Chiltern Birder

 I had been wondering over the last couple of days if the redpolls would return after last year's visit. Luckily today I saw two on the feeders. As they did seem to prefer ground feeding last year maybe they will clean up some of the mess the goldfinches and bullfinches leave. The finches tend to bite sunflower seeds so that they eat the middle section while the two ends fall to the ground.  The only other sighting of note in the garden has been a collared dove. Not unusual in itself and they are common at the other end of the village but it is the first time that I have seen one in the garden for several years. I paid a brief visit to the Upper Ray Meadows between Aykesbury and Bicester on Wednesday. I picked the wrong shoes and ended up with the half melted frost soaking my socks. With the dampness on the uppers refreezing I decided to call it a day before noon but still managed to see a flock of redwing, four lapwing, a snipe and an unidentified wader that flew across too q...

So far winter hasn't brought anything exciting to the garden but, with the mild weather, it is clear which are the most favoured bird foods. The finches, of course, love the sunflower hearts. The blue and great tits are also showing a preference for sunflower seed and largely ignore the fat balls in the adjacent hanging feeder. I have even seen them waiting on the feeder arms for the finches to leave a free port rather than peck at the fat balls. I also hung a FlutterButter peanut butter feeder next to the seed feeder and that has been totally ignored. We were getting a small group of starlings who were making a big dent in the fat block and the front and the fat balls in the back garden but they have moved on and I am starting to become concerned that the remaining contents are going to become mouldy. At ground level I am feeding raisins, fat pellets and dried mealworms. The robin will take fat pellets and mealworms but can't clear the feeders on his own. A blackbird will t...

Took a trip to the Forest today. Parking at Great Berry Quarry I took a look at the beaver enclosure. There were several obstructions on the Greathough Brook that I would have liked to think were work in progress by the beavers but were more likely just debris from the recent storms. There was extensive evidence of wild boar activity along the fence, I hadn't seem any evidence of boar in this area on previous visits. Facing the actual stone quarry are what appear to bt overgrown colliary spoil tips although I can't identify a mine at that precise location. These were striking because of the harts tongue ferns growning. These were only on the spoil and nowhere else in the area in which I walked. Moving on the the Nags Head reserve I was lucky enough to get a redwing posing for me. I had just seen a flock of brownish birds two big for sparrows and too small for thrushes fly across but this individual stayed on a branch giving me an excellent view without using the glasses. I...

Despite the frost and fog I noticed that far more birds seemed to be singing. In addition a woodpecker was drumming this afternoon. On the other hand, walking into Chesham this morning the winter visitors were still around with a redwing foraging by Codmore Playing Field. In the garden the goldfinches put in a reappearance but only briefly. The main visitors were a mix of blue and great tits who descended on the shrubs as a flock and paid individual visits to the feeder. We also had a chaffinch which preferred feeding on the ground. Moving the seed feeder seems to have also reduced the number of birds visiting the fat feeders.

I happened to find myself near Rutland Water yesterday and decided, on the spur of the moment, to stop for a look around. Naturally I chose totally the wrong location for birding. With few people about there was a large flock of wigeon grazing on the short grass between the car park and the lake. Rather than frighten them I took a walk along the tarmac path that was set back from the shore. A good decision as I found that there was a flock of fieldfares in the hedgerow. Back home there seems to be a lot of thrush sized birds around staying too far away for identification. Judging by the behavour these were probably redwings. Nothing exotic has been happening in the garden although the wrens must have bred well this year as I keep seeing them in both front and back gardens. When seen close too they seem, if anything, to be even smaller than when observed from inside the house.

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...

Driving down the Chess valley on Monday the sight of yet another little egret started me thinking that they were becoming more  ubiquitous that herons. That seemed to be the key to several unusual sightings. On Monday I saw a juvenile heron standing in the middle of the tarmac path between Bury and Stockers Lakes. Then on Tuesday I went to Thame by public transport. Walking down White Hill in Chesham one flew low overhead and landed on top of a tree in one of the gardens between White Hill and Esksdale Avenue. The branch was barely strong enough leading to the huge bird gently bouncing up and down. Later on the bus from Aylesbury to Thame there was another standing in the middle of a ploughed field near Dinton. This morning walking along Botley Road a redwing landed on the path in front of me as if it was posing for a picture in a field guide. I was able to have by best ever look at the the colour and markings before it finally flew into Codmore Field. On Monday the cold sn...

