Chiltern Birder

I had some leisure to watch what came into my garden today. With one feeder out of action because I lost one of the fittings after taking it apart for cleaning and another bitten throug by a squirrel I only have a single four port feeder in use at the moment. I am getting a good mix of tits with blues, greats and marsh/willow (I still haven't decided which) as regular visitors. At least one long tailed came through the garden today but didn't come to the feeder. Dunnocks, robins, blackbirds and wood pigeons come to the ground feeders and chaffinches have become common visitors. A pre lunch walk gave be a good look at a goldcrest, something I haven't seen locally since the fir tree in the middle of my small back garden became too large and had to be taken out. No kites locally which is unusual now. For a long time they tended not to come this side of Chesham but that has definitely changed.

I have one feeder on the go at the moment but from what I saw in the garden today I think that I am probably feeding more squirrels than birds. The weather has been mixed with clear skies alternating with short sharp bursts of rain. I did see a dunnock perch on top of the feeder but they always feed at ground level. It shouldn't have been surprising really but for the first time ever I saw a kite from my own front path. He circled over our street for a minute or two and then seemed to be caught by the wind and suddenly whipped away without any apparent effort. In clear weather last night I was struck by the view of the escarpment from the Lower Icknield Way. With no lights visible the effect is of a strange brooding shadow against the sky. The drive itself was not particularly exciting with just a glimpse of a fox.

I put some sunflower hearts in a small feeder a week ago as I had seen some blue tits foraging in the garden. Very little activity so far, the level has dropped slightly and I have seen a hen chaffinch using it. I have a feeling that serious feeding is going to start a couple of weeks later than last year. I will have to double check the other feeders and make sure that they are clean and disinfected. The feeders with perching rings are a pain to take apart for cleaning and I always fear loosing one of the nuts that hold everything together.

Not much activity on the bird front close to home. As usual I start thinking about restarting feeding at this time but experience has shown that I should wait for another week or two otherwise food will just start to rot in the feeders. The recent clear weather has meant that the mornings have been misty. When driving between Ley Hill and Latimer this provides some incredible views more like a Chinese painting than an English landscape. If it wasn't for the need to pay the mortgage I would just stop the car and spend the day in the Chiltern countryside. One feature of the mist is that I have seen kestrels hunkered down on pieces of street furniture rather than hovering. One bright spot was a jay seen alongside the North Circular Road in north east London this morning.

With some fine late September weather the leaves are just starting to change colour and I am seeing some impressive cobwebs in the garden. As is usual at this time of year I am not putting out any food as experience shows that from late August through to November it will just rot in the feeders. Of course with the bad weather at harvest time feeding patterns may change a little this year, I saw very grey looking barley being combined well into this month. On the drive to the station this morning the clear weather had me looking out at the bird life. Waiting for another vehicle on the single track section between Ley Hill and Latimer a large bird of prey suddenly came across at hedgerow height. It didn't seem right for a kite but as I was waiting in a gateway I had a look as it cleared the hedge abd turned to follow the high ground above Latimer Bottom. With no fork to the tail and wingtips splayed like fingers it was definitely a buzzard. By no means unknown around here but far le...

The arable fields between Ley Hill and Latimer have been harvested over the last couple of days. This morning I saw a group of yellowhammers in the middle of the road by a field gate. From the look of things they were eating spilled grain. Instead of flying into the hedgerow they flew away from me along the road at windscreen height. I haven't seen much else recently apart from a distant glimpse of a partridge and the occasional red kite.

I took one of my occasional visits to South Wales last weekend. There was nothing outstanding about the drive with the usual scattering of kites to the east of Oxford and buzzards to the west. On Saturday a visit to the Gwent Levels was not as exciting in birding terms as my visit in May 2006 but we were lucky to see a water vole cross the road in front of us and also saw a weasel in the reserve. Among the birds there were curlews and oystercatchers at a distance on the mud and a single egret flew across our path. The new visitor centre is impressive with a nice selection of cakes in the little cafe. Later in the day we moved up into the hills near Blaenavon looking for Peregrines but thought we were going to be out of luck until one flew across just as we were turning to leave. As well as the usual buzzards the almost pig like croak of a raven caught our attention and among the small birds there were a host of meadow pipits and a solitary wheatear. On Sunday a walk around Whitecastle ...