Chiltern Birder

I took a slightly different route this morning and explored Bunns Lane which leads down to the River Chess near Holloway Lane. This was a fascinating walk with the lane forming a ledge in the hillside at one point. I saw two or three goldcrests and was suprised that they were no more nervous of my presence than a blue or great tit would be. The ones that I have seen in the past have seen much shyer. What I initially assumed to be a fourth turned out to be a wren. I found a shrub on the path that I hadn't seen before with bright pink seed cases. With a little help from the web this was identified as a spindle tree. The hedgerows had obviously been properly laid at a point in the distant past leaving the trees grown into strange shapes. In this one a shoot trained horizontally has obviously grown over the decades. Apart from that there were the usual sightings of red kite and buzzard and a very noisy mixed flock of crows and jackdaws on some stubble. I have seen buzzard so ...

An early work finish meant that I had a rare chance of a weekday walk locally. So I did my favourite circuit down Broomstick Lane and Bottom Lane then back across the fields. It was suprising to see a late swallow skimming the arable, newly green with late sown something. Coming back in a lovely mild blustery weather the kites were in evidence with three or four individuals seen over a very short distance. One skimmed over a flock of jackdaws at low level but they seemed totally uninterested. A little later a flock of crows looked a little more threatening but didn't mob the bird. One must have been from this year's brood as it was quite small by kite standards. I could judge the size well as it came very close. The only other bird that was obvious was a yellowhammer that vanished into the hedge, one of the closest that I have seen to home.

I have seen birds from the car which I could not positively identify as swallows for several days but walking to the polling station this evening I had my first positive identification. The field next to the Hen and Chickens is used for horses who provide the perfect environment for the swallows' prey. The wild flowers have come on a lot since Easter. Clover, forget me not, speedwell and buttercups were all very obvious on the verges as well as a single field poppy. Returning home I went into the back garden and saw a kite being mobbed by crows. Nothing unusual around here but it is the first time that I have seem one from the back garden. The front garden and hte street outside the house yes, but never from the back before.

Actually a scattered selection of observations over the past week or so. The front garden has been attracting a variety of birds and last weekend I realised that something was nesting in the bat box fixed to the front porch. I was soundly scolded by both coal and great tits while I was gardening and wasn't sure which was using the box. This weekend I was able to observe a great tit flying to it, perching first on the edge of the porch then dropping down, out of my line of sight but with the box the only place it could go. I also noticed great tits appearing to have an arguement with a chaffinch last week. I hadn't thought of chaffinches as a threat to nestlings but the tits may have thought otherwise. On the subject of mobbing, this weekend I saw a crow going for a heron above Ferry Lane in Walthamstow. It reminded me of an incident many years ago on Hampstead Heath. I flock of crows was mobbing a heron which finally landed in a tree. The first crow to go for it suddenly found ...

There haven't been many birds in the garden at all. Blackbirds, robins and dunnocks seem to be the main residents. It was a delight today to suddenly get four long tailed tits on the fat feeder. The first time that I ever saw a red kite it was being mobbed by crows and they still don't like them. In Chesham on Monday a single crow was seeing off a kite over the Watermeadow car park.

I had a pair of partridges waddling down the road in front of me as I drove to work this morning, walking quite calmly away from me until they finally decided to take flight, which wasn't much of an improvement as they carried on down the road at windscreen height until we reached a bend. It isn't that common to see them, I think every occurrence is logged here. Seeing a pair is certainly unusual. It was a bright morning which really showed up the plumage on a yellowhammer on the phone lines. Curiously for the last week I have been seeing a large party of crows perched on an electricity supply line (the sort with three parallel wires).

As well as the usual suspects the last couple of days have given us visits by long tailed tits and coal tits. The real treat, however, was a house sparrow in the tree at the bottom of the garden. They come to that tree very occasionally but I never see them on the feeders. I had to make a trip to Bristol today. Being behind the wheel of a car isn't the best location for birding but on a long journey there are a few that can be recognised. Kites were in evidence between Great Missenden and Oxford as usual and I also saw swallows on a phone wire. I know that they have been around for a while but somehow I seldom get to see them until later in the season. In the Cotswolds I saw two buzzards, curiously both were being attacked by a single crow. On the return a lapwing flew across the road between Oxford and Thame, and a few minutes later a grey hawk like bird which I would put down as a possible cuckoo.