Chiltern Birder

So far winter hasn't brought anything exciting to the garden but, with the mild weather, it is clear which are the most favoured bird foods. The finches, of course, love the sunflower hearts. The blue and great tits are also showing a preference for sunflower seed and largely ignore the fat balls in the adjacent hanging feeder. I have even seen them waiting on the feeder arms for the finches to leave a free port rather than peck at the fat balls. I also hung a FlutterButter peanut butter feeder next to the seed feeder and that has been totally ignored. We were getting a small group of starlings who were making a big dent in the fat block and the front and the fat balls in the back garden but they have moved on and I am starting to become concerned that the remaining contents are going to become mouldy. At ground level I am feeding raisins, fat pellets and dried mealworms. The robin will take fat pellets and mealworms but can't clear the feeders on his own. A blackbird will t...

You don't really think about "pregnancy" in egg laying animals but for the last few days it has been striking that there are some very plump hen birds around. I first noticed a greenfinch but there has been a particularly gravid looking chaffinch that has been sitting underneath the feeders eating bits that fall rather than trying to perch. The greenfinch was the first that I have seen for quite a while but apart from the regulars the only other bird of note has been the great spotted woodpecker who has perched in the garden on a couple of occasions but hasn't come to the feeders. Badgers have been visiting fairly regularly. On one night I put out a choice of raisins and fat pellets and found that the badger only took the fruit while a field mouse came out to take the fat. I have seen badgers take tallow based fat products and the pellets were suet based so I tried two fat balls, one of suet and one of tallow. Naturally the badgers stayed away that night! I have...

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.

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.

With a brisk clear morning I decided that it was time to get out for a little birding after all the rain so a drive down to Rickmansworth was in order. There seemed to be fewer birds on the lake than I would have expected. Plenty of tufties but only one pair of red crested pochard, no common pochard and one or two wigeon although there were a fair number of great crested grebe. A kingfisher was a welcome extra, presumably preferring the lake to the turbid waters of the Colne which was in full spate. Away from the lake birdsong was becoming far more spring like and a wren and a goldcrest were nice suprises. At home the robins have paired off and I suspect that a wren (or a pair) has settled in the ivy on the side fence. I suspect that it won't be getting the haircut that I had planned to give it a couple of weeks ago if the weather had permitted. The feeders are getting a reasonable amount of activity with goldfinch regular visiters as well as the tits. My stock of fat bars will p...

A recent visit to Fishers Green didn't find anything exciting in the way of water fowl. There was a decent sized flock of wigeon at the far end of Holyfield Lake but nothing rare. Walking back on the other hand I was delighted to see a treecreeper on one of the bushes alongside the Flood Relief Channel. The pale grey chest caught my eye so easily. At home I am feeding but there isn't much being taken. Based on previous years I should have ordered some more fat bars for delivery before Christmas but it looks as if my existing supply will hold out for the rest of 2015. Visits to the feeders are brief with log gaps but we had a pair of goldfinches today and during the last month we have had long tailed tits and one visit observed by a coal tit. After a long absence we also had a goldcrest in the garden although its interest was in the Old Man's Beard growing through next door's leylandii hedge rather than anything I had done.

A little birding at Fishers Green and Amwell wasn't particularly exciting in terms of water fowl apart from a handful of wigeon. The one puzzle being a large greyish white goose on Holywell Lake at Fishers Green. While I would love to put it down as a snow goose but from the size, much bigger than the greylags and canadas, I would guess a domestic escape. There was some interest among the birds of prey. Buzzards are becoming common in western Essex and I have seen them over the Roding valley several times this year but this was the first time that I have seen one in the Fishers Green reserve. Looking for somewhere for lunch I saw a pair of red kite circling abover the village of Standon in Hertfordshire, just east of the A10. This is by far the most easterly sighting that I have had.

Driving down the Chess valley on Monday the sight of yet another little egret started me thinking that they were becoming more  ubiquitous that herons. That seemed to be the key to several unusual sightings. On Monday I saw a juvenile heron standing in the middle of the tarmac path between Bury and Stockers Lakes. Then on Tuesday I went to Thame by public transport. Walking down White Hill in Chesham one flew low overhead and landed on top of a tree in one of the gardens between White Hill and Esksdale Avenue. The branch was barely strong enough leading to the huge bird gently bouncing up and down. Later on the bus from Aylesbury to Thame there was another standing in the middle of a ploughed field near Dinton. This morning walking along Botley Road a redwing landed on the path in front of me as if it was posing for a picture in a field guide. I was able to have by best ever look at the the colour and markings before it finally flew into Codmore Field. On Monday the cold sn...

After several years where other committments have inhibited any sort of serious birding it was nice to be able to take a leasurely stroll around Fishers Green today. The weather was warm and clear again, unseasonably so for October. There were plants in flower, particularly comfrey which was keeping the bumble bee population supplied with late pollen. On the water there was nothing of particular note, canada geese seemed to be in larger numbers than in the past. Most noticable was the absense of sawbills and pochard. Suprising numbers of wigeon present and on the water rather than grazing. The drakes were in eclipse plumage and I am so out of practice at identification that it took a visit to the RSPB web site to confirm the sighting.