Pittswood Birds

The weather was fine and sunny, with virtually no wind, perfect for the first full patch walk of the new month.

August can be a rewarding month for me, my patch can attract a good number of passage migrants, hopefully this August will be a good one for them. My target, is as always, to beat the record tally for the upcoming month, the challenge is set high for August, the record being 78, which was set in both 2010 and 2014, it is the second highest tally for any month of any year!

Here's how I kicked off the August tally then, in the order of appearance......

The first dozen birds were all seen as I left my house and walked along Ashes Lane, those being, CARRION CROW, GREENFINCH, COLLARED DOVE, CHAFFINCH, WOODPIGEON, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, JACKDAW, BLUE TIT, ROBIN, WREN, GOLDFINCH and SONGTHRUSH. Turing into the Greenhouse Grounds I added SWALLOW, GREEN WOODPECKER, WHITETHROAT, BLACKBIRD, MAGPIE, KESTREL, PIED WAGTAIL and GREAT TIT.

A circuit of Migrant Alley, taking in the Wooded Headland and the Greenhouse Copse, increased the days list handsomely, with LINNET, DUNNOCK, HOUSE SPARROW, BLACKCAP, JAY, STARLING, ROOK, and CHIFFCHAFF, flyover CANADA GEESE, GREYLAG GEESE, HERRING GULL, STOCK DOVE and a fantastic HOBBY that chased the Swallows over the paddocks. This REED BUNTING was a good find, a scarce bird indeed on my patch.

I took a distant shot of it

Then managed a closer, but still obscured shot,

With the days tally on 34, additions became a bit slower, with just NUTHATCH, GOLDCREST, TREECREEPER and LITTLE OWL added as I walked High House Lane, the Small Holding and the Wet Woods. The lakes incremented the days tally, by 4, with MOORHEN, MALLARD, MANDARIN DUCK and GREY HERON all being seen, then the Scrubby Woods chipped in with its only two additions, the BULLFINCH, which a family party was watched feeding on Elder Berries, and a COAL TIT which gave some song. Whilst in the Scrubby Woods I encountered a couple of Southern Hawker Dragonflies, but just manged to spook them before I got an image, one for another time, I did however get some more Brown Hawker images, i'll take that!

This looks to be a different one to the couple I photographed last week, judging by the wing damage seen.

After my Dragonfly encounters, I moved on to look around the Ashes Lane Fields and the Pub Field, only adding BUZZARD, BLACK HEADED GULL, SPARROWHAWK, (the fourth raptor of the visit), and SWIFT, which all flew over.

Tallying up the total, I recorded 48 birds in all, not a bad start to the month, just 32 more to beat the record August total then!!