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
Once upon a time you could find me birding on the Thames marshes almost every weekend through the winter. For various reasons I am now seldom able to travel to good birding sites. I am lucky, however, to live in the beautiful Chiltern Hills and this blog is to document the birds that I see on my own patch.