Chiltern Birder

I am getting worried about the starlings. Normally I would  have expected a hoard of juveniles all over the fat feeder by now. So far I have had none in the garden. On the other hand at the weekend I managed to see both fox and badger cubs while driving home after midnight.

I took a trip to College Lake near Tring yesterday. With lots of invisible songbirds in the bushes I really should make an effort to learn a few calls. On the islands the common terns were very visible while the lapwings had clearly nested successfully as there were a number of chicks around. I did get a nice view of one parent driving off a crow. I hadn't realised how well camouflaged the redshank were until I had a glimpse of what looked like a pair of disembodied red legs at the waters edge. After a quick lunch I took a walk on the towpath of the Grand Union Canal as far as Marsworth. There was nothing unusual visible on the reservoirs but coming back a heron flew past a few feet above the water following the line of the canal. At home I woke early today and went to put the bins out at 6am. Without much disturbance the birdsong was very loud with, faint in the distance my first cuckoo of the year. In the garden a pair of bullfinches seems to have taken on the role on "b...

I was in Oxford today and saw my first swifts of the year flying over St John Street. Other than that it is a very quiet time for birds. There are usually a couple of goldfinches bookending the feeder and the blackbirds and robins paying occasional visits to the fat feeder.

There is far less activity in the garden now with food being left on the ground tray. However some coal tits must be nesting nearby as we are seeing one or two on a regular basis. They seem particularly fond of the peanut butter feeder. Today it was nice to see a great spotted woodpecker on the feeders but again, it took only the slightest movement within the house to frighten it away.

With the forsythia and celandines in bloom spring is definitely on the way. There are some clear changes in usage of the garden by the birds. The finches are no longer flocking, while we are still seeing goldfinches and chaffinches these are now singletons or pairs rather than groups. The bullfinches seem to have vanished and the long tailed tits are less frequent visitors. Blue and great tits, dunnock, robins, wood pigeons and blackbirds are all still present in abundance while great spotted woodpeckers are occasional visitors although they are disturbed by the slightest movement inside the house.

I took a trip to the Forest of Dean yesterday. I didn't do any research on where would be best but simply used my own judgement from the map. Within 15 minutes of home I had my first interesting sighting when a hare ran out into the road. She had clearly been to the pheasant school of road safety as she stopped and then turned round and went back the way that she had come. It was my first hare for quite a few years and the first in Bucks. I parked at Cannop Ponds, at first it just looked like the typical collection of mallard, tufty and coot but then I spotted some mandarin ducks. I hadn't been aware of the colony in the area until looking it up afterwards. As well as on the lake I explored the marshy ground below the dam and spotted another pair. Walking south along the old railway it did rather feel as if I had wandered into Center Parcs as it all seemed so manacured. I only had a couple of hints that I was on a railway track at all. This solit...

I recently treated myself to a new spotting scope and monopod . Taking these on a walk round Stockers Lake was a dream, they were so light and compact that they could be packed in a rucksack until I was in a good viewpoint, just right when taking a walk with good birding opportunities rather than settling down at a single point with a heavy tripod. The walk round the lake revealed some early signs of spring. I came across a patch of coltsfoot in flower while the grebes were in full breeding plumage and a goldcrest was in full voice. The herons were also nest building and with the benefit of a scope rather than bins I got a nice view across the lake of one settled in a tree. The surprise was not one but two pairs of Egyptian geese.One pair flew away on the other side of the lake while the other pair swam close to me. Other birds on the lake included shoveller, tufted duck, coot, greylag geese, canada geese, common pochard, lapwing, mallard, black headed gull, herring gull, cormorant ...