Chiltern Birder

The annual invasion by juvenile starlings started about 4 days ago and well over a kilo of fat has been consumed already.They are fun to watch but they are expensive visitors and the 3p that my blogs and photo site have earned since lockdown started won't go far. Naturally when they swamp the feeders the other birds move away except for the great spotted woodpecker that was on the feeder this morning who could definitely hold his own agains a mob of starlings. I took advantage of a trip to Chesham to pick up a prescription  to walk along the river bank from Pednormead End to Lords Mill. Despite the current drown water levels still look excellent, due no doubt to ground water from last winter's heavy rain. What is striking though is a lack of any obvious fauna in the water. When I first moved here it was normal to be able to watch fish in the Chess at Water Lane. When that happens again I will know that the river is in proper health.

There seem to be a few pairs of finches nesting within range of my feeders. We seem to have at least one pair of chaffinches and two of goldfinches visiting regularly at the moment. No doubt the starlings will turn up later in the season. At the moment I only have a couple of fat bars in the house and am not sure if I should be ordering more under the present circumstances. In the woods the bluebells have come out in the last day or two. Great spotted woodpeckers are drumming and I have heard the occasional "yaffle" of a green woodpecker as well. With so little traffic noise birdsong is far clearer and the fact that we are lucky enough to have a good population of skylarks is obvious.

The starlings came back today after a few days absence. It was a flock of juveniles rather than the young plus adults that I was seeing previously. I had scattered dried mealworms in the lawn and these were taken readily before moving on to the fat feeders. The woodpecker is still visiting regularly. The way that she perches means that, on the starling feeder, she takes fat from the bottom of the block. I was going to take a photo of this pattern today but the starlings obliterated it along with about a quarter litre of the fat. The woodpecker also perches on the sunflower seed feeder. She doesn't appear to be taking the seeds but probing for possible insects. I haven't seen any sign of the cock woodpecker or of any juveniles so far.

The first of the year today as I walked out to the car this morning. It was a lovely clear call, fairly close I think which carried on for longer than usual. In the garden the last of the starlings seems to have moved on but the great spotted woodpecker is visiting regularly. With the door open this afternoon I heard her calling. Apart from that visits by birds of all sorts seem to be tailing off. While we have had all the regulars in the garden they are turning up less often. A week ago I would expect to see birds if I looked out of the window, now I am more likely to see none on the feeders. Unless a late brood turns up the starlings haven't shifted a lot of fat overall, I still have half a dozen fat bars left in the box.

Suddenly the large flocks of starlings have ceased to visit. The occasional singleton is turning up on the feeder but the same fat bar has been on the feeder for nearly three days and still isn't quite finished. The blackbirds are seem to be feeding chicks, the adults are paying regular visits to the starling feeder and leaving with well laden beaks. Today a female great spotted woodpecker has been turning up. I broke off typing this to watch her take a beakful away so there must be a chick nearby. She did seem very nervous, often landing on the fence near the feeder, looking around and flying off again. Earlier  this week I took a trip to Gloucestershire and visited the Highnam Woods RSPB reserve. This is noted for nightingales but as I was there at noon that was one species that I didn't hear. Close to the A40 the daytime traffic noise is very intrusive but once you are away from the road the amount of bird song was striking as were the magnificent displays of wild flower...

There is far less activity in the garden now with food being left on the ground tray. However some coal tits must be nesting nearby as we are seeing one or two on a regular basis. They seem particularly fond of the peanut butter feeder. Today it was nice to see a great spotted woodpecker on the feeders but again, it took only the slightest movement within the house to frighten it away.

With the forsythia and celandines in bloom spring is definitely on the way. There are some clear changes in usage of the garden by the birds. The finches are no longer flocking, while we are still seeing goldfinches and chaffinches these are now singletons or pairs rather than groups. The bullfinches seem to have vanished and the long tailed tits are less frequent visitors. Blue and great tits, dunnock, robins, wood pigeons and blackbirds are all still present in abundance while great spotted woodpeckers are occasional visitors although they are disturbed by the slightest movement inside the house.

You don't really think about "pregnancy" in egg laying animals but for the last few days it has been striking that there are some very plump hen birds around. I first noticed a greenfinch but there has been a particularly gravid looking chaffinch that has been sitting underneath the feeders eating bits that fall rather than trying to perch. The greenfinch was the first that I have seen for quite a while but apart from the regulars the only other bird of note has been the great spotted woodpecker who has perched in the garden on a couple of occasions but hasn't come to the feeders. Badgers have been visiting fairly regularly. On one night I put out a choice of raisins and fat pellets and found that the badger only took the fruit while a field mouse came out to take the fat. I have seen badgers take tallow based fat products and the pellets were suet based so I tried two fat balls, one of suet and one of tallow. Naturally the badgers stayed away that night! I have...

