Chiltern Birder

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.