Chiltern Birder

There is very little activity in the garden at the moment. As always the rowan tree in the front garden has been stripped of berries while I am not looking. However as I walked out of the house yesterday blackbird was posed on a branch with a berry in his beak. If I had had a camera ready it would have been the sort of shot that gets in magazines. A curious sight out walking recently was a badger set where grass seed from the bedding had germinated giving the set a brilliant green doormat in otherwise brown woodland.

Its a very quiet time for birds in the garden but the autumn has definitely arrived with the appearance of garden cross spiders. One had a web suspended from a thread that ran the full width of the garden. I did try for a photo but my phone insisted on focussing on the greenery several feet away.

Not the name of a pub but this encounter caught by the camera trap.

It wasn't worth putting in another bulk order for feed so I bought some fat nuggets from the garden centre as there is still a lot of activity on the feeders by juvenile blue and great tits. I also cut up an old pallet as I needed some scrap timber which left me with a piece that would stand upright so I decided to try attaching the camera trap to it. After a few experiments I had it lined up to film the ground feeder overnight. I baited it with raisins and fat nuggets which I hoped would attract badgers. One did put his nose through the fence but turned straight round, I suspect that a cat was occupying the garden as I had plenty of shots of one who seemed to be watching for field mice. I set the trap quite early and had to replace the fat nuggets. I didn't think that a blackbird could carry this much. I put out fresh fat nuggets and between visits by the cat this little chap helped himself. Come the morning the blackbird was back for some raisins

The ring necked parakeets are working their way up the Chess valley. I was at the Van Hage garden centre at Chenies today when one flew overhead. Previously I have seen and, more often, heard them at Rickmansworth on a few occasions. I am not sure of they can establish in the Chilterns. Certainly where I live at 500 feet above sea level the difference in winter weather from the lower ground is noticeable before considering the London heat island. During the bank holiday I was in Bampton in Oxfordshire. The house martins were active in what appeared to be good numbers. I also heard swifts, I can't compare with previous years but it didn't seem as noisy.

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.