After a sudden drop in activity before Christmas things seem to be back to normal now. Both sunflower heart and fat levels are falling rapidly in the feeders again and the flock of goldfinches is back. A pair of bullfinches have been regulars for the last week or two and a nuthatch drops by occasionally. A brief visit to the back garden by a great spotted woodpecker has added to the species count. In the front garden we are seeing far less activity and the fat feeder on the quince tree has only been replenished once this season. I suspect that for some reason we aren't getting the woodpeckers at the front of the houses at the moment as they have been heavy consumers of fat in the past.

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.

It has been quite a few years since I have had greenfinches in the garden but today a trio suddenly appeared on the feeder taking sunflower hearts. Despite having four ports on the feeder the pair feeding would not allow the other anywhere near although as they squabbled they did change places from time to time. Eventually they all suddenly flew off to be replaced by a sollitary goldfinch. When I moved here over 20 years ago I never imagined that greenfinches would be unusual and goldfinches an everyday occurrence. At the front of the house a great spotted woodpecker was on the feeder as I came down to breakfast but flew off as soon as I moved near the window. The great tit who promptly came down wasn't so concerned.

I was entertained this morning by a robin taking fat from the feeder in the front garden. He wasn't too happy trying to perch and ended up hovering like a rather ungainly hummingbird to feed from the side of the block. He was also rather agressive with the tits and chased a coal tit off the feeder. First thing this morning I saw a great spotted woodpecker on the feeder who was quickly replaced by a flock of long tailed tits. Naturally they flew away when I fetched the camera only to return when I got on with making breakfast.

Around here it's the transition from winter to spring that tends to bring some of the more interesting visitors back to the garden. This morning I stopped preparing breakfast to watch a male great spotted woodpecker on the fat feeder in the front garden. I could almost imagine that it was drumming with the way that the beak was driving into the fat block with as much flying off to fall to the ground as was being taken. Those pieces will probably be found by the dunnocks soon enough. The green woodpeckers have been calling regularly for the last few weeks but I have yet to see one this year.

Heard my first cuckoo of the year today at about ten to nine. It seemed to be calling from somewhere in the Tylers Hill area. On the feeders was a great spotted woodpecker at breakfast time and I heard a green calling when I went out. The various birds are wolfing down the feed now and the starlings seem to prefer the hanging feeder to the specialist starling feeder despite the acrobatics involved.

I was about to go out at noon when I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue came on the radio so I decided stay in for another 30 minutes and break my habit of doing the washing up in one evening session. This meant that the fat feeder on the quince tree was actually visible for a change. A great tit was feeding on it but the excitement was a pair of long tailed tits, the first of the winter to be seen in the garden. They worked over the tree, ignoring the feeder and returned a little later to repeat the process. Also ignoring the feeder a female great spotted woodpecker spent some time on the tree. In the back garden only a robin has been seen on the fat feeder while fat pieces keep getting taken from the ground feeder when I am not watching. Whatever is doing it defintiely doesn't like the sultanas which still seem to be untouched.

According to the radio this morning the bluebells are already out in some parts of the country. A long walk in Cowcroft Wood showed that this was not the case here, in the way of flowers the celendines are just starting to bloom but not the bluebells although parts of the wood will probably be magnificent once they are out. By way of birds there were just the usual tits, blackbirds and robins plus some woodpeckers. A green was very vocal but we only had a very brief glimpse as it flew away. A great spotted posed at a little distance. Curiously we ran into a friend from London in the middle of the wood, as Pratchett says, "million to one chances happen all the time".

Finally this winter I saw a great spotted woodpecker on the fat feeder at the front of the house, and a handsome chap he was. I was enjoying the sight so much that I forgot to walk the few feet to where I had left the camera bag. I am part way through demolishing my old lean to and the work bench is currently standing on the lawn which means that there is a nice snow free foraging area attracting more dunnocks than I usually see at one time. With the deep snow I have swept the top surface and stood a ground feeder on it as an impromtu bird table. Last seen the contents were being demolished by a squirrel who ingored every attempt to chase him away. Apart from that I am getting blue tits, chaffinches, robins, blackbirds and wood pigeons. The goldfinches haven't returned and the long tailed tits seem to have moved on.