Chiltern Birder

A visit to Leigh on Sea at the weekend was pleasant. We arrived when the tide was at its lowest ebb and, naturally, there was very little around looking across Leigh Marsh from the car park on the road to Two Tree Island apart from gulls and crows. A solitary redshank was wading in what little water was left in the creek and we could hear a curlew in the distance although we never managed to see it. At Bell Warf things perked up with more redshank and a ringed plover. There is something about that location that the ringed plovers like as I have had more sightings there than anywhere else that I have visited. With over a quarter of century of visits to Leigh it certainly isn't the same individual. After a little sightseeing and our customary plates of roe on toast at The Strand Cafe for lunch the tide was visibly on the flood and more birds were appearing. The only brent geese were in the far distance, visible only with the glasses but there was a cluster of turnstone on a drift...

In May 2012 I posted that I had seen a bullfinch in the garden for the first time ever. The second one appeared this afternoon! The cock bird took some fat from the feeder and then spent a long time on the ground around the feeders. The amount of greenery reminded me that everything has kept growing through the winter and I need to do a lot of weeding as soon as the ground is dry enough to walk on.

I was entertained this morning by a robin taking fat from the feeder in the front garden. He wasn't too happy trying to perch and ended up hovering like a rather ungainly hummingbird to feed from the side of the block. He was also rather agressive with the tits and chased a coal tit off the feeder. First thing this morning I saw a great spotted woodpecker on the feeder who was quickly replaced by a flock of long tailed tits. Naturally they flew away when I fetched the camera only to return when I got on with making breakfast.

The winter has been so mild that the fields near the house which were ploughed at the end of summer are now totally green. Out walking between Christmas and New Year skylarks were singing and there were a host of small brown birds on the fields that kept just too far away to identify. In the garden things are getting a little more interesting with goldfinches and long tailed tits regularly visiting the feeders. Some other birds were managing some interesting contortions including a robin taking sunflower seeds and a blackbird on the fat feeder. On the ground the wood pigeons are taking most of the dried meal worms which at least keeps them off the fat feeders (I did read somewhere that they were vegetarian!). This morning a magpie tried to chase one off the ground feeder but when the pigeon stood its ground and the magpie gave up. Yesterday we had a green woodpecker on the back lawn. This is the first time that I have seen one come into the very enclosed back garden although I do o...

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.

Garden feeding has settled down to a pretty standard pattern. The fat block on a tree in the front garden is being taken by blue and great tits. In the back starlings and blues and greats are taking fat and the tits are also taking sunflower seeds. I have been putting dried mealworms on the ground tray and have only seen wood pigeons take these so far. We had a visit from a party of long tailed tits on one day, I couldn't count accurately as they were in and out of the bushes but I would say between seven and a dozen. I had a glimpse of a marsh or willow tit, far too brief to be sure of any markings. One slight oddity was a dunnock perched on the feeder taking sunflower hearts, normally these are very reluctant to come to the feeders. I realised today that I hadn'twalked in the surrounding countryside for nearly two months, all my exercise being confined to walking into Chesham. Ignoring a reproachful bowl of washing up I went out for an hour this morning. It was fascinating ...

I have started putting fat bars out again. The starlings are making free with the one in the back garden. All I have seen in the front has been a few blue tits but something has eaten that one very quickly. I must spend more time looking out of the window. On Monday I took a short stop at Fishers Green as I was passing. There was one suprise as I saw a pair of Egyptian geese on one of the islands. There was a pair resident at Amwell over 20 years ago but these are the first that I have seen in the wild since then.