Chiltern Birder

I have started putting fat bars out again. The starlings are making free with the one in the back garden. All I have seen in the front has been a few blue tits but something has eaten that one very quickly. I must spend more time looking out of the window. On Monday I took a short stop at Fishers Green as I was passing. There was one suprise as I saw a pair of Egyptian geese on one of the islands. There was a pair resident at Amwell over 20 years ago but these are the first that I have seen in the wild since then.

With the forecasts threatening stormy weather I decided to take advantage of a mild morning to fit in a visit to Stockers Lake before I needed to wear wellingtons. At first glance the lakes were much as normal with coot, morhen, tufted duck. mallards, mute swan, a pair of gadwall and the occasional cormorant. As I progressed round the lake it was clear that there were much larger numbers of black headed gulls than usual, which country lore would have as a predictor of storms. I didn't count them but there were a decent number of red-crested pochard with a few common pochard among them which was handy for comparison of field marks. The tits are starting to form into flocks and I could hear a decent sized party moving through the trees but there were just enough leaves still in place to make identification difficult. It is time to start looking out for birds returning to the garden after the usual quiet spell in September and October.