Chiltern Birder

I came in just before noon and looked out of the back window to see a totally undistinguished brownish grey bird, about the size of a great tit, at the bottom of the garden. Without any outstanding markings I couldn't identify it so fetched the binoculars, just in time for it to fly into a bush. With some patient waiting it reappeared and returned to the tree, I found the spot with the glasses just in time for it to fly away. Whatever it was it didn't show any interest in the feeders. In Chesham this morning after heavy rain, and reports of flooding elsewhere in the country, water was actually flowing under the Town Bridge. How much of the rain will actually enter the water table is another matter, on recent performance I don't hold out much hope for the flow outlasting a few dry days. Contrary to expectations we are still not seeing more than one or two goldfinches in the garden those that come are still regulars along with the coal tit and nuthatch. The blue and great

With the weather turning colder with frost in the morning the number of birds in the garden as dropped with very little activity although we did get a sudden visit by 8 or 9 long tailed tits on the feeders this morning. Fatalities due to the overnight freezing or have they just moved? I took a walk round by the Town Bridge in Chesham yesterday. Despite the wet autumn the river was dry although some clear channels in the leaf litter suggested that it had still been doing its job in removing surface water.

We get the occasional nuthatch in the garden during the winter but typically these are very brief visits to take a little fat from the starling feeder. For the last two days, however, we have had not one but two individuals making repeated visits to take sunflower hearts. It is striking that they never share the feeder, one may perch nearby but will wait for the other to finish before occupying one of the ports. A little entertainment was provided yesterday morning by a rather aggressive robin who wouldn't let any of the tits perch on the fat ball feeder. I didn't see him attempt to use it himself but he stood guard on the squirrel baffle ready to attack any blue tit that did. A solitary goldfinch turned up yesterday and there was a pair on the feeder this morning. If they follow the practice of previous years I suspect that we will have serious numbers turning up in the next day or so. The long tailed tits haven't returned but the coal tit is a regular and a blackbir

With sunflower hearts and a fat ball feeder in the back garden and a fat bar in the front the tits have been turning up in numbers. Mainly blues but we have also had the occasional great and a single coal tit. At lunchtime today I looked out to see the fat ball feeder absolutely covered with long tailed tits. After a while the flock moved on up the lane taking a toll from the feeder in the front garden on their way. So far we have had no finches but the resident robins are in evidence as well as the occasional wood pigeon and blackbird.

After seeing activity in the front garden I put a fat bar in the feeder. With visits from blue tits, great tits and a robin it was eaten in less than a week. The backgarden still seems quiet but I have put out fat balls and sunflower hearts so, hopefully, we may see some action soon. I put out some raisins last week and it was a couple of days before they were taken. I kept a camera trap on them the whole time and the only visitor was a wood pigeon and a field mouse until a badger finally turned up. Once the badger had cleaned up a field mouse came back for the leavings.

There is very little activity in the garden at the moment. As always the rowan tree in the front garden has been stripped of berries while I am not looking. However as I walked out of the house yesterday blackbird was posed on a branch with a berry in his beak. If I had had a camera ready it would have been the sort of shot that gets in magazines. A curious sight out walking recently was a badger set where grass seed from the bedding had germinated giving the set a brilliant green doormat in otherwise brown woodland.

Its a very quiet time for birds in the garden but the autumn has definitely arrived with the appearance of garden cross spiders. One had a web suspended from a thread that ran the full width of the garden. I did try for a photo but my phone insisted on focussing on the greenery several feet away.

Not the name of a pub but this encounter caught by the camera trap.

