Chiltern Birder

I thought that we had a solitary pair of bullfinches coming into the garden until today. This afternoon we had a pair of cock birds in the garden plus one hen. Having been watching these birds regularly it was clear that the red breasts were fading slightly and they had a very slight hint of orange rather than the very pure brick red of earlier in the season. One suprise in the front garden last week was a solitary cock sparrow. I can never really get used to the fact that a species that was the most common in my childhood garden is so rare here. Out and about the bluebells are just coming out and a few walks in the woods will be in order in the next couple of weeks. While driving towards Latimer a pair of red legged partridges posed in a field entrance allowing me to stop and give my passenger a good view. Back in the garden there were a couple of holes in the vegetable bed that were clearly caused by a badger. Luckily away from the seedlings that I planted out last week. The occa...

Yesterday I took advantage of an overcast morning to visit the College Lake reserve near Tring. The advantage of the cloud cover is the lack of reflected sunlight on the water so you can actually see the birds rather than just silhouettes. There were good displays of primroses around the edges of the paths but the most spectacular feature was the acrobatic display flights by the lapwings. There are quite a few pairs nesting on the islands so there were usually several birds in the air at the same time. There was the usual collection of waterfowl with shoveller, gadwall, tufties, mallard, coot, mute swans and both Candada and greylag geese. Remarkably well camoflaged on the shingle were some redshank, I could hear them but it was only when one took flight that I could find them and even then once I took my bins off the spot I couldn't be sure of finding them again. At home the badgers are still visiting but catching them on camera is still not as exciting as seeing one in the...

With a little remodelling of my garden in mind I marked out the planned paths with chipped bark. This proved to be a mistake as the badgers spend a fair bit of time scraping it out of the way to find food underneath. I have found chips scattered widely across the garden and the camera trap has verified my suspicians about the culprits. The badgers seem to visit on most nights, last night the camera revealed two separate visits, one by a pair. Seeing the route that they take into the garden has also proved my suspician that they are responsible for the gap in one of my fences. At different times of night various cats also explore the garden. I have one confrontation recorded, I am glad to say that it didn't wake me up, and do wonder if I will get to record any interaction between the cats and other wildlife. On the birding side everything has settled down. A wren seems to be active in the front garden and a pair of long tailed tits must be nesting nearby as they are regulars on th...

I have seen evidence of badgers in both the front and back gardens from time to time but have never had a confirmed sighting until now. After several nights showing wandering domestic cats a clip from the early hours of this morning was much more exciting.   To view the video in Youtube please click here

With warm weather the last couple of days it is becoming obviously spring like. The forsythia is out as are the celandines under my front hedge. Yesterday I saw two brimstone butterflies. I have just acquired a camera trap and it after two nights the only activity in the garden was the ginger cat that I disturbed when putting out on the first night. I am still seeing all the usual species in the garden although the numbers of goldfinches are way down.

I think that we must have both nuthatches and long tailed tits nesting close by as well as the bullfinches and all the regulars. Nuthatches are normally very occasional visitors to the garden but I have been seeing one regularly including two separate sightings today. In the front garden I have regularly seen a pair of long tailed tits. If I stand still they are happy to carry on feeding on the fat bar. The recent high winds have done some damage to the feeder. The sail like effect of the squirrel baffle has bent one of the joints in the feeder pole. The new pole is a screw fitting so I can't canibalise a section of the old pole. I was looking at a spring loaded sleeve for the pole which is supposed to stop a squirrel climbing it although considering the height to which they can jump I am not sure of how well they will work.

The edge of the storm has simply blown the birds away from the back garden. The wagtail landed by developed a strange sideways drift as he tried to run across the lawn. The squirrel baffle acted as a sail in the high wind and I decided to take the feeder down rather than risk damage if it blew down.