Chiltern Birder

The recent unseasonable weather has brought back the snow, holding out a promise of a white Easter. It also brought a suprise with a pied wagtail coming to the starling feeder. When a wagtail does something other than run up and down with its tail wagging it does cause you to think about what you are looking at for a second. Certainly my first thought was that there was something odd about the "woodpecker". What has beem missing from the feeders has been the starlings. The main visitors at the moment seem to be the blackbirds and long tailed tits.

The birdsong is becoming more and more noticeable. Skylarks are present over the fields while the usual hedgerow selection is very obvious. Walking today I was lucky to see a partridge, I assume a red leg, running across a field. It then took flight with very rapid wing beats, making me think of a very large bumble bee. Badgers seem to be active judging by fresh digging and bedding scattered around but I have only seen road kill lately, and far too much of that. The garden feeders are not getting much trade. A couple of starlings and a handful of long tailed tits play very occasional visits but apart from that its the usual blackbirds, robins and blue and great tits.