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Cowcroft Wood

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.
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David Kavanagh said…
I was in this wood today with the dog. First time in a while and found it very busy with various wildlife/birds. Most interesting find was a nest of orange banded bumble bees - not sure of the exact species - in the trunk of a half-collapsed tree leaning across the track which curls up to Cowcroft Farm. My own best birds in recent months have been two hen harriers and a short-eared owl in fields near Cholesbury. First time I've spotted either species locally in 13 years of living in Chesham.
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