Chiltern Birder

The water table has finally risen enough to feed a small spring by the Water Meadow car park in Chesham which means that there is now a small stream flowing in the river bed under the town bridge. Not enough to bring fish back to that part of the river. The garden is more active with birds, starlings are now visiting regularly and sparrows come into the bushes. A cock blackbird has taken up residence and the wood pidgeons are coming to the ground feeder as well. There don't seem to be as many greenfinches as normal yet but siskins are nowhere near as uncommon as in previous years. Unfortunately pair of wrens that were visting regularly either didn't survive the hard frosts just before Christmas or have moved elsewhere.

I now have all the feeders filled. One nyjer seed, one no mess mixture, one sunflower seed, two fat bars, ground hopper with sunflower hearts and ground tray with mixed feed and fat. Now getting blue and great tits, goldfinches and chaffinches, robins, dunnocks and blackbird on the ground. At least one coal tit is visiting regularly. Sparrows, greenfinches, siskins and wood pidgeons are visiting but rarely. I have yet to see any starlings in the garden, which means that there has been little consumption of the fat bars so far. I am rather dissapointed with the "high energy - no mess" mix in the feeder, it is going down slowly and the tits seem to prefer the whole sunflowers in the small hanging feeder or the hearts in the ground hopper. I may need to reconsider what to feed here. Around the area the red kites are in evidence again, during the last few days I saw one between Chesham and Great Missenden and another, perched on a solitary tree, between Ley Hill and Latimer. Afte

I am now using three seed feeders, the two large ones have nyjer seed and a high energy - no mess mix. The small feeder takes my remaining stock of while sunflower seeds which will not be replaced when finished. The ground feeder tray has a fat bar and a specialist ground blend while the feeder hopper has sunflower hearts with a little oatmeal mixed in. The hanging fat feeder has a peanut cake mix with insects and the other fat feeder is still empty. Apart from starlings and sparrows the birds are now back in force. Blue and great tits are in evidence in large numbersand I am also getting the occasional coal tit. On the ground, as well as the usual dunnocks and robins I am seeing wrens and a pair of blackbirds. Chaffinches and goldfinches are also frequent with greenfinches a little less common. So far I have yet to see wrens or blackbirds anywhere near the ground feeders but that will come. The hanging fat bar has not been touched yet although it usually takes a few days for the bird

Despite the recent heavy rain the state of our chalk streams does not seem to be improving. Yesterday there was still no water flowing under Chesham Town Bridge. Walking into the town from the Water Meadow (rather a joke considering my previous comment) car park I was delighted to see a kite flying over the woods opposite. It flew up the valley and then swung across Newtown and out of site behind the buildings. That is the first red kite that I have seen since spring or early summer.

Finally I am seeing some activity in the garden. At the weekend birds appeared in the morning but mostly vanished after lunch. Blue tits are active taking sunflower hearts and the goldfinches are back on the nyjer seed. I think I had a siskin on the nyjer seed as well but she (I think) was partially hidden by the feeder and I couldn't get a clear view. Greenfinches and chaffinces are around and one or two sparrows but no starlings yet. A blackbird has come back to the garden to join the robin and dunnock in the undergrowth. I am feeding sunflower heards and nyjer in the feeders and have just started putting out whole sundflower seeds. The ground feeder has a fat block, oatmeal and a specialist blackbird mix. I will have to order some fat bars for the feeders soon which should bring the starlings back in force if last year was anything to go by.

On Thursday and Friday mornings this week the bridge over the Chess at Latimer has been partially obstructed in the morning rush hour by parked cars and people with binoculars studying the river. Clearly twichers but watching what? Unfortunately the only time that I was free to stop and look would have been after dark but reference to Derwent May's column in yesterday's Times revealed that it was a purple heron. A little frustrating that I missed it as I was already committed for both days at the weekend but at least I discovered the reason for the fuss. I did manage a little birding last week. As I had to attend a conference in South Wales I took a days leave and drove up early the day before, arriving in Coleford in the Forrest of Dean at about 9:15. In the morning I revistied the Nags Head reserve hear Parkend. Apart from disturbing a buzzard that was resting quite low in the undergrowth there was little of excitement despite notices warning dog walkers of the risks from fer

I am now regularly seeing a couple of blue tits in the garden as well as the dunnock and robin. Small amounts of food have been taken including a reasonable amount of nyjer seed. It seems that the goldfinches must check that my car isn't outside before coming to the feeder! There are decent numbers of crows and rooks in the fields but hardly any starlings around at the moment and certainly no starlings or sparrows coming into the garden yet. Although the weather is more autumnal now we have only had a couple of mild frosts and I saw a flowers on a bramble today. I'll probably start buying feed again this week. A "no mess" feeder mix for a change and some fat bars and a softbill mix for the ground tray. I am thinking of adding a feeder to one of the quince trees in the front of the house so I can see it from the kitchen but I will think about that in detail with the second seed order of the season.

