Chiltern Birder

This morning the fat feeder at the front of the house was host to a cock blackbird and a female greater spotted woodpecker. At the back all we seemed to get was a rather fat wood pigeon. It would have been nice to wait and see what else turned up but as usual the need to earn the money to pay for the bird food rather got in the way. Hopefully we will see woodpecker chicks again this year. Spring has definitely arrived with a fine display from the forsythia and the leaves about to break on the quinces.

Being back in Essex for a day the nice weather suggested a trip to Gunpowder Park near Waltham Abbey. The traffic noise from the nearby M25 is intrusive but it is still a nice place to wander around. Part is still farmed and mixed hedgerows have been replanted. These have been growing well and are now being properly layed. I think that the deliberate mixed planting may confuse anybody trying traditional hedgerow dating methods in a few years time. The only thing of note on the birding front was the skylarks. There were at least three in different parts of the park.

The kites seem to have taken to the woods alongside the M10. I saw one again when driving there this morning. Probably a few yards west of the last one that I saw so no new record! At home there hasn't been much change although I have been told that the Greater Spotted Woodpecker was on the fat feeder in the front garden while I was at work. I hear woodpeckers of both types in the mornings at the moment but it isn't that common to see them. At my mother's house I saw something strange in the garden and had to search my memory for a few seconds to remember what a house sparrow looked like. It really is frightening how rare they have become in such a short time.

It was striking this morning that it was light enough for the birds to be active when I got up at 6:10 this morning. There was a robin on one of the feeders and by the time I had sat down to breakfast there had been a pair of goldfinches and a dunnock in the garden.

At home today with a cold I actually had some time to look out of the window and see the food that I pay for being eaten. It was striking how the birds came fairly early in the morning but by lunch time the only thing in the garden was a pair of wood pigeons. Also a pile of black feathers a couple of weeks ago suggests that something has eaten the resident blackbird in the back garden. I still see blackbirds but they don't hang around and the raisins that I put out are hardly touched. In the back the goldfinches were in evidence as well as blue tits, dunnock, robin, wood pigeon and a passing blackbird. I didn't see any other finches which is supprising considering how common chaffinches were a few weks ago. A hint of yellow at the bottom of the garden suggests that the forsythia will be out soon.e The fat feeder in the fro nt attracted a blackbird as I had been careful to position it close to a twig for perching. Luckily he stayed around long enough for this photo. (If you clic

While driving to Essex yesterday afternoon I was suprised to see a kite over the A414 on the outskirts of Hemel just before reaching the motorway. I remarked to my passenger that this was my most easterly sighting of a kite. A few minutes later, about a third of the way down the M10 I saw another large bird of prey. It had the feel of a kite although I have only seen buzzards around there in the past. However it came back across the road giving an excellend view of the forked tail and the plumage. For so long the kites only seemed to fly to the west of the escarpment but now its nice to see them coming so far east.

There is little change on the birding side although the winter weather has had some strange results. I would normally expect the forsythia to be a little further forward by now although there are lovely displays of catkins in the local hedgerows. In the garden yesterday I disturbed what must be the largest frog that I have seen here. He or she proceeded to sit among the dead leaves that had blown across the lawn and seemed very well camoflaged. It also gave me time to fetch the camera.

Saturday's Times had an interesting article by Simon Barnes about the demise of the lapwing. On reading it I was struck by the memory of a large flock in fields near the M25 when I was still commuting from Essex to Berkshire about 14 years ago. The sight of a flock taking flight, looking as if dozens of chess boards had been ripped to pieces and flung into the air, seems such a normal thing that it is a shock to realise that I haven't seen more than a handful together for ages. In the same issue Derwent May wrote that it is time to start hearing skylarks again. Checking back over old posts reveals that I heard one here in late February last year, but I haven't had a chance to take a decent country walks for some time this year. I really must get out more!