Chiltern Birder

It was quite an exciting moment this morning when I spotted three redpolls on the lawn. I think they were in the garden yesterday as well but they are quite nervy and fly off at the slightest movement at thew window. Today I managed to see them from upsairs and had the little monocular that I carry when not explictly out birding handy. They were working over the patch under the feeder where the goldfinches drop fragments of sunflower seed. At night the badgers are still cleaning up everything in the ground feeding trays with at least two individuals visiting the garden. I had, legitimately under covid rules, to visit the Rush Green area of Romford at the weekend. What struck me immediately was the sound of ring necked parakeets in the taller trees. The usual blue and great tits were audible as well as house sparrows. I was brought up two or three miles to the north and back then all we saw in the gardens were sparrows and starlings.

The bullfinches haven't returned but we are regularly seeing goldfinches on all four ports of the seed feeder. I am having to top up the sunflower seeds every few days now. We are also seeing chaffinches and all the usual tits, blue, great, long tailed and coal. There was also a starling on the fat ball holder today but these aren't going down at anything like the speed of the seeds. I won't fill the other fat feeders for a little while yet. At ground level we have the usual selection, dunnock, robin, blackbird and wood pigeon but the pigeons don't seem to be frequent visitors as the ground feeder isn't being cleared yet. It took several days for a spillage of sunflower seeds to be cleared, I don't know if it was birds, field mice or badgers that were responsible. I was out and about in east London last weekend. Parakeets were very obvious in Hackney, I heard them from inside the car in Victoria Park Road (yes they are that loud) and saw them over Broadway M...

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 thought that we had a solitary pair of bullfinches coming into the garden until today. This afternoon we had a pair of cock birds in the garden plus one hen. Having been watching these birds regularly it was clear that the red breasts were fading slightly and they had a very slight hint of orange rather than the very pure brick red of earlier in the season. One suprise in the front garden last week was a solitary cock sparrow. I can never really get used to the fact that a species that was the most common in my childhood garden is so rare here. Out and about the bluebells are just coming out and a few walks in the woods will be in order in the next couple of weeks. While driving towards Latimer a pair of red legged partridges posed in a field entrance allowing me to stop and give my passenger a good view. Back in the garden there were a couple of holes in the vegetable bed that were clearly caused by a badger. Luckily away from the seedlings that I planted out last week. The occa...

Three days ago I heard a house sparrow on the gutter of the house opposite mine. Yesterday a cock sparrow was in my rowan tree, which is the first time that I have had one in the garden for more years than I can remember. The wrens in my bat box seem to have raised a brood. I have had bat boxes at two different properties and in both wrens have raised chicks. I have never had a single bat!

With the hot weather at the weekend a walk among the bluebells was thought a good idea. With a perfectly still warm day the scent of the flowers hung in the air and in the Chilterns the flowers were still at their best. The following day we went to College Lake near Tring. I hadn't been to this reserve for the best part of two decades. When I first visited it was just a hole in the chalk full of water with a few coot swimming around. Now it is landscaped and well populated although the layout makes the whole thing feel staged at times. In the hot weather on Sunday light and heat was reflecting off the chalk and made walking in some parts quite uncomfortable. In the shady parts there were some nice displays of dog violets. Islands created in the lake had attracted a lot of breeding water birds. Terns were very much in evidence, a marked contrast to Fishers Green where the black headed gulls seemed to be monopolising the tern rafts. We also saw oystercatcher, redshank and lapwing...

The kites seem to have taken to the woods alongside the M10. I saw one again when driving there this morning. Probably a few yards west of the last one that I saw so no new record! At home there hasn't been much change although I have been told that the Greater Spotted Woodpecker was on the fat feeder in the front garden while I was at work. I hear woodpeckers of both types in the mornings at the moment but it isn't that common to see them. At my mother's house I saw something strange in the garden and had to search my memory for a few seconds to remember what a house sparrow looked like. It really is frightening how rare they have become in such a short time.

The wood pigeons seem to be a permanent fixture now. Yesterday morning the pair of them were on the garden fence indulging in their courtship display. I thought that they were supposed to wait until St Valentine's Day. Another effect of global warming? A party of long tailed tits as been in residence for the last couple of days and has been delighting us with frequent visits to the fat feeders. Apart from that it has been a case of the usual suspects with the exception of greenfinches which seem to have abandoned us entirely and brief visits by a song thrush and a pair of house sparrows.