Chiltern Birder

A glorious day for a walk today, too glorious considering the present drought. I took my usual circuit down Bottom Lane then across the field path back towards Tylers Hill Road. Bluebells were in leaf in the hedgerow, hopefully natives rather than garden escapes, and a few snowdrops were in flower. A few minutes later I was serenaded by a skylark, the first that I have heard this year. A little further down the lane I heard a buzzard mewing although by the time I was out in the open it had gone. In fact, apart from a few crows and pigeons and a solitary blackbird everything seemed to be out of sight although the various songsters were making plenty of noise and I could hear a green woodpecker somewhere over towards Botley Road. In the garden I have seen a long tailed tit on the starling bar as well as the regular blackbirds and blue tits. Still no starlings however which is a huge change on previous years.

After a remarkably mild winter we have had a week of very cold clear weather followed by reasonably heavy snow overnight. Despite the freeze the birds have not rediscovered my garden although the numbers of blue tits coming to the fat bar seem to be increasing slowly. It is still the same fat bar, in previous years I would probably have been onto the third by now. The snow did bring a blackbird onto the feeder and a pair were roosting in my neighbour's leylandii hedge. I will have to be careful to check that I am not disturbing a next when I next trim my side. Nothing much of note, the Chess is still dry and there have been a disturbing number of dead badgers on the roads recently.

The badgers have been clearing the soiled bedding out of their sets. The gaps in the hedge where they had brought in the fresh material were easy to see with trails of dry grass, especially where they had gone down a slope. In the garden the tits seem to be slowly discovering the fat bar with several blues and a great tit as well as the robin. I have been watching out for redwings and fieldfares but none have been visible near home.

After a long period without putting feeders out the birds seemed to have abandoned my garden and what food I put out this month was being ignored. Finally today I had a solitarty blue tit and a robin coming to the starling bar (no starlings of course!) Yesterday a trip down to Thame naturally gave the usual crop of red kites and, becoming unusual these days, a kestrel hovering over the road between Thame and Longwick.

I had what must be my most easterly red kite sighting this morning while driving on the M25 between London Colney and South Mimms. It was probably one of this years brood as it looked quite small for a kite. In the garden the fat block is getting pecked but I haven't seen anything feeding on it. The strange weather this year seems to have made garden feeding very late. It is several weeks since I passed the River Chess in Chesham but it looked very stagnant and the local paper has reported that the flow hs stopped. Not entirely suprising with the dry summer and drought warnings being given already.

After several years where other committments have inhibited any sort of serious birding it was nice to be able to take a leasurely stroll around Fishers Green today. The weather was warm and clear again, unseasonably so for October. There were plants in flower, particularly comfrey which was keeping the bumble bee population supplied with late pollen. On the water there was nothing of particular note, canada geese seemed to be in larger numbers than in the past. Most noticable was the absense of sawbills and pochard. Suprising numbers of wigeon present and on the water rather than grazing. The drakes were in eclipse plumage and I am so out of practice at identification that it took a visit to the RSPB web site to confirm the sighting.

The Indian Summer is finally over. Last weekend temeratures were in the 80s and I was picking strawberries. Clear skys did make spotting large birds easier and a personal first for me was to see buzzard in Essex. While I have seen them often enough in Bucks and Herts this was the first time east of the Lea, as I came out of Epping Forest towards the M25 at Waltham Abbey. Driving towards Oxford last night I commented to my passenger that it was about time that I saw another badger. Suprisingly on the way back we actually did see one. At first I thought is was a bag or sack dumped in the middle of the lane but as I slowed down it scuttled into the side.