Chiltern Birder

We have had very hard frosts for the last few days and I have been twice to Rickmansworth. Yesterday was simply a walk around Bury Lake but today was some serious birding on Stockers Lake. Parts of the lake were frozen and with a bright sun mist was rising off the ice. As usual in the middle of the day it was difficult to identify anything on the water from the north side of the lake with the sun so low although the wigeon were audible. Once on the south side with the sun behind things were much clearer. A red crested pochard was beautifully illuminated to show all the plumage and the bright red beak. There was a party of the birds among the islands as well as shoveller close to the shore. On the open water there were the usual mallards, gadwall, mute swans, tufties and coot as well as the flock of wigeon.

Activity has picked up a lot over the Christmas period. Suddenly the blue tits are out in force. A group will perch on a bush and one after the other will make the short dash to the feeder, grab a sunflower seed and return to the bush. The goldfinches and starlings dominate the feeders but we have also had brief visits from greenfinch, chaffinch, great tits and long tailed tits. Robins, blackbirds and dunnocks are regulars on the lawn and flowerbeds although the wrens haven't been seen for a little while.

After days of dank misty weather it was clear and crisp today, autumnal rather than wintry so I decided that some exercise across the fields was in order. Just for once I remembered to pick up the bins. There wasn't a lot going on at first apart from a lot of noise from the rooks but on the return leg I was walking along Bottom Lane and looking up towards Cowcroft Wood I could see a small party of deer grazing on the late summer planting of brassicas. The field glasses revealed five roe does. From the Cowcroft and Ladies Wood sides they were well concealed in dead ground but visible in the long view from the valley. They were far enough away not to be disturbed by me especially as the wind was in my face. This is the only the second time that I have been able to study roe deer in daylight and as they were unaware of me I could get views at all angles as they moved. Further on I left Bottom Lane to walk along the path on the ridge towards Tylers Hill. Apart from another view on ...

I happened to find myself near Rutland Water yesterday and decided, on the spur of the moment, to stop for a look around. Naturally I chose totally the wrong location for birding. With few people about there was a large flock of wigeon grazing on the short grass between the car park and the lake. Rather than frighten them I took a walk along the tarmac path that was set back from the shore. A good decision as I found that there was a flock of fieldfares in the hedgerow. Back home there seems to be a lot of thrush sized birds around staying too far away for identification. Judging by the behavour these were probably redwings. Nothing exotic has been happening in the garden although the wrens must have bred well this year as I keep seeing them in both front and back gardens. When seen close too they seem, if anything, to be even smaller than when observed from inside the house.