Pittswood Birds

This morning was mostly overcast, but a few bright spells were also enjoyed. The afternoon became sunny and warm, probably the warmest day of the year here  :-)

TAWNY OWL (67) was added to the April list yesterday evening, when two birds were heard from my house around 21:00hrs, making all sorts of screeching and calling, no Little Owls yet though.

A full patch walk this morning provided me with 46 bird species for the 4 hour visit, a few down on recent full patch walks, but the gull species that help pad the day lists out are at a premium now, only LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL was seen, plus the winter species are now almost gone, just a few SISKIN left at my garden feeders still, so with those,47 species were counted today :-)

No more new spring migrant species have arrived on my patch, although the second WILLOW WARBLER of the spring was heard singing from the Wet Woods. No other new species were added to the April list during my walk, but all the regulars turned up, CHIFFCHAFF, BLACKCAP and SWALLOW represented the rest of the summer species seen, while the raptors of KESTREL, SPARROWHAWK and BUZZARD all showed up. NUTHATCH, TREECREEPER, GOLDCREST, LONG TAILED TIT, COAL TIT, BULLFINCH, JAY, STOCK DOVE, GREEN WOODPECKER, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, and MISTLETHRUSH were the pick of the resident woodland species found, the most noteworthy species from the farmland and Greenhouse Grounds were : SKYLARK, LINNET, SONGTHRUSH and GREENFINCH. Few flyovers were noted today, a lone GREY HERON being of most interest.

Nothing on the lakes of much note today, where the MUTE SWANS, CANADA GEESE, MALLARDS and MOORHENS are all on nests.

In the warm sunshine this afternoon I went out to do some ''butterflying'' I had high hopes of finding my first Brimstone or Orange Tip of the year, but had to make do with Small White, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell sadly. Only the latter posed for a photo today.

Small Tortoiseshell. Hopefully, soon the freshly emerged ones will be out  :-)