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April

At the moment I am hearing more bird song than I am seeing birds. I am getting a pair of coal tits coming to the feeders so, hopefully, they have a nest nearby.

A garden in Great Missenden was open for the National Garden Scheme today which showed up my lack of knowledge about bumble bees as there was a pure black species in the garden with the laden pollen sacks showing up in marked contrast. It was striking that all the plants were well in advance of my exposed hill top location. Coming back we did see a red kite between Missenden and Chesham.

A short while ago I had to make repeat of the trip to Goring that I mentioned last May. This time I did not see a single kite on the way down although I did glimpse one flying high over Goring at lunchtime. Coming back I saw a group just before the wonderfully named village of Britwell Salome and regular numbers after that.

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Returning to the Garden

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A Little More Normal

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Pheasants

I had quite a suprise driving back from the garden centre this afternoon. In the road between Latimer and Ley hill was a flock of ten juvenile pheasants, 7 cock birds and 3 hens. They proceeded to run down the lane away from the car milling back and forth across the road. One eventually ran down the side of the car and some of the others made for the hedgerows. As I carried on at walking pace the rest ran in front of me, one or two finally diving into the verge and the rest finally remembering their wings and taking flight.