK HEADED GULL was with them.

Still anticipating my first Blackcap of spring, the Wooded parts of my patch were thoroughly searched, but no Blackcap was seen or heard, however, all but the Bullfinch was recorded of the other woodland species, best of these were, NUTHATCH, TREECREEPER, GOLDCREST, LONG TAILED TIT, COAL TIT, STOCK DOVE, JAY, CHIFFCHAFF, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, GREEN WOODPECKER, SONGTHRUSH and MISTLETHRUSH, the last of which was sitting on her nest  :-)

The lakes had a pair each of GREYLAG GOOSE, CANADA GOOSE and MUTE SWAN, but I couldn't find the Coots today, there were a few MALLARDS and MOORHENS about, plus a GREY HERON visited.

During my bouts of sky watching, I had MEADOW PIPIT, YELLOWHAMMER and 2 SWALLOWS fly over of note, plus regular sightings of the three raptor species to be found here, KESTREL, SPARROWHAWK and BUZZARD.

Whilst looking for Butterflies the LITTLE OWL called from the Greenhouse Copse, as for Butterflies, I found Peacock, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell and Green Veined White, plus the first Small and Large Whites of the year  :-)

I even got an image of a couple of the Butterflies as they warmed themselves on the bare ground.

Peacock Butterfly

Small Tortoiseshell

I spent a few moments photographing this small spider which was on my sky watching seat, got to keep practicing !