Where Have All The Birds Gone

Being out from before dawn until after dark I judge the number of birds in the garden by the amout of food taken. Since the very cold weather this has been minimal.

As I am at home today I have a chance to actually look out of the window occasionally. There seem to be no tits coming into the garden at all. Ground feeders are well represented with dunnocks, robin, blackbird and wood pigeon but the only things taking from the handing feeders were a squirrel and the occasional chaffinch.

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Returning to the Garden

High summer and early autumn is always a quiet time for birds in my garden. I no longer feed after my summer holiday as I have ended up throwing away far to much mouldy fat or seed. Normally I would wait until November before putting the feeders back out but a party of long tailed tits appeared in the front garden today so I think that it might be worth while trying a single fat bar for the moment. For the past couple of weeks I have seen a lot of roadside signs saying "beware of deer" in places where I wouldn't normally see them. Last weekend I decided that they might be justified when I encountered a herd of roe deer in the road between Ley Hill and Latimer. While muntjac are seen often enough the roes tend to be shy and this was only the third time that I have had a good look at some in all the years that I have lived here.

A Little More Normal

After a couple of days of frost the garden looks more like a typical winter's day with birds visiting throughout the day. Blue tits are the main visitor plus one or two marsh (or possibly willow) tits and the occasional great tit. A flock of long tailed tits paid a fairly brief visit. Robins in the back garden have paired, seemingly a little later than the ones in the front. Due to ill health the ivy on my back fence hasn't been trimmed and has developed a good crop of berries. The only bird that I have seen showing interest has been a wood pigeon which spent some time yesterday feasting on them. In the front I put out a fat block yesterday afternoon which, so far, has attracted a grey squirrel. The pair of robins and the occasional blackbird are active on the hanging table.

Pheasants

I had quite a suprise driving back from the garden centre this afternoon. In the road between Latimer and Ley hill was a flock of ten juvenile pheasants, 7 cock birds and 3 hens. They proceeded to run down the lane away from the car milling back and forth across the road. One eventually ran down the side of the car and some of the others made for the hedgerows. As I carried on at walking pace the rest ran in front of me, one or two finally diving into the verge and the rest finally remembering their wings and taking flight.

Chiltern Birder

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