Chiltern Birder

Driving home through Latimer yesterday evening I was surprised by an animal crossing the road with a strange lumbering gallop. My first assumption was that it was a cat or fox but it didn't seem quite right. As it crossed in front of me I realised that it was a badger. I have never seen one run like that before, every other one that I have seen has been bumbling along close to the ground. This morning it was nice to see yellowhammers on the phone wires between Ley Hill and Latimer . They will probably be a regular site throughout the summer now. Sheep are being kept in the area and at the moment the gambolling of lambs is a regular sight.

Actually a scattered selection of observations over the past week or so. The front garden has been attracting a variety of birds and last weekend I realised that something was nesting in the bat box fixed to the front porch. I was soundly scolded by both coal and great tits while I was gardening and wasn't sure which was using the box. This weekend I was able to observe a great tit flying to it, perching first on the edge of the porch then dropping down, out of my line of sight but with the box the only place it could go. I also noticed great tits appearing to have an arguement with a chaffinch last week. I hadn't thought of chaffinches as a threat to nestlings but the tits may have thought otherwise. On the subject of mobbing, this weekend I saw a crow going for a heron above Ferry Lane in Walthamstow. It reminded me of an incident many years ago on Hampstead Heath. I flock of crows was mobbing a heron which finally landed in a tree. The first crow to go for it suddenly found

Spring is definitely here now. The forsythia is absolutely glorious and the daffodils are out. I have not been able to spend much time watching the garden birds but I did see a great spotted woodpecker in the back garden recently. Driving home last night I saw a shape on the verge in the middle of the village. It was quite a suprise when it suddenly took flight as I drove past and turned out to be a barn owl.