All of last week was spent surveying plots of farmland in rural Buckinghamshire. Woodpigeons (pictured above) were particularly abundant. Here is a summary of my results -:
23 NOVEMBER 2008
(very cold with a biting wind; snow early on; just 1 degree C)
Just 1 LITTLE EGRET remaining on River Chess, just east of Bois Mill
Single RED KITE over my house and wintering Pied Wagtail still (Little Chalfont)
Common Buzzard on Latimer Road
Many Woodpigeons feeding on roadside berry bushes; large numbers of Rooks in Flaunden
Cottingham Farm, Flaunden: 70 Woodpigeons on stubble
Holly Hedges Lane, Flauden: Common Kestrel
Hemel Hempstead Town Park Lake: 5 Mute Swans (including 2 first-winters)
Widmer End Lawn Tennis Club Fields
No sign of the pair of Common Stonechats in poor weather conditions but 5 Common Pheasants, 2 BULLFINCH, 1 Linnet, 1 Chaffinch, 6 Dunnocks and 1 Yellowhammer
26 NOVEMBER 2008
Great Missenden Lake (SU 903 999): 3 Mute Swans; 4 Coots
Wendoverdean Farm (crop fields east of A413): total of 1,313 Woodpigeons click-counted
27 NOVEMBER 2008
Bryant's Bottom (SU 855 994): 220 Woodpigeons feeding by Maize strip
Wilton Farm Fields, N of Marlow Road A4155, west of Fern (SU 875 883): 45 Linnets
Slough Trading Estate (by Matalan unit): 18 Goldfinches
Penn Village Pond (SU 907 934): 32 Mallards
A404 Holmer Green Sheepfields (SU 910 966): 91 Woodpigeons; 92 COMMON GULLS including 2 first-winters (Largest flock ever recorded in Amersham Recording Area)
A404 opposite Cherry Lane, Woodrow (fields south of road at SU 935 958): 2,400 Woodpigeons; 58 LAPWINGS (largest flock this year) and Jay
Shardeloes Lake: Little Grebe (6), Mute Swans (6 still, including 4 first-winters), Mallard (2 pairs), COOTS (122 - largest count ever), Skylark (1), Common Blackbird (8 in hedgerow) and Fieldfare (35).
I watched the hunt during the afternoon with 200+ Common Pheasants flushed; just 15 were shot and bagged, all bar two males.
Lowndes Lake, Chesham (SP 958 015): 64 Mallards, 7 Muscovy Ducks
23 NOVEMBER 2008
(very cold with a biting wind; snow early on; just 1 degree C)
Just 1 LITTLE EGRET remaining on River Chess, just east of Bois Mill
Single RED KITE over my house and wintering Pied Wagtail still (Little Chalfont)
Common Buzzard on Latimer Road
Many Woodpigeons feeding on roadside berry bushes; large numbers of Rooks in Flaunden
Cottingham Farm, Flaunden: 70 Woodpigeons on stubble
Holly Hedges Lane, Flauden: Common Kestrel
Hemel Hempstead Town Park Lake: 5 Mute Swans (including 2 first-winters)
Widmer End Lawn Tennis Club Fields
No sign of the pair of Common Stonechats in poor weather conditions but 5 Common Pheasants, 2 BULLFINCH, 1 Linnet, 1 Chaffinch, 6 Dunnocks and 1 Yellowhammer
26 NOVEMBER 2008
Great Missenden Lake (SU 903 999): 3 Mute Swans; 4 Coots
Wendoverdean Farm (crop fields east of A413): total of 1,313 Woodpigeons click-counted
27 NOVEMBER 2008
Bryant's Bottom (SU 855 994): 220 Woodpigeons feeding by Maize strip
Wilton Farm Fields, N of Marlow Road A4155, west of Fern (SU 875 883): 45 Linnets
Slough Trading Estate (by Matalan unit): 18 Goldfinches
Penn Village Pond (SU 907 934): 32 Mallards
A404 Holmer Green Sheepfields (SU 910 966): 91 Woodpigeons; 92 COMMON GULLS including 2 first-winters (Largest flock ever recorded in Amersham Recording Area)
A404 opposite Cherry Lane, Woodrow (fields south of road at SU 935 958): 2,400 Woodpigeons; 58 LAPWINGS (largest flock this year) and Jay
Shardeloes Lake: Little Grebe (6), Mute Swans (6 still, including 4 first-winters), Mallard (2 pairs), COOTS (122 - largest count ever), Skylark (1), Common Blackbird (8 in hedgerow) and Fieldfare (35).
I watched the hunt during the afternoon with 200+ Common Pheasants flushed; just 15 were shot and bagged, all bar two males.
Lowndes Lake, Chesham (SP 958 015): 64 Mallards, 7 Muscovy Ducks
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