The few blue tits that were coming into the garden seem to have deserted me. The level in the seed feeder has been constant for the last few days and the goldfinches have still to rediscover the nyjer seed. The dunnock is still in evidence either taking fat from the ground tray or searching among the sunflower husks under the feeders. In the surrouding areas I am not seeing much except for corvids and pigeons. Even the pheasants that were in evidence a couple of weeks ago have vanished. It was a wonderfuly clear crisp autumn morning today made all the more remarkable by largely empty skys. On the way to work the clear light made a young fox by the railway line between Neasden and Willesden Green stand out in a handsome bright red. Coming home in the dark a muntjac was in the road between Latimer and Ley Hill but evolution seems to be taking its course and the survivors are the ones that run away from cars.

A little seed has been taken from the feeder. A few blue tits have been in the garden but I only saw one come to the feeder. I have put a fat block in a wire cage on the ground feeder and the dunnock has been taking that. I put some nyjer seed in the feeder today, I just wonder how long it will take the goldfinches to come bacl.

After weeks with an empty garden a dunnock and a robin finally put in an appearance at the weekend. I put some food on the ground tray and some seed in one of the feeders with little apparrent result. The dunnock was far more interested in foraging in the litter of sunflower shells under the feeders. Today, very briefly, four blue tits and two long tailed tits appeared in the garden. Only one of the blue tits paid any attention to the feeder and took about three pieces of seed. The robin gave a curious display, flying towards the hedge and suddenly hovering in a good immitation of a humming bird before flying off again.

Driving around the M25 on Sautrday night as the sun approached the horizon I was struck by the arial motorway at right angles to the road above the Lea valley. Hundreds of gulls were flying down the valley, presumably to roost on the reservoirs between Chingford and Walthamstow. I recalled a similar site in Slough some years ago, watching the gulls head east above the Bath Road. At least then I wasn't negotiating three lanes of traffic and could stand still and watch. On Sunday a short car journey had me alert for anything interesting. A party of young pheasants wandered across the road near Latimer, the cock birds almost but not quite into their adult plumage and without the long tail feathers. Plenty of small birds flew across my path, too fast to identify any although one could well have been a rather late swallow. Crows and rooks were in evidence on the fields and a kestrel was hovering close to the road. They are not as common in the hills as they are along some of the main

As far as garden birds are concerned this is the dead time. I have put feeders out in previous years in September and October only to have the food go mouldy. It is a good opportunity to get out the disinfectant and clean the feeders. I have seen nothing in the garden recently, not even a robin. As I was at home I put some food on the ground tray to see if I could attract anything, by nightfall today it was untouched. All I am aware of is wood pigeons, either perched visibly nearby or cooing in the trees. Driving to and from the station I see a few magpies and crows or rooks in the fields. Still no large birds of prey around, hopefully they will return during the winter. The roadside verges have been mowed in Little Chalfont and at the junction of Stony Lane and Amersham road I have regularly seen moorhens for the past week or so pecking in the short grass. It came as a surprise at first as, until the mowing, I had never been aware that there was a pond between the road and the field.

Not long back from a week at Whitby. Not for birding, I didn't even bother packing the bins. No interesting birds of prey were visible on the drive up although a fallow doe and her fawn crossed the road in front of me while driving across Ashridge Common. Not a common site at 9:30 in the morning but the deer are spooked by dog walkers often enough to require special care on that road at any time of day. Whitby itself is still a reasonably active fishing port although with the decine of North Sea stocks there seem to be fewer trawlers there every time I visit. Naturally the town itself is full of herring gulls. I took to wearing ear plugs at night as they provide a VERY loud dawn chorus at 5am. I rather regretted not having the camera on me at one point as I saw a juvenile pecking at the red spot on its parent's beak to prompt it to regurgitate. Its a pretty disgusting sight as a sack of grey goo is dropped in front of the young one. Turnstones can be seen poking in the harbour

I haven't been out and about much lately and most bird observations have been small brown jobs sitting on wires. No kites seen at all in July and even the swallows have dissapeared from their usual perch. This evening did bring one break, rounding a corner I saw a little owl perched on a fence post. I stopped and it regarded me with an expression of surprise for the best part of a minute before flying off. I have seen them perched on that fence before, perhaps the occupant of the adjacent farm house likes to keep in touch with Mr Potter.

