THURSDAY 19 NOVEMBER
The unsettled weather continues with strong SW winds, bright periods and very sodden ground conditions underfoot. Once again, I could find no sign of the juvenile Osprey today, nor of the adult male Black Redstart. Highlight was a dramatic rise in Little Egret numbers and some excellent roost counts in Penn Wood and environs.
SHARDELOES LAKE
There was a shoot on so unsurprisingly few birds to see. There was no sign of any Mute Swans, Great Crested Grebes or many wildfowl.
Little Grebe (8)
GADWALL (just 1 drake)
Tufted Duck (1 female)
NORTHERN POCHARD (4)
Common Kestrel (1 male, with an additional first-year male on wires on Rectory Hill, Amersham)
Black-headed Gull (230)
Common Gull (16)
Coot (98)
Common Blackbird (1 first-winter male)
Redwing (1)
THE CHESS RIVER VALLEY
LITTLE EGRETS* (13 recorded, the highest number this winter; 8 roosting together just east of Bois Mill, four between Latimer and Chenies Bridges and 1 in the Crestyl Cress Beds area)
Mallard (8 in floodwater opposite Crestyl Cress Farm)
Common Buzzard (2)
Common Kestrel (3)
Eurasian Sparrowhawk (1 male)
Woodpigeon (850+ still present in Limeshill Wood)
STOCK DOVE (11 in flight near Valley Farm)
Common Kingfisher (1)
Song Thrush (male in song by the cress beds)
Redwing (60+)
Dunnock (5 in Mill Farm Meadow)
COMMON STONECHAT (the mobile pair once again in Mill Farm Meadow)
SISKIN (2 in flight over the cress beds)
*COMMON RAVEN (1 vocal individual moving between Great Water and Beechengrove Wood)
PENN WOOD HOLLY TREE ROOST (SU 918 955)
A single Sparrowhawk was 'spooking' the finches as they were arriving to roost and as such kept them in view until near 1600 hours when most dropped down to roost.
It was my best roost of the autumn with a total of 72 Greenfinches, 11 Chaffinches and 8 BRAMBLINGS (mostly females) along with 160+ Redwings. A Goldcrest was also present in the Holly.
PENNHOUSE FARM (SU 922 942)
A staggering number of raptors to roost this evening, including the largest RED KITE roost I have found outside of the Wycombe and Stokenchurch area. From around 1605 hours, an absolute minimum of 54 RED KITES flew in and 8 COMMON BUZZARDS and because a farmer in his tractor was still cutting/massacreing a hedgerow close to their usual trees, they all chose to bed down in neighbouring Brook Wood. This figure is all the more important as many of the traditional roosts are not being used at the moment, presumably because it is still so relatively mild.
The unsettled weather continues with strong SW winds, bright periods and very sodden ground conditions underfoot. Once again, I could find no sign of the juvenile Osprey today, nor of the adult male Black Redstart. Highlight was a dramatic rise in Little Egret numbers and some excellent roost counts in Penn Wood and environs.
SHARDELOES LAKE
There was a shoot on so unsurprisingly few birds to see. There was no sign of any Mute Swans, Great Crested Grebes or many wildfowl.
Little Grebe (8)
GADWALL (just 1 drake)
Tufted Duck (1 female)
NORTHERN POCHARD (4)
Common Kestrel (1 male, with an additional first-year male on wires on Rectory Hill, Amersham)
Black-headed Gull (230)
Common Gull (16)
Coot (98)
Common Blackbird (1 first-winter male)
Redwing (1)
THE CHESS RIVER VALLEY
LITTLE EGRETS* (13 recorded, the highest number this winter; 8 roosting together just east of Bois Mill, four between Latimer and Chenies Bridges and 1 in the Crestyl Cress Beds area)
Mallard (8 in floodwater opposite Crestyl Cress Farm)
Common Buzzard (2)
Common Kestrel (3)
Eurasian Sparrowhawk (1 male)
Woodpigeon (850+ still present in Limeshill Wood)
STOCK DOVE (11 in flight near Valley Farm)
Common Kingfisher (1)
Song Thrush (male in song by the cress beds)
Redwing (60+)
Dunnock (5 in Mill Farm Meadow)
COMMON STONECHAT (the mobile pair once again in Mill Farm Meadow)
SISKIN (2 in flight over the cress beds)
*COMMON RAVEN (1 vocal individual moving between Great Water and Beechengrove Wood)
PENN WOOD HOLLY TREE ROOST (SU 918 955)
A single Sparrowhawk was 'spooking' the finches as they were arriving to roost and as such kept them in view until near 1600 hours when most dropped down to roost.
It was my best roost of the autumn with a total of 72 Greenfinches, 11 Chaffinches and 8 BRAMBLINGS (mostly females) along with 160+ Redwings. A Goldcrest was also present in the Holly.
PENNHOUSE FARM (SU 922 942)
A staggering number of raptors to roost this evening, including the largest RED KITE roost I have found outside of the Wycombe and Stokenchurch area. From around 1605 hours, an absolute minimum of 54 RED KITES flew in and 8 COMMON BUZZARDS and because a farmer in his tractor was still cutting/massacreing a hedgerow close to their usual trees, they all chose to bed down in neighbouring Brook Wood. This figure is all the more important as many of the traditional roosts are not being used at the moment, presumably because it is still so relatively mild.
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