Chiltern Birder

A visit to Leigh on Sea at the weekend was pleasant. We arrived when the tide was at its lowest ebb and, naturally, there was very little around looking across Leigh Marsh from the car park on the road to Two Tree Island apart from gulls and crows. A solitary redshank was wading in what little water was left in the creek and we could hear a curlew in the distance although we never managed to see it. At Bell Warf things perked up with more redshank and a ringed plover. There is something about that location that the ringed plovers like as I have had more sightings there than anywhere else that I have visited. With over a quarter of century of visits to Leigh it certainly isn't the same individual. After a little sightseeing and our customary plates of roe on toast at The Strand Cafe for lunch the tide was visibly on the flood and more birds were appearing. The only brent geese were in the far distance, visible only with the glasses but there was a cluster of turnstone on a drift

In May 2012 I posted that I had seen a bullfinch in the garden for the first time ever. The second one appeared this afternoon! The cock bird took some fat from the feeder and then spent a long time on the ground around the feeders. The amount of greenery reminded me that everything has kept growing through the winter and I need to do a lot of weeding as soon as the ground is dry enough to walk on.

I was entertained this morning by a robin taking fat from the feeder in the front garden. He wasn't too happy trying to perch and ended up hovering like a rather ungainly hummingbird to feed from the side of the block. He was also rather agressive with the tits and chased a coal tit off the feeder. First thing this morning I saw a great spotted woodpecker on the feeder who was quickly replaced by a flock of long tailed tits. Naturally they flew away when I fetched the camera only to return when I got on with making breakfast.

The winter has been so mild that the fields near the house which were ploughed at the end of summer are now totally green. Out walking between Christmas and New Year skylarks were singing and there were a host of small brown birds on the fields that kept just too far away to identify. In the garden things are getting a little more interesting with goldfinches and long tailed tits regularly visiting the feeders. Some other birds were managing some interesting contortions including a robin taking sunflower seeds and a blackbird on the fat feeder. On the ground the wood pigeons are taking most of the dried meal worms which at least keeps them off the fat feeders (I did read somewhere that they were vegetarian!). This morning a magpie tried to chase one off the ground feeder but when the pigeon stood its ground and the magpie gave up. Yesterday we had a green woodpecker on the back lawn. This is the first time that I have seen one come into the very enclosed back garden although I do o