Pittswood Birds

Yet another grey and damp morning, with scattered showers, but at least there was little wind, making it feel quite warm.

I was inspired at least by the fact it was the start of a new month and was looking forward to starting the September bird species list, which was excruciatingly slow moving this morning!

Anyway, here's what I found in the order they appeared, just eight species were found along the stretch of Ashes Lane leading to the Greenhouses, they were WOODPIGEON, BLUE TIT, DUNNOCK, COLLARED DOVE, ROBIN, BLACKBIRD, JACKDAW and SWALLOW. At the Greenhouse Grounds, CARRION CROW, GOLDFINCH, WREN, WHITETHROAT, PIED WAGTAIL, CHIFFCHAFF, CHAFFINCH, GREAT TIT and KESTREL were seen.

The circuit of Migrant Alley, plus a look at the Greenhouse Copse added very little for the day list, just ROOK, STARLING, a flyover HOBBY, GREEN WOODPECKER, a smart WHEATEAR, a flyover STOCK DOVE, a MAGPIE and a around 150 HOUSE MARTINS that made they way SE, with them were 4 YELLOW WAGTAILS, they all seemed to drop down from a large black shower cloud, a bit of migration in action. Heading home for a snack and drink via High House Lane, added just HOUSE SPARROW and HERRING GULL, two of which were on the harrowed field of Bustard Hill, 28 species was a real slow start to the morning  :-(

After my 5 minute break, I headed for the Small Holding, where NUTHATCH, GOLDCREST, and GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER were added to the September tally, meager stuff indeed, the Wet Woods proved even more so with not a species added to the days finds!

The Scrubby Woods were a little better, with COAL TIT, GREENFINCH, JAY, BULLFINCH, and BLACKCAP (just 1!!) added to the list. A look around the three lake bodies added three more species, with two GREY HERONS, plus a few MALLARDS and MOORHENS.

I next headed over to the Ashes Lane and Pub Field, which between the two of them could only produce two flyover CANADA GEESE for the months tally, so I decided that a sky watch from my seat at Migrant Alley was the next best option. I had to pass through the Greenhouse Grounds again, which was fortunate, as I heard then saw a LESSER WHITETHROAT there, plus the days first and only SONGTHRUSH.

My sky watch lasted just 20 minutes, as a heavy shower sent me scurrying for cover, but the rain didn't pass quickly and I headed off home to shelter for a while, at least BUZZARD and LINNET were seen before the rain came.

I finished off my sky watch this afternoon, with an hour from 14:00hrs, where a few species were added to the September list, these were SPARROWHAWK, CORMORANT and GREY WAGTAIL.

So the September list starts off with 47 species, thats 31 behind the record September tally, which was achieved back in 2009 and again last year, the average number of species found for the previous five Septembers is 74.

I managed to get a couple of bird images in the brighter spells this morning  :-)

The only Songthrush of the day, like many other species that were seen just singly today.

Goldfinch, even these were down to half a dozen in number.