Pulling out of the station car park last week I saw an albeno blackbird feeding on the verge. I have often seen blackbirds with one or two white feathers but this was totally white except for some black feathers in the tail. There may have been some other odd black feathers but as I was negotiating a junction at the time I couldn't pay it the attention it deserved. I have kept a look out but haven't seen it again. During June I have seen one red kite over Latimer and on a drive to the Welsh borders through the Wendover gap didn't see a single bird of prey until we sited a buzzard near Ludlow. The garden is now very quiet with the main visitors being juvenile robins. I will stop feeding when my present stocks of bird food are exhausted and restard in the autumn.

Not all at the same time. The starlings seem to be moving on but I have had a baby blue tit being fed by the ground feeders for the last couple of days and a juvenile robin turned up investigating my mix of sunflower hearts and oatmeal in the hopper. As I had to go to work I didn't see if he returned for the fat and special robin mixture that I put on the tray. With fewer birds visible among the greenary I tend to notice those on telephone wires much more. There seem to be a couple of perches that are so well used that one could believe that somebody had put model birds there permenantly. Just coming into Ley Hill from Latimer one wire is a regular for swallows while in Ley Hill itself a pair of wood pigeons seem to have taken up residence on another. One at least must be real as there was only one there tonight. I was lucky this evening to have a yellowhammer pose in the road in front of the car, double lucky that nobody was following. Also on another wire was an unidentified bird

This is the time of year when the starling chicks are brought to the feeder. It seems to take them quite a while to get the idea that they are actually next to their food as they call and gape demanding that their parents feed them. Occasionally a really enterprising one will take a peck at the fat. There will be a demand for the fat bars all summer but I will have to stop when the weather warms up as the bars may then start to melt. I was lucky this morning to see a coal tit on the feeder. Like all the tits it didn't linger and it is the first one that I have seen for several months. Because the visits to the garden are so brief it may have been around all winter without being noticed but either way it is nice to see it back. A trip to Oxfordshire yesterday produced the usual crop of red kites, none in the Chesham or Missenden areas this time but one on the way out on the other side of Thame and one near Oxford services coming back. The weather was mixed with heavy showers and low

There are far fewer birds visible at this time of year although the level of the feeders still goes down. I topped up the nyjer seed feeder today and a goldfinch appeared within minutes. Curious thing, I have never, ever, seen a goldfinch around here except on my feeders, I have no idea where they came from or where they go. Although the field and garden birds are becomming invisible among the greenary there seems to be a good colony of house martins at Latimer, I wish I could say the same for this village. A couple of weeks ago I had to take a trip to the Wye Valley (what a hardship!). On the journey there was the usual split of red kites east of Oxford and buzzards to the west. The buzzards seem well established in the Cotswolds now. There was a good colony of swifts audible as well as visible at Burford and swifts or house martins visible around other villages. The RSPB Nags Head reserve near Parkend in the Forest of Dean is an excellent starting point for walking. Not much was visi

A rare chance to do a little serious birding came up this morning. As I was to the east of London a trip up to Fishers Green in the Lea Valley Regional Park seemed in order. As usual at this time of year there were common terns giving displays of aerobatics over the lakes in their typical noisy manner. While they are always a delight to watch, the sight of a hobby hunting over the reed beds was even more exciting. At one point I even saw her talons come down as she took a large insect in mid air. On the lakes themselves were the usual selection of waterfowl: mallard, tufted duck, pochard, coot, moorhen, mute swans, great crested grebe and both canada and greylag geese. Curiously I saw no gadwall or shoveller nor, among the various chicks were any young grebe. I did see, however, ruddy duck at two locations on Seventy Acres Lake (t may have been the same individual and while crossing the footbridge at Hook Marsh one obligingly swam underwater. Also there were a pair of shelduck on a scr

Driving home from work today I was delighted to see a pair of red legged partridges plodding across the lane in front of me. The second of the pair finally decided to fly over the hedge rather than walk under it. I have been trying to remember if I have ever seen one take to the air before. In the past they have normally preferred to run away, usually straight down the road in the path of the car. As April draws to a close there are very few birds coming into the garden although I do hear a lot of song. Yesterday I did see two goldfinches on the feeders which was the first sighting in at least a week. With a few days leave after easter I was able to see how the kites were moving into this area. Last year it was still unusual to see any over the Chess or Missbourne valleys but last week I was seeing up to three at a time close to Chesham. One pair chasing each others tails in a spectacular manner and a solitary bird over Waterside, the first time I have see one over the town itself. I a

