Pittswood Birds

My first post holiday patch visit was undertaken in cloudy, misty and dull conditions, with virtually no wind.

I made a full patch walk lasting just over four hours, finding a total of 45 species, a little below what I could have expected for June, with the likes of Long Tailed Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard and incredibly, Rook all not being found this morning.

Leaving my house just before 06:00hrs, I made my way up Ashes Lane, where the first dozen June species to be seen were, ROBIN, WOODPIGEON, HOUSE SPARROW,  STARLING, COLLARED DOVE, JACKDAW (with the first young of the year) CARRION CROW, SWALLOW (with the first young of the year) SPARROWHAWK, PHEASANT, BLACKBIRD and CHAFFINCH. Turning into the Small Holding more of the common species were quickly added, like BLUE TIT, GREAT TIT, DUNNOCK and MAGPIE, while WHITETHROAT, WREN, SONGTHRUSH and TREECREEPER gave away their presence by singing, plus a JAY squawked as it flew over.

My walk through the Wet Woods was a little quieter, but the first GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER young were seen with a female adult, then a family of Wrens flew across my path, this being the 25th species to have successfully raised young here this year, the only other species seen in the Wet Woods for the June list was the MOORHEN.

On the Lakes there were 16 CANADA GEESE, two sets of well grown young were with them, one of those being followed around by a GREYLAG GOOSE, just one pair of MALLARD were on the water, plus a GREY HERON.

I found a few more species for the June list in the adjacent Scrubby Woods, those being CHIFFCHAFF, NUTHATCH, BLACKCAP, GOLDCREST, GOLDFINCH, GREENFINCH, COAL TIT, MISTLETHRUSH and STOCK DOVE.

I made my way over to Migrant Alley and the Greenhouse Grounds via the Ashes Lane Fields, where I found a GREEN WOODPECKER with its youngster, another for the successfully bred year list! At the Greenhouse Grounds I added LINNET, PIED WAGTAIL and the female KESTREL to the months list, I wonder if there are young Kestrels in the nest box, I'll have to investigate further next week. A circuit of the sheep pasture and Paddocks at Migrant Alley was only notable for the absence of Rooks and the recently fledged Carrion Crows that had gathered on a paddock, the 27th species to have successfully fledged young this year.

 A short sky watch from my seat provided few species, a dozen HERRING GULLS went over, as did 2 LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS, 3 SWIFTS circled over for a while, plus a PEREGRINE flew over, alighting on Hadlow village Tower in the distance. I walked home via the Greenhouse Copse, but found no Little Owl, however I added the final species for the day as I walked along High House Lane, when a couple of SKYLARK were heard singing up high over the adjacent Bustard Hill.

No photo's today, but of course I have plenty from Wales! I hope you like Dippers!

This Juvenile Dipper sat patiently waiting for food to arrive

It was difficult getting an exceptable image, as it was sitting in a dark recess!

This was another Juvenile Dipper found a few days later, again in a dark recess

It did move out on occasions, especially when the adult bird arrived with food

This was one such occasion

we watched the adult bird arrive with food

I eventually got a nice shot of the food being passed over to the youngster