Chiltern Birder

The badgers have been clearing the soiled bedding out of their sets. The gaps in the hedge where they had brought in the fresh material were easy to see with trails of dry grass, especially where they had gone down a slope. In the garden the tits seem to be slowly discovering the fat bar with several blues and a great tit as well as the robin. I have been watching out for redwings and fieldfares but none have been visible near home.

After a long period without putting feeders out the birds seemed to have abandoned my garden and what food I put out this month was being ignored. Finally today I had a solitarty blue tit and a robin coming to the starling bar (no starlings of course!) Yesterday a trip down to Thame naturally gave the usual crop of red kites and, becoming unusual these days, a kestrel hovering over the road between Thame and Longwick.

I had what must be my most easterly red kite sighting this morning while driving on the M25 between London Colney and South Mimms. It was probably one of this years brood as it looked quite small for a kite. In the garden the fat block is getting pecked but I haven't seen anything feeding on it. The strange weather this year seems to have made garden feeding very late. It is several weeks since I passed the River Chess in Chesham but it looked very stagnant and the local paper has reported that the flow hs stopped. Not entirely suprising with the dry summer and drought warnings being given already.

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.

The Indian Summer is finally over. Last weekend temeratures were in the 80s and I was picking strawberries. Clear skys did make spotting large birds easier and a personal first for me was to see buzzard in Essex. While I have seen them often enough in Bucks and Herts this was the first time east of the Lea, as I came out of Epping Forest towards the M25 at Waltham Abbey. Driving towards Oxford last night I commented to my passenger that it was about time that I saw another badger. Suprisingly on the way back we actually did see one. At first I thought is was a bag or sack dumped in the middle of the lane but as I slowed down it scuttled into the side.

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.

With several things that I needed to do coming together I ended up taking a lengthy tour of the country over the last week. One thing that struck me was the lack of kestrels along the roads, they used to be so common along main roads and motorways. Starting from Chesham last Sunday we spent the day in the Cotswolds. Steeple Barton Abbey gardens were open and being one of the first to arrive we were lucky to see a green woodpecker making off for a quieter location. The lake was criss crossed by swallows skimming the surface like tiny exocets. The first buzzard of the trip was seen between Chipping Norton and Burford then turning onto the A40 we saw a red kite above Burford School. Much further west and we might see the Chiltern and Welsh populations merging. On Tuesday I had to drive from Burford to Wensleydale. Buzzards used to be something to see in the wilds of Wales but I kept seeing them along the main roads in locations where I would have expected kestrels. I was suprised to see s...