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.
The garden has seemed very quiet with hardly any birds seen but I hadn't been explicitly looking. I have just started putting a little food out in the front and in 24 hours have seen Robin, Great and Blue Tits and Magpies landing in my tiny front garden. Yesterday I heard a song that was unusual to me which the Merlin app identified as a Blackcap. Unfortunately for me the bird was ensconsed in the middle of my Forsythia which is still in full leaf and I couldn't get a sighting. This afternoon I saw Robins in the garden and corvids overhead. I set Merlin running while I swept fallen leaves from the front path. The app identified Robin, Rook, Wren, Jackdaw, Greenfinch and Blackbird. I also heard Parakeets but not while the app was running.
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