A visit to Chesham today revealed that the Chess was flowing at Wey Lane. Not very much and the stream was badly clogged by willow herb but it was flowing. You certainly wouldn't believe the flow there was once powerful enough to turn a sawmill. A walk down Duck Alley revealed that the flow was continuing through the water gardens but I didn't have time or energy to continue down to the moor.
Locally there hasn't been much in the way of birds apart from the kites. The fields locally have been harvested, ploughed, reseeded and the first leaves of the winter crop are already showing. I saw a large flock of what seemed to be finches or sparrows. Even with binocularsI couldn't be sure but I think there was a mixture of species.
Driving between Latimer and Ley Hill yesterday there was a large bird of prey sitting on one of the posts carrying a power line. The back and wings seemed quite grey. I only had it in sight for a second and can't be sure of id although it seemed large for a sparrowhawk.
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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