Chiltern Birder

I decided to set out on my daily exercise walk earlier than usual so that there might be a greater chance of seeing some wild life. There were certainly fewer dog walkers about and no families walking at breakfast time. Wild flowers were showing well in the hedgerows and birdsong drowned out most residual traffic noise. I was heading for Codmore Wood which involved skirting the former Meadhams Farm brickworks site. A goldcrest teased me by calling from the trees above my head, skipping from branch to branch without coming into sight. A few minutes later I had a short glimpse of a small animal vanishing into the long grass at the side of the path. I think that it was most likely a bank vole but still with less than 50% certainty. There were also canada geese on nearby pasture, this is the second time in recent days that I have seen them on the dry upland fields around here. I had Codmore Wood to myself. Having seen deer before at times like this I was being as quiet as I could. Pas...

Yesterday I took advantage of an overcast morning to visit the College Lake reserve near Tring. The advantage of the cloud cover is the lack of reflected sunlight on the water so you can actually see the birds rather than just silhouettes. There were good displays of primroses around the edges of the paths but the most spectacular feature was the acrobatic display flights by the lapwings. There are quite a few pairs nesting on the islands so there were usually several birds in the air at the same time. There was the usual collection of waterfowl with shoveller, gadwall, tufties, mallard, coot, mute swans and both Candada and greylag geese. Remarkably well camoflaged on the shingle were some redshank, I could hear them but it was only when one took flight that I could find them and even then once I took my bins off the spot I couldn't be sure of finding them again. At home the badgers are still visiting but catching them on camera is still not as exciting as seeing one in the...

The Indian Summer weather tempted me out yesterday for a trip down to Stockers Lake. The high point of the walk wasn't the birds but walking along the section of path between the lake and the canal a grass snake suddenly crossed in front of me. It was so close that I almost trod on it and far too fast for me to get my phone out for a picture of course. On the lake itself there was nothing outstanding, plenty of coot and a good few tufties. I saw two parties of pochard, totallying 5 individuals plus a handful of cormorants and clusters of black headed gulls on suitable perches and partiesof mute swans and canada geese. Bury Lake had a lot of boating activity but was home to a family of great crested grebes, probably a late brood as the juveniles were still in their striped plumage.

The first hints of the autumn colours are now appearing, particularly last week on Boxmoor Common. The other, less welcome, autumn colour was the purple droppings on the car bonnet after parking under a tree. The garden is quiet as usual but one unusual sight was a buzzard over the M11 / M25 junction in Essex. That's the first time that I have seen one in the Roding Valley. Mentioning bird droppings I was in St Albans a couple of weeks ago and walked around the lake in the Verulam Park. I was struck by how clean the path was compared with that around Skottows Pond in Chesham. I assume that the local authority has been pricking goose eggs as there were only about a dozen canadas visible in the whole park.

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.