Chiltern Birder

It is interesting to note what gets taken first on the feeders. At the moment I have sunflower seeds and fat balls on hanging feeders in the back garded and raisins, suet pellets and dried mealworms on the ground feeder. The sunflower seeds seem to be the food of preference for everything that goes to the hanging feeders. The tits move on to the fat only when a large flock of finches take over all the feeding ports for sunflowers. As a result, while I regularly refill the seed feeder the oringinal fat balls are still in the other feeder. I will have to swap them for some fresh ones soon as they are developing a layer of mould. The main visitor to the ground feeder seems to be the squirrel, which at least keeps it off the seed feeder. Its preference is for the suet pellets but then takes the raisins once the pellets are finished. Most of the mealworms seem to be taken by wood pigeons. The robin seems to prefer to forage rather than have a single big pile of food. I have some plant

The bullfinches haven't returned but we are regularly seeing goldfinches on all four ports of the seed feeder. I am having to top up the sunflower seeds every few days now. We are also seeing chaffinches and all the usual tits, blue, great, long tailed and coal. There was also a starling on the fat ball holder today but these aren't going down at anything like the speed of the seeds. I won't fill the other fat feeders for a little while yet. At ground level we have the usual selection, dunnock, robin, blackbird and wood pigeon but the pigeons don't seem to be frequent visitors as the ground feeder isn't being cleared yet. It took several days for a spillage of sunflower seeds to be cleared, I don't know if it was birds, field mice or badgers that were responsible. I was out and about in east London last weekend. Parakeets were very obvious in Hackney, I heard them from inside the car in Victoria Park Road (yes they are that loud) and saw them over Broadway M

Yesterday we had a good range of tits on the feeders with blues, greats and at least one coal. What was striking was the total lack of finches of any sort. This was rectified today with two cock bullfinches and a chaffinch in the garden at the same time. Food that had been untouched on the ground feeder vanished overnight so I will try and remember to set a camera trap tonight.

In the week since the last post there has been minimal activity in the garden, just a couple of visits by a single blue tit or robin. Things are looking up this morning though. The garden is still pretty quiet but in a couple of minutes watching after breakfast there were a pair of blue tits squabbling over the feeders. A robin also paid a visit and a goldfinch perched for a minute at the bottom of the garden but didn't come to the feeder. There were then several visits by a coal tit who took each sunflower seed away to a tree at the other side of the garden next door to eat it. While tits will normally eat fat based products while perched on the feeder they seldom eat sunflower seeds in situ . When they are around in numbers they seldom go beyond the nearest bush to the feeder but singletons tend to go further away.

October and November are always quiet in my garden. I hve had some fat balls out for some time now (see previous post) and since seeing a couple of visits by a robin and one by a blue tit I added a seed feeer with a handful of sunflower seeds. Today I had a brief visit by a mixed flock of blue and long tailed tits. they didn't stay long but at least put some visible peck marks on the fat feeder. Hopefully, now that they know that there is food here they will be back soon. I have also fulled the seed feeder but it is usually the finches that get through these in quantity.

I don't normally expect any bird activity in the Garden until well into November but today a nuthatch turned up and investigated the empty feeder.I have put a bulk order in with Haiths, hopefully he will return and I won't get food rotting in the feeders as has happened when I have tried feeding early in the season before. I haven't done much birding during the summer but a recent visit to the Forest of Dean did result in a close encounter with a wild boar. I was in the sculpture park on an old raiway embankment when I heard a boar grunting just below me a few yards away. I couldn't see him as the undergrowth was very thick but from the volume it was about the same distance as you would be from a pig at a city farm. I moved a little down the path before leaning over the fence to see if I could spot him but without luck. I did see a small heard of fallow deer later on though. Earlier in the day I had stopped at Brierley to have a look at the beaver release. I did manage

As the weather had cooled a little (down to mid seventies in old money) we thought that a stroll around College Lake would make a nice break. With the water level low, additional ground was exposed and there were large areas shallow enough for a flock of lapwing to stand in. There were quite a few terns around and a solitary redshank was wading in deeper water. We were told that there was a garganey present but it spent all its time hidden behind one of the islands. The early ripening of blackberries was obvious with a lot of fruit looking ready to eat already. Walking along the hard surfaced paths we kept seeing froglets crossing which defied any attempt to be photographed. There were also large numbers of blue damselflies, I would guess common blues but none staid still long enough to attempt a proper identifyication. On the other hand a burnett moth did allow itself to be photographed.

No birds were involved but I was in Chesham this morning and decided to take a stroll round by the Town Bridge. Considering the drought I was expecting the usual dry bed. Instead the stream was running strongly and, unlike most local gardens, there was a strong plant growth as well. It wasn't just the spring at Watermeadow, there was a good flow coming down the old mill leat from Pednormead. I haven't seen anything in the press about Affinity Water cutting back on extraction and could find nothing on Google but with such a flow in these conditions it has to be the case.

