Pittswood Birds

I finished off yesterdays post wondering what would the 70th bird species of August be, well I didn't have to wait long, as I was awoken in the night by the ''ke-wick'' call of a TAWNY OWL (70) at 01:30hrs, I got up to the window to have a listen, just to confirm I didn't dream it!

It remained overcast all day today, with a moderate southerly wind, making it feel cooler than of late.

An early walk around Migrant Alley, the Pub Field, the Ashes Lane Fields and a look through the Greenhouse Grounds proved to be a very quiet affair. A Couple of WHITETHROATS were seen in both the Ashes Lane Fields and the Greenhouse Grounds, the latter had the 50+ GOLDFINCH flock feeding on the thistles again, plus a CHIFFCHAFF and and a couple of BLACKCAPS were also noted there.

The Broad Bean crop at Bustard Hill, adjacent to High High Lane, was being havested and the stems chopped, which brought in a procession of HERRING GULLS, plus a few BLACK HEADED GULLS and LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS.

A short walk through the Wet Woods and Scrubby Woods, with a look over the lakes, was similarly hard going, just the female MANDARIN DUCK and 5 CANADA GEESE were noteworthy on the lakes, with the woods providing all the that could be expected, although mostly in very small numbers, 2 GOLDCREST, 1 TREECREEPER, 1 COAL TIT, a gang of LONG TAILED TITS, 2 NUTHATCH, 2 BULLFINCH, 1 CHIFFCHAFF, 9 BLACKCAPS, 1 GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, 4 GREEN WOODPECKERS, a calling STOCK DOVE plus a couple of screeching JAYS were about the best of it.

I decided on a sky watch back over on my seat at Migrant Alley, the low cloud and moderate breeze seemed to bode well for a few flyovers. I got there via the Ashes Lane Fields, where I was surprised by a WHEATEAR that flew up a few yards in front of me, that wasn't there earlier, cheered my visit up no end though  :-)

My two hour sky watch was the best part of the visit today, with notable flyovers from ;  a skein of 26 GREYLAG GEESE, 1 CORMORANT, 1 GREY HERON, 4 HOUSE MARTIN, and 3 SWIFTS, plus 4 raptor species, those being a single KESTREL, a party of 3 soaring BUZZARDS, a pair of SPARROWHAWKS and the star bird......another OSPREY!  This one flew a little lower than the last, but my camera was not to hand given the poor light, maybe I should have taken it out after all, just to get the record shot!