Chiltern Birder

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 ...

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.

I had a rather nice suprise this morning, before breakfast I glanced out the living room window just in time to see a blackcap on the feeder. This is the first that I have seen in the garden for three years. Wrens have been active in both the front and back gardens and one was singing in the front as I prepared breakfast. Last week thy seemed to be active around the bat box but I am not sure at the moment if they have actually nested there.

After the cold weather it is now very warm. Garden activity is much the same with occasional starlings and long tailed tits as well as dunnocks, blackbirds, robins and blue and great tits. A chaffinch made a brief visit this morning, the first that I have seen in the garden for a while. The blackcap hasn't returned but I saw one by the side of Botley Road this morning as well as swallows swooping over the paddocks nearby. Both great spotted and green woodpeckers have been audible but none have been visible.

We took a trip out to Marsworth this morning. Plan A had been to walk around the reservoirs but, being the first nice day of the year, the car park was full as were nearby laybys. The number of people carrying scopes suggested that something rare had been sighted. Finding a parking space on the other side of the village we walked along the tow path towards Leighton Buzzard and saw a solitary swallow skimming the water. There was nothing else of note on the walk but back home the blackcap has been returning to the feeders. Always the cock bird.

With the warmer damp weather I was delighted to see a blackcap in the garden for the first time in over five years. It was a cock bird which returned to the fat feeder several times during the day. The robins have responded to the end of the cold snap by becoming far more agressive towards each other. We have also had the usual selection of birds with great tits, dunnocks, long tailed tits and blackbirds. In the garden the shrubs seem keen to catch up after the cold spell, the forsythia is finally in flower and the buds are breaking on the quince trees.

The heavy frosts before Christmas brought a lot of birds into the garden but mostly more of the same. A few stray house sparrows appeared from time to time and a solitary long tailed tit made a single visit to the fat feeder. On Christmas Eve a walk down Bottom Lane was interesting. About a quarter mile from the nearest house there were some bullfinches in the hedgerow. The first that I have seen locally, while a red kite spent a lot of time overhead. I don't know what is happening about the crazy idea of redesignating the cluster of bridleways between Botley and Waterside as "byways open to all traffic", I just hope it has died the death it deserves. Boxing Day gave a brief glimpse of a blackcap on the lilac in the garden but the movement as I reached for the bins to get a better look frightened it off. The statutory family visit that afternoon gave a nice view of a buzzard along the M10