Chiltern Birder

An evening trip down to Hillingdon yesterday was rewarding in wildlife sightings. On the way out a muntjac was poking its head out from the hedgerow by Latimer crossroads as if waiting for a gap in the traffic. Maybe natural selection is favouring the ones who don't run straight out. Comin back at around midnight Blackwell Hall Lane was very rewarding. First a barn owl was perched on a branch above the road. Its always striking how they show up in the headlights. Second there was a badger snuffling along on the verge. I had the camera in my bag on the passenger seat but he headed for the hedge as soon as I slowed down. Finally the strangest sight on a country lane, a police car! I have seen patrols in that area several times recently, normally seeing one is as surprising as seeing a badger. I assume that there have been some problems with machinery or stock thefts recently.

Taking a walk yesterday it was striking how we seem to have gone from an extended autumn to spring without any proper winter in between. Living on a hill top the ground around here mostly dries out very quickly so a lot of my walk through Cowcroft yesterday was on hard ground. Even where the thick mud remains it has turned from liquid to the consistency of modelling clay. As I wrote those two sentences the room darkened and it started raining again! The jackdaws were making a lot of noise in the woods and I saw one trying to fish something out of a hollow tree. Clinging to the side of the trunk with the sun behind it my first reaction was that it was a woodpecker but changing the angle slightly revealed the truth. I did wonder if there were eggs in the hole. I didn't see any woodpeckers but, as so often happens, I could hear the rather mocking call of a green. While walking along the bridleway at the edge of the wood I saw a pair of muntjac among the trees. One looked at me a

Living on a hill top I haven't been affected too much by the flooding but the rain seems to be washing away our local byways. I was walking this morning and noticed that water flowing down Broomstick Lane and Bottom Lane was cutting quite deep channels. In Bottom Lane much of the surfacing put down to make it safe for horses has washed away. With the accumulated dirt and leaves washed out in Green Lane I was walking on the bedrock in several places. Sink holes have been a serious problem in Hemel Hempstead. I wasn't expecting any around here but in a field near Ladies Wood a minature one has appeared. Its about three or four feet across and 18 inches deep at the edge of the headland. In birding terms things have been very quiet. While I was out I did see a goldcrest but nothing else of any note. Driving on the M25 yesterday I did get the hat trick of birds of prey with a buzzard between junctions 25 and 24, a kestrel near Potters Bar and a kite near St Albans.