I saw my first swallow locally this morning while walking along Botley Road into Chesham. It wasn't the first however, four days ago I was at Fishers Green where there was a huge flock taking insects just above the water surface. There were also at least two cuckoos calling in the area and the sight of a warbler on the reeds showed why they were there. Unfortunately the view was too brief to get a firm identification and the Lea Valley Park website suggests that both reed and sedge warblers were present. It was nice to hear cuckoos for the first time since 2010. There was nothing else excpetional in the Lea Valley, the tern rafts were full of black headed gulls and the canada geese had goslings and a few coot chicks were visible.
Today I travelled to Thame by bus and, without the need to concentrate on driving, it was striking just how many red kites there are now. There were some lovely views with the birds coming down below tree top level. Near Chinnor one was keeping pace with the bus, which must have been doing at least 30, with barely a wingbeat which explains why they can seem to vanish if you look away for even a second.
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.
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