Chiltern Birder

Heard my first cuckoo of the year today. I was walking along the edge of Cowcroft Wood and could hear the bird calling, probably from the thickets on the other side of the brickworks. In the woods the display of bluebells was magnificent and other woodland plants were making nice displays elsewhere. Earlier this month I had half a sighting of a badger. Driving late at night towards Missenden I just glimpsed the animals hind quarters as it scuttled into the hedge.

Looking back over previous posts this seems to be the normal time to hear a cuckoo in the hills around here. Walking across the field between Broomstick Lane and Cowcroft Wood I could hear one in the direction of Tylers Hill Road. In the woods the bluebells were making a magnificent show but birds could only be heard rather than seen. In the garden we seem to be getting starlings, blue, great and coal tits, blackbirds, robins and dunnocks. Magpies have started coming into the garden and a pair of wood pigeons seem to be resident rather than just visiting.

I had quite a suprise last night driving home. Between Latimer and Ley Hill I saw a polecat at the edge of the road. It was facing me and the "bandit mask" was very clear in the headlights. A little way down the road and the elation rapidly vanished when we saw a recently killed young badger. Locally cuckoos have been very vocal and in Chalfont St Peter I heard a swift calling overhead. This was nice as the wet start to the spring meant that they had a severe food shortage. In the hot weather a garden pond was being visited by breeding damselflies, I am not an expert on odontae but one pair seemed to be common blues and the other possibly small red.

I saw my first swallow locally this morning while walking along Botley Road into Chesham. It wasn't the first however, four days ago I was at Fishers Green where there was a huge flock taking insects just above the water surface. There were also at least two cuckoos calling in the area and the sight of a warbler on the reeds showed why they were there. Unfortunately the view was too brief to get a firm identification and the Lea Valley Park website suggests that both reed and sedge warblers were present. It was nice to hear cuckoos for the first time since 2010. There was nothing else excpetional in the Lea Valley, the tern rafts were full of black headed gulls and the canada geese had goslings and a few coot chicks were visible. Today I travelled to Thame by bus and, without the need to concentrate on driving, it was striking just how many red kites there are now. There were some lovely views with the birds coming down below tree top level. Near Chinnor one was keeping pace with t...

An interesting few days. On Thursday I paid a visit to a small music club on board a barge on the Grand Union near Uxbridge. It was rather nice to have a swan drift past the window, not something you that happens in the typical pub back room. There was also a heron on top on a nearby boat and my first tern of the season was circling the area for a while. Today I had to make a visit to Essex. There was a pair of red kites over Ley Hill Common which was unusual, I see singletons around there regularly but not normally more than one. Driving along the former M10 I saw a buzzard and going through Epping Forest a brief glimpse of something large. I would love to definitely have it down as another buzzard but I can't be 100% sure. A pity as I have never seen one in Essex before. At the RHS garden at Hyde Hall I heard a cuckoo while loading the car up. Another customer also commented that it was the first that she had heard this year.