Living at the top of a 500 foot hill it is striking how much later plants come out. My forsythia is now in full bloom while those in Central London are already showing signs of finishing. In particular the buds started to break on by two quince trees this morning. On the bird front the need to earn a living means that I only get a quick look in the garden at the start and end of the day, this morning was fairly typical with a blackbird and a chaffinch vanishing over the hedge when I checked the feeders. Driving home from the station last night there was a red kite over the Chess valley at Latimer. I thought it might be about to land in the woods but couldn't stop to check as another car was right on my tail.

Travelling back from Oxford last night I encountered a muntjac between Askett and Cadsden. Nothing unusual in itself although it did hang around by the side of the road looking as if it was considering entering itself for the Darwin Awards, not that that is unusual for muntjac either. From its behaviour I thought there might be more on the other side of the road about to join it so, slowing down, I kept an eye on the hedgerow in time to see a badger lumbering into the fields. The books always show you a clear view of the mask, in real life what you usually see is what looks like an ambulant grey sandbag heading away from you. The journey to Oxford gave a good view of a red kite just outside Chesham above Missenden Road and a glimpse of another further away. This afternoon I saw a buzzard between Ley Hill and Latimer, more commonplace than a kite in the grand scheme of things but rather more unusual locally. The goldfinches are not visiting so often and I have not seen a siskin for a wh

Those brief glimpses are always a problem. While driving along the M10 yesterday I had a glimpse of a large bird of prey, naturally I could not take my eyes off the road for long enough to make a positive identification. I have seen buzzards around there before and I know that red kites are possible although I have never seen one that far east myself. Trouble is that the tail was definitely not forked and the wings seemed a little to swept back for a buzzrd. I will have to reserve judgement but will check out the Herts Bird Club reports in a few days to see if it was anything exciting. I was a little luckier with identification in the garden on Saturday. Among the "small brown jobs" was something which didn't feel quite right for a female sparrow. A quick check with the glasses confirmed that she was no sparrow but a quick check with the field guide proved her to be a linnet. That was the first one that I have positively identified in the garden.

Driving home from the station this evening I noticed a couple of birders in the lay-by in Stony Lane between Little Chalfont and Latimer. I have no idea what they had been watching but saw nothing interesting from the car. I have seen red kites in the Latimer area on a couple of occasions and once and egret flying up the Chess valley but just a crows and pigeons tonight. Getting back to the title, I was struck by the combination of winter and summer last weekend. On Saturday I was walking in the National Trust woods at Ashridge. A flock of what looked like small thrushes kept moving away from me, I had foolishly left the bins at home and couldn't make a firm identification but would put a very high probability on a flock of redwing. I also saw a solitary muntjac who was quite unconcerned by my presence. At the NT's feeding station behind the visitor centre pied wagtails, chaffinches and great tits were all in evidence. The morning's walk was rounded off with lunch at The Gr

He was back again today, about mid morning. Scraping around the feeders to uncover scraps made a bit of a mess of the lawn. After taking a drink he wandered down the garden and settled down in a sheltered corner by the lilace for a couple of hours. I looked at one point and the cat was sitting by the window, the pair of them totally ignoring each other. When I opened the window to let the cat in he crouched down but made no other attempt to move. It finally rained today, a nice change from the cold dry north easterlies that we have been having. Gentle light rain which soaked the ground nicely but did very little to refill the water butt. Not much else in the way of birds in the garden this morning, the wood pigeon cleaned up most of the ground feeding tray again and the squirrel is still cleaning how the sunflower hearts, also ignored by the cat. Actually I have never seen her take a bird but she is a keen mouser but not keen enough to save all the bulbs that I had in the lean-to. I no

I was contemplating setting up this blog for some time. While checking my emails I heard a characteristic call, very close. Looking out of the window, for the first time ever, I saw a cock pheasant in the garden, pecking among the fallen husks between one of the feeders. After turning over the scattered sunflower cases with beak and claws he walked over to the water dish to drink before wandering down the garden. Otherwise it had not been a particularly interesting day on the feeders. A fat wood pigeon cleaned up most of the food on the ground feeding tray and the squirrels were more in evidence than birds on the ground hopper which is filled with sunflower hearts. The goldfinches were on the nyjer seed feeder first thing plus a solitary siskin. That feeder has been far busier during the last couple of months. The siskins are now regular visitors.