Pittswood Birds

A moderate frost had developed overnight, leading to clear blue skies this morning, which slowly clouded over as the day progressed.

My first patch visit since Wednesday was an enjoyable one, despite still feeling a bit dodgy after my ''man flu''. The three hour full patch walk provided me with sightings of 45 species, two of those new for the March list -  the YELLOWHAMMER (49), of which one flew from the Greenhouse Copse, plus the COMMON GULL (50), a single, feeding in with a few HERRING and BLACK HEADED GULLS on the sheep pasture at Migrant Alley.

A view up through the gap between the Greenhouses on the left and the Greenhouse Copse on the right.

The KESTREL pair were seen mating again on one of the Greenhouses, the only other raptor seen today was a BUZZARD that drifted over the ashes Lane Fields, where there were a couple of REDWING in with 60-80 FIELDFARE.

Looking up to the high ground to the NE of my patch

Over at the lakes there were 3 pairs of CANADA GEESE, 1 pair of GREYLAG GEESE, the MUTE SWAN pair, plus, more excitingly, the COOT had found itself a mate too  :-) MALLARDS and MOORHENS made up the rest of what was on the water this morning.

The Mallards are also dispersing out into the woods and large gardens looking for potential nest sites.

SONGTHRUSH, MISTLETHRUSH, WREN, ROBIN, DUNNOCK, GREENFINCH, CHAFFINCH, GOLDCREST and STOCK DOVE all sang in the Wet Woods and Scrubby Woods, plus LONG TAILED TIT, NUTHATCH, TREECREEPER, BULLFINCH, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, GREEN WOODPECKER and JAY were also found in these habitats.

Both LESSER REDPOLL and SISKIN were found in the Small Holding Area, along with the GOLDFINCHES, all taking a break from feasting at my nearby garden feeders.