Chiltern Birder

I spent some time in Devon for the first time in 6 years last weekend. I was very struck by the number of buzzards that we saw along the A303 / A30. I saw the first just as we crossed from Wiltshire into Somerset and after that they were a regular feature. We stayed in Whimple and, between games, the cricket pitch attracted swallows, skimming dangerously close to the ground and a number of pied wagtails including a juvenile. At one point I saw a wagtail take to the air and drive off one of the swallows.

In previous years I commented on how I never seem to see red kites in June. I was reminded of that when I saw one over Latimer this evening, which is by no means the first this month. In the garden the starlings are turning up in smaller numbers and a great tit has reappeared. There are blackbird families in both the front and back gardens and I have seen the juveniles being fed several times. Both greater spotted and green woodpeckers are in evidence, the former taking a lot of fat from the feeders and the latter digging holes in the front lawn. Other regulars are goldfinches, chaffinches, house sparrows, blue tits, robins including a juvenile, dunnock and a resident pair of wood pigeons. Absent these days are other varieties of tit, greenfinches and collared doves.

As in previous years things are thinning out in the garden. The greater spotted woodpeckers are still taking fat and seemed to have moved from the back garden feeders to the one at the front. We also had a blackbird chick in the front garden bounding about after its father demanding food. Looking back over previous entries I noticed that I have seldom seen red kites in the area during the summer. This year may be different, there was one over Chesham this morning. Yesterday I saw a buzzard over the M25 between Rickmansworth and Watford.

We have had two sparrow chicks on the feeder, taking alternate mouthfulls from the feeder and from their mother. The starlings on the other hand are now feeding themselves while the greater spotted woodpecker is still taking away substantial beakfulls of fat. We haven't seen any juvenile robins this year and the blackbirds are not around so often. The starlings seem to have moved on today, for the last week we have been shifting a litre of fat every day but half of last night's bar is still in place.