It wasn't worth putting in another bulk order for feed so I bought some fat nuggets from the garden centre as there is still a lot of activity on the feeders by juvenile blue and great tits. I also cut up an old pallet as I needed some scrap timber which left me with a piece that would stand upright so I decided to try attaching the camera trap to it. After a few experiments I had it lined up to film the ground feeder overnight. I baited it with raisins and fat nuggets which I hoped would attract badgers. One did put his nose through the fence but turned straight round, I suspect that a cat was occupying the garden as I had plenty of shots of one who seemed to be watching for field mice. I set the trap quite early and had to replace the fat nuggets. I didn't think that a blackbird could carry this much. I put out fresh fat nuggets and between visits by the cat this little chap helped himself. Come the morning the blackbird was back for some raisins

The ring necked parakeets are working their way up the Chess valley. I was at the Van Hage garden centre at Chenies today when one flew overhead. Previously I have seen and, more often, heard them at Rickmansworth on a few occasions. I am not sure of they can establish in the Chilterns. Certainly where I live at 500 feet above sea level the difference in winter weather from the lower ground is noticeable before considering the London heat island. During the bank holiday I was in Bampton in Oxfordshire. The house martins were active in what appeared to be good numbers. I also heard swifts, I can't compare with previous years but it didn't seem as noisy.

The starlings came back today after a few days absence. It was a flock of juveniles rather than the young plus adults that I was seeing previously. I had scattered dried mealworms in the lawn and these were taken readily before moving on to the fat feeders. The woodpecker is still visiting regularly. The way that she perches means that, on the starling feeder, she takes fat from the bottom of the block. I was going to take a photo of this pattern today but the starlings obliterated it along with about a quarter litre of the fat. The woodpecker also perches on the sunflower seed feeder. She doesn't appear to be taking the seeds but probing for possible insects. I haven't seen any sign of the cock woodpecker or of any juveniles so far.

The first of the year today as I walked out to the car this morning. It was a lovely clear call, fairly close I think which carried on for longer than usual. In the garden the last of the starlings seems to have moved on but the great spotted woodpecker is visiting regularly. With the door open this afternoon I heard her calling. Apart from that visits by birds of all sorts seem to be tailing off. While we have had all the regulars in the garden they are turning up less often. A week ago I would expect to see birds if I looked out of the window, now I am more likely to see none on the feeders. Unless a late brood turns up the starlings haven't shifted a lot of fat overall, I still have half a dozen fat bars left in the box.

Suddenly the large flocks of starlings have ceased to visit. The occasional singleton is turning up on the feeder but the same fat bar has been on the feeder for nearly three days and still isn't quite finished. The blackbirds are seem to be feeding chicks, the adults are paying regular visits to the starling feeder and leaving with well laden beaks. Today a female great spotted woodpecker has been turning up. I broke off typing this to watch her take a beakful away so there must be a chick nearby. She did seem very nervous, often landing on the fence near the feeder, looking around and flying off again. Earlier  this week I took a trip to Gloucestershire and visited the Highnam Woods RSPB reserve. This is noted for nightingales but as I was there at noon that was one species that I didn't hear. Close to the A40 the daytime traffic noise is very intrusive but once you are away from the road the amount of bird song was striking as were the magnificent displays of wild flower

The starlings are back. There seem to be several families turning up with their chicks working their way through the fat bars. We are shifting about half a litre of fat per day at the moment. What puzzles me is the location of the nesting colony. Apart from a few weeks when the juveniles are recently fledged I am unlikely to see any in the garden at all. This year we had one or two individuals turning up and then a day or two later the numbers exploded. Out and about we had an interesting encounter driving home in the car. Near Ley Hill, just at the edge of the headlights a long grey shape crossed the road. From the outline it seemed to be a ferret or polecat. It seemed pale in the light but at the extreme point of the beam I couldn't make out any colouring. Coming back from Oxford yesterday in early afternoon the car in front of me suddenly started slowing and eventually came to a halt. I was just wondering what the problem was when a muntjac strolled nonchalantly past witho

Suddenly this afternoon three starlings paid a visit to the feeder. The birds were all in adult plumage and only stayed on the feeder for a few minutes. I don't think that they took any more than the blackbird who made a couple of visits obviously filling his beak to take back to a chick. On the seed feeder a pair of chaffinches has been turning up as well as the regular couple of goldfinches.The highlight recently as been a blue tit feeding a solitary youngster who has been coveniently posing on the fence right by the living room window.

