Chiltern Birder

I was walking on Ley Hill Common today and had just stopped to admire the bluebells when I saw a deer walk onto the path ahead of me.   The photo doesn't really show the scale, it wasn't fully grown and for a second I had thought it a large muntjac. It stayed still without any interest in me for a long enough to allow me to get out the phone and take the picture. Still unaware of my presence in then walked into the woods across the path and I approached much closer but without the opportunity of a photo. Finally it realised that I was there and bounded away with some wonderfully balletic leaps. With the Covid-19 lockdown I have been taking some longer walks. On a byway between Latimer and Flaunden I was lucky enough to see a yellowhammer on the hedgerow. While I have often seen these birds perched on the hedges while driving down the local lanes this was the first occasion when there hasn't been a sheet of glass in the way. The number of birds singing on that walk...

Well one yellowhammer! Driving between Ley Hill and Latimer yesterday I spotted a single yellowhammer perched on the roadside hedge. As my passenger had never seen one we kept a special lookout on the way back and, of course there wasn't one to be seen. I used to reckon on seeing several when driving this way in the spring. We did see a muntjac that ambled our of the hedgerow in front of the car without any concern for its own safety. The day was good for bluebells. They were probably at their best a few days ago but the display in the woods was still magnificent. When we managed to get downwind of a drift the smell was wonderful.   In the garden we are starting to see juveniles being fed. Today a blue tit was taking fat from a peanut butter feeder for a young one perched conveniently, for me, on the fence just by the window. We seem to have a pair of goldfinches around but we aren't seeing anything remotely unusual. I a...

With the mild weather we are not seeing a lot of birds in the garden yet. The fat feeder in the front garden is seeing very little activity. In the back the starlings are busy with the fat feeder and goldfinches are regulars on the sunflower seeds. There are random visits by blue tits and this morning I was lucky enough to see a coal tit pay a very brief visit. At ground level a pair of wood pigeons stamp over the plants and a dunnock and a wren occasionally come out of hiding. Not far away in the fields there is a lot of activity. A flock of skylarks was busy among recently sprouted brassicas while yellowhammers were flitting through a hawthorn hedge. It was pure chance that one was still for long enough to be identified with the naked eye. Normally I only see them from the car when they find singing posts on roadside hedges in the spring. Away from home the River Chess is in a fairly poor way, at the moment rising from the spring by the Water Meadow car park in the town. It is sh...

An early work finish meant that I had a rare chance of a weekday walk locally. So I did my favourite circuit down Broomstick Lane and Bottom Lane then back across the fields. It was suprising to see a late swallow skimming the arable, newly green with late sown something. Coming back in a lovely mild blustery weather the kites were in evidence with three or four individuals seen over a very short distance. One skimmed over a flock of jackdaws at low level but they seemed totally uninterested. A little later a flock of crows looked a little more threatening but didn't mob the bird. One must have been from this year's brood as it was quite small by kite standards. I could judge the size well as it came very close. The only other bird that was obvious was a yellowhammer that vanished into the hedge, one of the closest that I have seen to home.

Driving home through Latimer yesterday evening I was surprised by an animal crossing the road with a strange lumbering gallop. My first assumption was that it was a cat or fox but it didn't seem quite right. As it crossed in front of me I realised that it was a badger. I have never seen one run like that before, every other one that I have seen has been bumbling along close to the ground. This morning it was nice to see yellowhammers on the phone wires between Ley Hill and Latimer . They will probably be a regular site throughout the summer now. Sheep are being kept in the area and at the moment the gambolling of lambs is a regular sight.

I had a pair of partridges waddling down the road in front of me as I drove to work this morning, walking quite calmly away from me until they finally decided to take flight, which wasn't much of an improvement as they carried on down the road at windscreen height until we reached a bend. It isn't that common to see them, I think every occurrence is logged here. Seeing a pair is certainly unusual. It was a bright morning which really showed up the plumage on a yellowhammer on the phone lines. Curiously for the last week I have been seeing a large party of crows perched on an electricity supply line (the sort with three parallel wires).

The birds are supposed to be choosing their mates today. I haven't noticed any behaviour to suggest that is true. I am seeing more in the garden however. I have had a fat feeder on one of the quinces in the front garden for the last week. This has been attracting blue and great tits, while blackbirds will perch on the adjacent branch to use it. This morning a greater spotted woodpecker put in an appearance. Hopefully we will be seeing chicks again this spring. At the back a pair of goldfinches seem to be becoming regulars again and a coal tit is also putting in an appearance. Numbers still feel light compared with previous years but are definitely picking up.

The arable fields between Ley Hill and Latimer have been harvested over the last couple of days. This morning I saw a group of yellowhammers in the middle of the road by a field gate. From the look of things they were eating spilled grain. Instead of flying into the hedgerow they flew away from me along the road at windscreen height. I haven't seen much else recently apart from a distant glimpse of a partridge and the occasional red kite.

Being in Essex today it seemed a good opportunity to drop in to Gunpowder Park in the Lee Valley. Desipite the continual noise from the M25 it is a nice peaceful place. There is a wonderful display of wild flowers and a variety of habitats. In the open areas the main element of bird life seemed to be the magpies although we were lucky to see a kingfisher fly across looking like a jewelled exocet. The flood relief channel on the western boundary was home to coot and mallard but the water was clear showing us some huge fish (carp?) on the bed. Among the carefully mixed habitats were an osier beds enclosing a shallow pond. None of the promised birds were on the water but four herons were fishing. I think they were all juveniles but without bins I could only be sure of two. At home, like last year, the kites seem to have vanished from the area. I have finished feeding for the summer and am seeing very few birds in the garden but yellowhammers and goldfinches are a regular sight as I drive ...