The selection of birds in the garden is becoming more varied. This morning I saw two tits on the feeder in the front garden, one a blue and the other with a black crown. The fine distinctions between marsh and willow tits are not somethat that I have committed to memory and the view wasn't cler anyway but the crown seemed sooty rather than glossy so I am guessing a willow. Long tailed tits are pretty active and redwings are still around in the nearby countryside. Finches seem to have abandoned the garden entirely.

Tits are flitting in and out of the garden but most birds still seem to be out on the fields. Some of the arable fields seem to have been left fallow after harvest and the stubbles are attracting flocks of chaffinches. As I haven't been birding on our local fields lately I am relying on naked eye observations but I couldn't make out any other finch species. Looking along the hedgerows a flock of redwing was flitting along the treetops. It was very frustrating to be without the bins as they seemed very nervous and kept moving away from me.

I paid a return visit to Stockers Lake near Rickmansworth today with the benefit of a pair of wellingtons. It was an interesting visit, the lake had all the usual waterfowl with coot, tufted duck, mallard, gadwall, mute swans and herons. I didn't see any shoveller this time but the wigeon were a treat as I hadn't expected them on a lake without adjacent grazing and a real surprise were the red crested pochard which I had not seen in the wild before. At one point a row of stakes in the water, each one topped by a gull gave me the opportunity to include leg colour in identification but they were all black headed. From talking to other birders I seem to have missed some goldeneye and an escaped black swan. In the adjacent scrub there were the usual woodland birds with a small flock of redwing and a probably female reed bunting.

A rather damp misty day today with that grey light that seems to drain the colour from things at any distance. Giving the front garden some much overdue tidying I was distracted by a pair of blackbirds taking berries from the rowan tree in the garden. There was a good crop this year and most have now been taken although this is the first opportunity that I have had to see this in action. While I was watching I realised that there was a lot of activity in the treetops in Broomstick Lane and saw a flock of redwing making their way along the canopy towards Ley Hill. They stayed in the high branches and followed the line of the lane very precisely with none spilling out to the lower trees in the gardens.

Entering Cowcroft Wood last week there was a flock of birds high in the tree tops which made the wood sound quite spring like. The contrast this morning was quite striking with hardly anything audible. For a little while there has been a flock of birds active on the recently ploughed field in the corner between Cowcroft and Ladywood. They are very nervy and I can't get close enough for a positive id with the lightweight bins that I carry when walking. Carting the scope up there is too much like pack drill but after two sessions I am quite happy that they are redwing. The sound of a large flock of canada geese was quite unusual so far from water. They were grazing on stubble over near Great White End Park Farm. At the edge of Ladywood I could hear a flock of long tailed tits but they stayed hidden by the leaves. I had a better view before the weekend when they were working along the hedgerow. When I got down to Bottom Lane I did hear a skylark on the field.

Not much to see in the garden recently. I have fat bars hanging at both front and back but only very small quantities are being taken. The only thing of any note was a flock of long tailed tits in the garden a few days ago. However, driving between Latimer and Ley Hill today I did see a small thrush fly into a roadside tree. As it landed it fluttered its wings to show a flash of red. I have seen thrushes in flocks which might possible have been redwings already but that was my first positive identification of the winter.

I had to make a trip to Stoke Mandeville Hospital this morning. In slightly misty conditions there was only one red kite to be seen, just on the Aylesbury side of Wendover. At the hospital itself there were redwings on the grass just outside the room I was in, with one being very close giving a superb view of the plumage. I haven't seen any around the village for a few years, I don't know if this is due to the birds being absent or my being absent at key times. In the garden the pair of collared doves finally returned after a prolonged absense. They make a nice change from the wood pigeons, as long as they keep quiet. The pinhead oatmeal in the ground hopper is proving popular with a song thrush who has returned to the garden several times. Normally it is quite unusual to see a thrush in the garden. There were only two robins around today but they kept up a fascinating dance around the feeders. The dominant bird (clearly brighter red plumage) would visit the feeder while the ot...