Well one yellowhammer! Driving between Ley Hill and Latimer yesterday I spotted a single yellowhammer perched on the roadside hedge. As my passenger had never seen one we kept a special lookout on the way back and, of course there wasn't one to be seen. I used to reckon on seeing several when driving this way in the spring. We did see a muntjac that ambled our of the hedgerow in front of the car without any concern for its own safety. The day was good for bluebells. They were probably at their best a few days ago but the display in the woods was still magnificent. When we managed to get downwind of a drift the smell was wonderful.   In the garden we are starting to see juveniles being fed. Today a blue tit was taking fat from a peanut butter feeder for a young one perched conveniently, for me, on the fence just by the window. We seem to have a pair of goldfinches around but we aren't seeing anything remotely unusual. I a

Blue and great tits are demolishing the sunflower hearts and the fat balls with the blackbird also clinging precariously to the fat ball feeder rather than using the starling feeder. The latter is getting no attention at all as we haven't seen a single starling for ages. In the garden we are also seeing a pair of robins (well they aren't fighting so I assume it is a pair), dunnocks and wood pigeons. Very occasionally a solitary goldfinch is turning up but always looks very nervous away from a group, spending more time checking the sky than feeding on sunflower hearts.

I had a day in South Wales this week. Parking in the Blaenavon World Heritage Site at the Keepers Pond. I took the steep path down into the head of Cwm Llanwenarth to pick up the route of Hill's Tramroad. This is quite an impressive piece of engineering for 1820 cut into the side of the valley after tunnelling from Blaenavon. In the photo you can see the tramroad cut into the hillside. In places the stone sleepers are still clearly visible despite being disused since 1860. At the site of Garnddyrys Forge there were abundant meadow pipits and the occasional robin. I had heard other small birds in gorse bushes which were careful to stay invisible. Garnddyrys is noted for the formations of iron slag. The most spectacularly architectural were vandalised some years ago but some still remain. Following the tramroad one thing that startled me was a red kite, the first that I have seen in this part of Wales although I have since been informed that they have reached as far as Usk.

I took a trip down to Leigh on Sea yesterday. Timing was based on weather and personal committments and, as usual, I ended up being there at the wrong state of the tide. I parked at Two Tree Island and saw teal resting on the creek bank as well as the usual redshank and a few gulls. Walking down to the old town there were quite a few redshank around but I didn't see or hear any other waders, they were probably at the water's edge on the other side of the Leigh Sand. The first thing that struck me was the absence of turnstones around the cockle sheds. These have been a feature of this location for many years. Unlike my last couple of visits there were no egrets in Leigh Creek either. On the mud there were plenty of gulls, black headed, herring and both lesser and greater black backed. There were no brent geese visible on the mud and talking to locals I was told that they had all left. However, walking towards Chalkwell I saw two parties on the foreshore. Luch of course meant

It still feels like autumn rather than winter here but some of the garden plants seem to think that it is spring already. I am getting good custom for the sunflower seeds although the fat balls seem less popular than in previous years. I am putting off the day when I refill the starling feeder until I see more fat taken from the other feeder. In the garden we are seeing the usual blue and great tits as well as the occasional coal tit although we haven't had any parties of long tailed tits for a while. Among the finches the goldfinches and chaffinches are regulars but the bullfinches haven't been seen for a while. Of the other birds that come to the feeder the nuthatch seems to have gone away with the long tailed tits while we haven't had any woodpeckers for a while. One bright spot is a blackcap which seems to have decided to over winter in the mild weather. Down at ground level I have seen squirrels and mice on the feeding tray as well as birds. The wren hasn't bee