I had a day in the Forest yesterday, walking and then a ride on the preserved railway. The trouble with woodland is that you don't get the rapid views of multiple species that you get in wetlands. However, after parking at the Nags Head reserve I walked down to the Lower Hide. The ponds were pretty well down to muddy pools and I was treated to the unusual site of what must have been a family of nuthatches bathing. I had lost the sense of scale through the bins and I wasn't sure what I was looking at until a robin hopped into view to give me a relative size. The real treat was a nuthatch working its way up an oak tree. I then walked through the forest to Bix Slade and down the line of the old tramway to the wharf on the old railway by Cannop Ponds. No manarin ducks this time but I did see tufties, moorhen, and both pied and grey wagtails. I followed the railway back to the road, crossed back over the Cannop Brook and planned to follow a forestry track back to the reserve. Howe

It looks as if the starlings don't like my brand of fat bar. After having at least 17 going through half a bar in one session it has only gone down by about another quarter. If the starlings had stayed in those numbers I would have expected to have replaced it inside 48 hours. Judging by the number of juveniles in the garden both blue and great tits have produced good broods. Now that the sunflower seeds have run out I am seeing no more finches but still have robins, blackbirds and wood pigeons.

We seem to have at least one brood of blue tits with a group of juveniles regularly on the feeders. The lack of young starlings is quite startling, I still have several fat bars in the box while normally I would have expected to have had to restock. On the other hand the finches have cleaned me out of sunflower seeds. We haven't been totally deserted, a couple of times today a solitary starling has come to the peanut butter feeder . This is curious as he finds it difficult to perch on it and it is mounted on the same pole as a purpose made starling feeder containing a fat bar. Do any of these birds ever read the catalogues? Since posting the above our visitor to the peanut butter feeder must have told the family as around 17 juveniles suddenly descended on the garden.I had forgotten just how much noise they made. It isn't quite as bad now as we are down to 8 or 9 in the garden at any one time.

I am getting worried about the starlings. Normally I would  have expected a hoard of juveniles all over the fat feeder by now. So far I have had none in the garden. On the other hand at the weekend I managed to see both fox and badger cubs while driving home after midnight.

I took a trip to College Lake near Tring yesterday. With lots of invisible songbirds in the bushes I really should make an effort to learn a few calls. On the islands the common terns were very visible while the lapwings had clearly nested successfully as there were a number of chicks around. I did get a nice view of one parent driving off a crow. I hadn't realised how well camouflaged the redshank were until I had a glimpse of what looked like a pair of disembodied red legs at the waters edge. After a quick lunch I took a walk on the towpath of the Grand Union Canal as far as Marsworth. There was nothing unusual visible on the reservoirs but coming back a heron flew past a few feet above the water following the line of the canal. At home I woke early today and went to put the bins out at 6am. Without much disturbance the birdsong was very loud with, faint in the distance my first cuckoo of the year. In the garden a pair of bullfinches seems to have taken on the role on "b

I was in Oxford today and saw my first swifts of the year flying over St John Street. Other than that it is a very quiet time for birds. There are usually a couple of goldfinches bookending the feeder and the blackbirds and robins paying occasional visits to the fat feeder.

There is far less activity in the garden now with food being left on the ground tray. However some coal tits must be nesting nearby as we are seeing one or two on a regular basis. They seem particularly fond of the peanut butter feeder. Today it was nice to see a great spotted woodpecker on the feeders but again, it took only the slightest movement within the house to frighten it away.

With the forsythia and celandines in bloom spring is definitely on the way. There are some clear changes in usage of the garden by the birds. The finches are no longer flocking, while we are still seeing goldfinches and chaffinches these are now singletons or pairs rather than groups. The bullfinches seem to have vanished and the long tailed tits are less frequent visitors. Blue and great tits, dunnock, robins, wood pigeons and blackbirds are all still present in abundance while great spotted woodpeckers are occasional visitors although they are disturbed by the slightest movement inside the house.

I took a trip to the Forest of Dean yesterday. I didn't do any research on where would be best but simply used my own judgement from the map. Within 15 minutes of home I had my first interesting sighting when a hare ran out into the road. She had clearly been to the pheasant school of road safety as she stopped and then turned round and went back the way that she had come. It was my first hare for quite a few years and the first in Bucks. I parked at Cannop Ponds, at first it just looked like the typical collection of mallard, tufty and coot but then I spotted some mandarin ducks. I hadn't been aware of the colony in the area until looking it up afterwards. As well as on the lake I explored the marshy ground below the dam and spotted another pair. Walking south along the old railway it did rather feel as if I had wandered into Center Parcs as it all seemed so manacured. I only had a couple of hints that I was on a railway track at all. This solit

I recently treated myself to a new spotting scope and monopod . Taking these on a walk round Stockers Lake was a dream, they were so light and compact that they could be packed in a rucksack until I was in a good viewpoint, just right when taking a walk with good birding opportunities rather than settling down at a single point with a heavy tripod. The walk round the lake revealed some early signs of spring. I came across a patch of coltsfoot in flower while the grebes were in full breeding plumage and a goldcrest was in full voice. The herons were also nest building and with the benefit of a scope rather than bins I got a nice view across the lake of one settled in a tree. The surprise was not one but two pairs of Egyptian geese.One pair flew away on the other side of the lake while the other pair swam close to me. Other birds on the lake included shoveller, tufted duck, coot, greylag geese, canada geese, common pochard, lapwing, mallard, black headed gull, herring gull, cormorant

