Chiltern Birder

I paid a return visit to Stockers Lake near Rickmansworth today with the benefit of a pair of wellingtons. It was an interesting visit, the lake had all the usual waterfowl with coot, tufted duck, mallard, gadwall, mute swans and herons. I didn't see any shoveller this time but the wigeon were a treat as I hadn't expected them on a lake without adjacent grazing and a real surprise were the red crested pochard which I had not seen in the wild before. At one point a row of stakes in the water, each one topped by a gull gave me the opportunity to include leg colour in identification but they were all black headed. From talking to other birders I seem to have missed some goldeneye and an escaped black swan. In the adjacent scrub there were the usual woodland birds with a small flock of redwing and a probably female reed bunting.

When I spotted that the forecast had changed and this afternoon would stay dry I decided to sample the lakes at Rickmansworth Aquadrome. Water levels were very high and some paths flooded. Bury Lake produced little of special interest with mute swans, tufted duck, mallard, coot. black headed gulls and a heron. The latter was close to the path keeping totally still and totally unfazed by passers by. He kept so still while I took a couple of pictures with my phone that I was beginning to think that it was a model but then he finally turned his head slightly. I wasn't wearing boots which made, the potentially more interesting, Stockers Lake mostly inaccessible but from the tarmac path on one side I did see a pair of shoveller and a pochard. The low sun made it difficult to identify most of the birds from that angle. I don't know if I was just unlucky or if they don't like the area but I didn't see any red kites. I had been wondering how far towards London they were sp...

The sultanas on the ground feeder are being eaten. On two occasions today I saw a hen blackbird hop up to it and take one or two. She would take the sultana and hop away with it and then return for the next one rather than eat at the feeder. When I put out some more fat treats a robin was down almost before I moved away pecking at the dried mealworms embedded in them. Next time I looked out they had all gone. I am guessing a magpie as there are plenty about but I haven't seen one take them. I might try suet pellets instead when these run out. After driving out to the farm where we always buy our Christmas bird we did some shopping in Thame. The water meadows on the edge of the towm were flooded with a large flock of black headed gulls in residence. Not much else to see apart from the usual crop of red kites throughout the journey.

I was about to go out at noon when I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue came on the radio so I decided stay in for another 30 minutes and break my habit of doing the washing up in one evening session. This meant that the fat feeder on the quince tree was actually visible for a change. A great tit was feeding on it but the excitement was a pair of long tailed tits, the first of the winter to be seen in the garden. They worked over the tree, ignoring the feeder and returned a little later to repeat the process. Also ignoring the feeder a female great spotted woodpecker spent some time on the tree. In the back garden only a robin has been seen on the fat feeder while fat pieces keep getting taken from the ground feeder when I am not watching. Whatever is doing it defintiely doesn't like the sultanas which still seem to be untouched.

Driving around the M25 this morning I had an annoyingly brief glimpse of a flock of lapwings taking flight from the fields between junctions 26 and 25. Any other spiecies and I might have been hard pushed for the identifictation but there is no mistaking the way lapwing wingws curl in flight or the pale flash on every beat. Flocks like that are far less common these days. I also had another glimpse on the egret on Boxmoor. If I was a determined twitcher I could note three spiecies of egret within a short drive at the moment which is something that still comes as a suprise. At home the blackbirds have stripped the rowan tree and have, I assume from where they take flight when I come home, been sampling the few fallen quinces that I failed to remove from the lawn last week. I put a fat block in a feeder on one of the quince trees a couple of days ago and there are some beak marks on it but I have yet to see any birds on it. In the back garden, having finished the box of fat treats I ...

A rather damp misty day today with that grey light that seems to drain the colour from things at any distance. Giving the front garden some much overdue tidying I was distracted by a pair of blackbirds taking berries from the rowan tree in the garden. There was a good crop this year and most have now been taken although this is the first opportunity that I have had to see this in action. While I was watching I realised that there was a lot of activity in the treetops in Broomstick Lane and saw a flock of redwing making their way along the canopy towards Ley Hill. They stayed in the high branches and followed the line of the lane very precisely with none spilling out to the lower trees in the gardens.

Driving through Hemel on my way to east London yesterday I spotted a hunched white shape on Boxmoor as I turned from London Road into Station Road. I had no chance to determine what species of egret it was but recent sightings in Gadebridge Park nearby suggest that a little egret is most likely.  A red kite over St Alban's Road is no longer a cause of suprise but despite the clear afternoon I saw none beyond the Park Street roundabout on the A414. Crossing the Lea valley as dusk approached the passage of gulls to roost wasn't at its most impressive but I could see group after group heading south over a fairly narrow band between the river and Epping Forest. After Bell Common Tunnel there was one stray group following the east side of the ridge and then only the occasonal singleton.