Chiltern Birder

 Health issues mean that I haven't been paying any attention to my blogs but I was roused from my afternoon cup of tea today but a most unholy racket. Yes the parakeets have finallyarrived in my part of Chesham with a flock of five in the tree in my neighbours garden. It had to come eventually as they have been in Rickmansworth for years. Not much else happening apart from the usual circling kites and the occasional buzzard. I haven't seen anything eating my rowan berries but the tree is being steadily stripped. Usually its a mix of wood pigeons and blackbirds. Collared doves seem to be back in this end of the village as I saw a pair while waiting for the bus this week. They used to be garden regulars but hadn't seen any near the house for years.

 After a couple of days of frost the garden looks more like a typical winter's day with birds visiting throughout the day. Blue tits are the main visitor plus one or two marsh (or possibly willow) tits and the occasional great tit. A flock of long tailed tits paid a fairly brief visit. Robins in the back garden have paired, seemingly a little later than the ones in the front.  Due to ill health the ivy on my back fence hasn't been trimmed and has developed a good crop of berries. The only bird that I have seen showing interest has been a wood pigeon which spent some time yesterday feasting on them. In the front I put out a fat block yesterday afternoon which, so far, has attracted a grey squirrel. The pair of robins and the occasional blackbird are active on the hanging table.

 The lack of finches in the garden is disturbing. I am seeing blue tits and great tits coming to the feeders for sunflower seeds but the boards of goldfinches seem to have vanished.. In the front garden we now have a pair of robins which come to a small hanging table which gets a mix of fat pellets, dried mealworms and pinhead oatmeal. This mix also attracts wood pigeons and blackbirds although the latter seem to prefer the fallen quinces. Over the bank holiday I was staying in Romford, where I was brought up. On a visit to Bedfords Park I came across two species that would have been unheard of when I was brought up there. There was a flock of parakeets in the woods at the north end of the park while a pair of buzzards were circling between the park and Havering-atte-Bower.