With the heavy snow and cold weather I have had a lot of activity in the garden and have been breaking ice on the water bowl and putting out additional food during the day. This morning I was pleased to see a song thrush, the first that I have seen visiting this winter. After lunch however, out of the corner of my eye, I was aware of something large landing in the tree at the bottom of the garden with quite a thump. Looking up I realised that it was a fieldfare, the first that I have every seen in the garden and the best naked eye view that I have had. Sadly it didn't come down to feed but flew off a minute or two later.

There are times when parts of Cowcroft Wood feel more like the Buckinghamshire Bayou although a rather chilly one today.. When I stopped to look at this fallen tree I disturbed a large bird of prey. It was difficult to get a clear id through the branches but I think a buzzard rather than a kite. There wasn't much visible in the way of birds otherwise apart from some corvids on the fields but I did disturb a roe deer. I have seen them in fields by Bunn's Lane and several times in Codmore Wood but this was actually the first time that I had seen one in Cowcroft. What was striking was how quietly she ran. I don't know if landfull has started at Meadham's Farm but  landscaping of the surrounds has been done:   I still think that the old clay pits, cut into the side of the hill, would have been a better site for new housing than on green fields behind Hilltop. 

You don't really think about "pregnancy" in egg laying animals but for the last few days it has been striking that there are some very plump hen birds around. I first noticed a greenfinch but there has been a particularly gravid looking chaffinch that has been sitting underneath the feeders eating bits that fall rather than trying to perch. The greenfinch was the first that I have seen for quite a while but apart from the regulars the only other bird of note has been the great spotted woodpecker who has perched in the garden on a couple of occasions but hasn't come to the feeders. Badgers have been visiting fairly regularly. On one night I put out a choice of raisins and fat pellets and found that the badger only took the fruit while a field mouse came out to take the fat. I have seen badgers take tallow based fat products and the pellets were suet based so I tried two fat balls, one of suet and one of tallow. Naturally the badgers stayed away that night! I have

On Sunday I stopped off at Fishers Green in the Lea Valley Park. From a birding point of view it wasn't particularly fruitful. The footbridge over the Lea was closed so I couldn't get to the hide facing the reed bed on Forty Acres Lake. Following the Flood Relief Channel up to Holyfield Lake gave a nice view of a flock of lapwing in the air. When I used to visit the park regularly this lake was usually good for a sight of a goosander in the winter but my necessarily brief visits in recent years haven't resulted in a sighting. The Grebe Hide gave me a nice view of some common pochard, something that was curiously absent on my last visit to the Colne Valley. Many years ago I saw a smew from this hide and I always go there full of hope in the winter and am always disappointed. Holyfield Lake  The real highlight was a nice view of a goldcrest in the bushes adjacent to the Flood Relief Channel. At first I assumed that it was a wren but realised my mistake when I could see t

I have been putting the camera trap out on the patio and the most regular films are of a field mouse clearing up any spillage from filling up the sunflower seed feeder. The badgers are also coming in pretty regularly. Having containers along the edge of the patio seems to have been mistake, luckily the "long tom" knocked over in the film was undamaged.

With a nice clear brisk day it seemed like a good idea to go for a walk around the lakes at Rickmansworth. Bury Lake by the car park had its usual collection of mute swan, mallard, tufties and gadwall. At a distance away in the trees was what sounded like a ring necked parakeet but it was heading away so I didn't get a view. Moving onto the north side of Stockers Lake the low sun and clear sky made visibility difficult. The open water seemed pretty clear anyway but I couldn't make out any details although from the calls it was clear that there were no wigeon present this time. Once I reached the west side things became clearer. Come of the smnaller islands had been cleared of trees and undergrowth to make them suitable for ground nesting birds. A flock of around 30 lapwing were well hidden until they suddenly took to the air and spent several minutes wheeling around the lake before returning to land swooping past an inpurtbable heron. This more than made up for the lack of

The species count in the garden for the winter is slowly increasing. We have had a couple of brief visits by a nuthatch and one by a blackcap. There are at least 3 bullfinches visting regularly as we have seen a pair of males and a mixed pair at different times. I spent a couple of days in Bristol over the holiday. This wasn't a birding trip but I was lucky to see a grey wagtail on an ashfelt roof at the MShed in the harbour area. I have only ever seen greys by running water before so this came as a surprise. Sadly we have not had any more visits from the pied wagtail in the garden recently. There is not much chance of wagtails by running water in Chesham at the moment as the Chess is dry at the Town Bridge again. House sparrows are a great rarity in my garden but the area's entire population seems to have colonised one garden hedge in Ley Hill. Walking past the other day the birds were very loud but in the thick hedge there was not one to be seen.