Chiltern Birder

On Sunday I stopped off at Fishers Green in the Lea Valley Park. From a birding point of view it wasn't particularly fruitful. The footbridge over the Lea was closed so I couldn't get to the hide facing the reed bed on Forty Acres Lake. Following the Flood Relief Channel up to Holyfield Lake gave a nice view of a flock of lapwing in the air. When I used to visit the park regularly this lake was usually good for a sight of a goosander in the winter but my necessarily brief visits in recent years haven't resulted in a sighting. The Grebe Hide gave me a nice view of some common pochard, something that was curiously absent on my last visit to the Colne Valley. Many years ago I saw a smew from this hide and I always go there full of hope in the winter and am always disappointed. Holyfield Lake  The real highlight was a nice view of a goldcrest in the bushes adjacent to the Flood Relief Channel. At first I assumed that it was a wren but realised my mistake when I could see t...

I have been putting the camera trap out on the patio and the most regular films are of a field mouse clearing up any spillage from filling up the sunflower seed feeder. The badgers are also coming in pretty regularly. Having containers along the edge of the patio seems to have been mistake, luckily the "long tom" knocked over in the film was undamaged.

With a nice clear brisk day it seemed like a good idea to go for a walk around the lakes at Rickmansworth. Bury Lake by the car park had its usual collection of mute swan, mallard, tufties and gadwall. At a distance away in the trees was what sounded like a ring necked parakeet but it was heading away so I didn't get a view. Moving onto the north side of Stockers Lake the low sun and clear sky made visibility difficult. The open water seemed pretty clear anyway but I couldn't make out any details although from the calls it was clear that there were no wigeon present this time. Once I reached the west side things became clearer. Come of the smnaller islands had been cleared of trees and undergrowth to make them suitable for ground nesting birds. A flock of around 30 lapwing were well hidden until they suddenly took to the air and spent several minutes wheeling around the lake before returning to land swooping past an inpurtbable heron. This more than made up for the lack of...

The species count in the garden for the winter is slowly increasing. We have had a couple of brief visits by a nuthatch and one by a blackcap. There are at least 3 bullfinches visting regularly as we have seen a pair of males and a mixed pair at different times. I spent a couple of days in Bristol over the holiday. This wasn't a birding trip but I was lucky to see a grey wagtail on an ashfelt roof at the MShed in the harbour area. I have only ever seen greys by running water before so this came as a surprise. Sadly we have not had any more visits from the pied wagtail in the garden recently. There is not much chance of wagtails by running water in Chesham at the moment as the Chess is dry at the Town Bridge again. House sparrows are a great rarity in my garden but the area's entire population seems to have colonised one garden hedge in Ley Hill. Walking past the other day the birds were very loud but in the thick hedge there was not one to be seen.

After a sudden drop in activity before Christmas things seem to be back to normal now. Both sunflower heart and fat levels are falling rapidly in the feeders again and the flock of goldfinches is back. A pair of bullfinches have been regulars for the last week or two and a nuthatch drops by occasionally. A brief visit to the back garden by a great spotted woodpecker has added to the species count. In the front garden we are seeing far less activity and the fat feeder on the quince tree has only been replenished once this season. I suspect that for some reason we aren't getting the woodpeckers at the front of the houses at the moment as they have been heavy consumers of fat in the past.

I was away at the weekend when we had a cold snap with snow. When I came home the seed feeder was still one third full. Since then there seem to be far fewer birds on the feeder whenever I look. Were there a lot of fatalities or did the bad weather start other people feeding so the birds have just moved to feeding stations nearer their roosts? I can't tell but I must spend more time watching over the Christmas period.

The weekend's snow has covered the garden. There is a bare patch under the feeder but the tracks over the rest of the garden are all made by birds. This morning, before refilling the feeder I saw my first nuthatch of the winter in the garden. Last week we also added a pied wagtail to the garden't species count. A blackbird has finally ventured out from under the shrubs at the bottom of the garden to take the meal worms and raisins that I scattered on the snow together with a wood pigeon.