Pittswood Birds

It was overcast and dull this morning, with a little mist, at last the fog has gone!

I undertook a four and a half hour full patch walk today, finding 42 bird species, not a bad effort for November. Six of those species were additions to the November list, the first being FIELDFARE (43), when a flock of 14 flew over the Ashes Lane Fields.

HERRING GULL (44) was the second addition, three were seen with a group of 18 BLACK HEADED GULLS that fed on the sheep pasture at Migrant Alley, over which flew a BUZZARD (45) The Greenhouse Grounds provided GREY WAGTAIL (46) for the months list, where the SISKIN and GOLDFINCHES had dropped in number, just a dozen or so of each fed in the Alders, but 3 LESSER REDPOLL continue to hang around. I have been putting out a bit of seed under the boundary hedgerow over the past few days, this attracting a few CHAFFINCHES, GREENFINCHES, GREAT TITS, BLUE TITS and DUNNOCKS, but nearby, I saw 7 YELLOWHAMMERS, a peak count for the year, they may well have been attracted by the finches, hopefully they will find the seed too  :-)

A couple of PHEASANTS (47) joined the months list, they were feeding in the crop at Bustard Hill, it was here that at least 4 SKYLARKS were half singing / trilling.

The lakes had attracted no visitors today, but the KINGFISHER (48) was seen for the first time this month. A SPARROWHAWK flew through the Scrubby Woods, probably the reason for it being so quiet there! Just a NUTHATCH and 5 BULLFINCH were of note.

The Wet Woods had a flock of LONG TAILED TITS moving through it, with them were 4 GOLDCRESTS, but I couldn't find the months first Treecreeper with them. Both GREEN and GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKERS were seen in the Small Holding area, along with a pair of MISTLETHRUSH.

The six additions to the November list take it to 48 species, that's 22 behind last years record November total, although I dont think i'll find that many this year! A more reasonable target would be 66 which is the average over the previous 5 years, even that will take some doing though  :-)

Photo's today are of the Great Spotted Woodpecker that visited my garden yesterday, just as the light was fading.