Chiltern Birder

There hasn't been much variety in the garden lately but the starlings are getting more active and the blue tits are taking fat away from the feeder. In the front I was pleased to see an orange tip butterfly this morning. With a hot day on Sunday we drove over to Long Crendon. It was striking that there were no kites visible over the hills but once we were out on the vale they seemed to be everywhere. Long Crendon apparrently has a resident pair nesting in a tree in one of the larger gardens.

As well as the usual suspects the last couple of days have given us visits by long tailed tits and coal tits. The real treat, however, was a house sparrow in the tree at the bottom of the garden. They come to that tree very occasionally but I never see them on the feeders. I had to make a trip to Bristol today. Being behind the wheel of a car isn't the best location for birding but on a long journey there are a few that can be recognised. Kites were in evidence between Great Missenden and Oxford as usual and I also saw swallows on a phone wire. I know that they have been around for a while but somehow I seldom get to see them until later in the season. In the Cotswolds I saw two buzzards, curiously both were being attacked by a single crow. On the return a lapwing flew across the road between Oxford and Thame, and a few minutes later a grey hawk like bird which I would put down as a possible cuckoo.

Faced with a beautiful afternoon and a garden in urgent need of attention I natually went for a walk instead. Cowcroft Wood nature reserve is a couple of fields away from the house and as it has been dry it was a nice alternative to my usual walk. There wasn't much in the way of bird life visible although there was a lot of song audible. The celandine is out and looking lovely with a promise of a magnificent display of bluebells later. Suddenly there was a disturbance at treetop height accompanied by a loud mewing. It took me a second to realise what it was as I have never heard a buzzard in the area although I have very occasionally seen them from the car. It flew across my line of sight and stayed in the area for quite a while as the calls were audible for quite a while. Apart from that we had a very brief glimpse of a muntjac and a brief view of a pheasant catching the sun at the edge of the wood.