Chiltern Birder

The badgers have been clearing the soiled bedding out of their sets. The gaps in the hedge where they had brought in the fresh material were easy to see with trails of dry grass, especially where they had gone down a slope. In the garden the tits seem to be slowly discovering the fat bar with several blues and a great tit as well as the robin. I have been watching out for redwings and fieldfares but none have been visible near home.

After a long period without putting feeders out the birds seemed to have abandoned my garden and what food I put out this month was being ignored. Finally today I had a solitarty blue tit and a robin coming to the starling bar (no starlings of course!) Yesterday a trip down to Thame naturally gave the usual crop of red kites and, becoming unusual these days, a kestrel hovering over the road between Thame and Longwick.

I had what must be my most easterly red kite sighting this morning while driving on the M25 between London Colney and South Mimms. It was probably one of this years brood as it looked quite small for a kite. In the garden the fat block is getting pecked but I haven't seen anything feeding on it. The strange weather this year seems to have made garden feeding very late. It is several weeks since I passed the River Chess in Chesham but it looked very stagnant and the local paper has reported that the flow hs stopped. Not entirely suprising with the dry summer and drought warnings being given already.