Chiltern Birder

I took a slightly different route this morning and explored Bunns Lane which leads down to the River Chess near Holloway Lane. This was a fascinating walk with the lane forming a ledge in the hillside at one point. I saw two or three goldcrests and was suprised that they were no more nervous of my presence than a blue or great tit would be. The ones that I have seen in the past have seen much shyer. What I initially assumed to be a fourth turned out to be a wren. I found a shrub on the path that I hadn't seen before with bright pink seed cases. With a little help from the web this was identified as a spindle tree. The hedgerows had obviously been properly laid at a point in the distant past leaving the trees grown into strange shapes. In this one a shoot trained horizontally has obviously grown over the decades. Apart from that there were the usual sightings of red kite and buzzard and a very noisy mixed flock of crows and jackdaws on some stubble. I have seen buzzard so

A trip to Fishers Green yesterday was uneventful. According to the species list the bitterns are back but seem to prefer the new reedbeds away from the bittern hide. I walked around Seventy Acres and Holyfield lakes and the one remarkable thing was the lack of pochard. I only saw one or two individuals which on previous experience is most unusual for this time of year. I actualy saw more wigeon and gadwall both of which I would normally regard as being less common than pochard. I did go looking for goosander which I have seen on Holyfield in previous years but without any luck.

Things seem to be moving at last on the bird feeding front. Nothing exceptional but we have had a blackbird on the starling feeder and a blue tit on the fat block in the front garden. In the srubs at the bottom of the garden we have had a wren. It all makes a nice addition to the ubiquitous robins. Still green a fortnight ago An injured knee means that I haven't been walking much for the past week but driving along the A413 on Saturday it was obvious that the autumn colours were at their peak. Since then leaves have been obviously falling and some trees are starting to look bare.