Badgers and Autumn Colour

During the past week the changes in colour of the trees have started noticing. This is particularly apparent when driving on the A41 from Berkhampsted to Tring as I did to visit College Lake. I don't know if this is a factor of pollution from the road or of soil and aspect, the terroir as they would say in a vineyard. College Lake itself was unexciting except for one bird of prey that steadfastly remained perched in a position that didn't give a clear view. From the size a peregrine and a hobby were both possibilities being suggested in the hide. There were still a handful of swallows around. I went to a gig in Harrow on Monday night which meant driving back through Latimer around midnight. This is always a good route for seeing wildlife at night although the best view was a fox in Pinner. In Latimer village I had the briefest glimpse of a badger's hindquarters as it vanished into the hedgerow. Sadly I had a much better view of a deceased one in Blackewell Hall Lane. This prompted me to check the gap in the back garden fence made by the badgers and there were signs that they were returning to the garden after their summer break. I will start setting the camera trap again in the next few days.

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Usual Suspects

With some cold dry weather there has been a lot of activity on the feeders this weekend. With three different robins visiting the garden there have been fewer fights than I would have expected. The sight of the weekend has been a robin regularly visiting the starling feeder with a pair of beady eyes peeping over the top of the fat bar. As I had run out of sunflower hearts I topped up the ground hopper with pinhead oatmeal which seems to have been very popular. I even had a song thrush inside the cage which is a first. Althogther the weekend has included goldfinches, chaffinches, great tits, blue tits, coal tits, marsh/willow tit (I must learn how to distinguish those), blackbird, song thrush, robin, dunnock and wood pigeon. Unusually for this area a heron also flew across the garden during the day. I haven't seen any long tailed tits or greenfinches around here for a while and there wasn't a single house sparrow around during the weekend.

More Starlings

At least one brood of starlings have been regular visitors to the feeder and today the fledglings got the hang of taking the food for themselves. Other broods must be less developed as adults were still taking away quantities of fat. The tits aren't so common at the moment, I don't know if this is because they have dispersed, if wild food is available or if pressure from the starlings has driven them off. Single blue tits are dropping in fairly regularly and a coal tit took fat away as well. The woodpecker seems to have become a regular visitor and still has a brood to feed. He definitely comes before the starlings in the pecking order and keeps them off the feeder until he has finished. The new feeder with perching rings is popular with the chaffinches and the goldfinches, the latter suddenly seem to prefer the high energy mix to the nyjer seed. With all this demand for feeding young ones the fat is going down very rapidly and I am putting larger quantities out on the ground t...

Easter

As well as the usual suspects the last couple of days have given us visits by long tailed tits and coal tits. The real treat, however, was a house sparrow in the tree at the bottom of the garden. They come to that tree very occasionally but I never see them on the feeders. I had to make a trip to Bristol today. Being behind the wheel of a car isn't the best location for birding but on a long journey there are a few that can be recognised. Kites were in evidence between Great Missenden and Oxford as usual and I also saw swallows on a phone wire. I know that they have been around for a while but somehow I seldom get to see them until later in the season. In the Cotswolds I saw two buzzards, curiously both were being attacked by a single crow. On the return a lapwing flew across the road between Oxford and Thame, and a few minutes later a grey hawk like bird which I would put down as a possible cuckoo.

Chiltern Birder

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