More tetrad work and more nesting FIRECRESTS.........

WEDNESDAY 22 JUNE

Some hefty rain showers moved through the Chilterns late morning but gave way to clear, bright and quite warm conditions this afternoon. Once the rain had passed, I resumed more work on my tetrads...

At one site, I recorded more nesting FIRECRESTS - a female feeding noisy fledged young - and two additional singing males. Once again, this is a site with few conifers but with an awful lot of Holly, ivy and understorey. At least three singing males had been present in the area during two visits in early spring.

This same tetrad also yielded BULLFINCH, a singing male Song Thrush, Nuthatch, Common Buzzard and Wren - all additional species.

SP 93 06 CHOLESBURY AREA (BUCKS)
This is a very productive tetrad with some excellent habitat and many farmsteads - hence an impressive list of species recorded totalling 24....Song Thrushes were in good supply...

Woodpigeon (fairly abundant and breeding)
Stock Dove (one flew over Little Braziers Farm)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (pair fledged from wood NE of the brick company)
European Barn Swallow (pair nesting in barns at Braziers End Farm, with another in horse sheds by Kiln Farm)
House Martin (two nests and a new site for my Recording Area - at The Old Orchard)
Pied Wagtail (adult male feeding in front of Kiln Cottages)
European Robin (singing male in wood by Ray's Hill)
Common Blackbird (good numbers noted, with two pairs at Braziers End House, a pair on Ray's Hill, a pair by The Full Moon pub, adults and fledged juveniles at Bowmore Farm, breeding pair at Kingston Cottage, singing male by HG Matthews, breeding pair in Kiln Meadow gardens, breeding pair at Bellingdon End Farm)
Song Thrush (singing male in Cholesbury in scrub opposite 'The Row', another in Kiln Meadow garden and another by Kiln Cottages; yet another singing male at Bellingdon End Farm and a nesting pair in the vicinity of Wood Farm)
Dunnock (two singing males in grounds of Braziers Well, another pair at 'The Row' in Cholesbury)
Wren (singing male in wood by Ray's Hill, another by HG Matthews)
Blackcap (female in front garden of Little Braziers Farm)
Common Chiffchaff (singing male in trees by Kiln Meadows
Goldcrest (singing male by Chesham Road adjacent to Kiln Cottages)
Blue Tit (adults and young by cowshed at Ray's Hill)
Great Tit (pair with fledged young at Braziers End Farm, as well as near cowshed)
Long-tailed Tit (fledged young with adults at Ray's Hill near cowshed)
Chaffinch (singing male in coppice by Braziers End, another in trees by HG Matthews Brick Manufacturers, a male in Kiln Meadow garden and a singing male at Bellingdon End Farm, a singing male by 'Little Cherries)
Goldfinch (pair nesting at Kiln Cottages)
Greenfinch (pair at Little Braziers Farm)
House Sparrow (pair nesting at the Rock House on Ray's Hill, part of the The Gables built in 1905)
Common Magpie (noted along the hedgerows north of Braziers Well, in Cholesbury)
Carrion Crow (several adults with young in fields)
Jackdaw (2 birds feeding with horses by Braziers End Farm, adults and fledged young at Kingston)

Some wonderful grass meadows south of Cholesbury at SP 932 069 harbouring Small Tortoiseshell and Marbled White butterflies and over 130 Meadow Browns. There were also many Ladybirds to be found.