SP 91 06 DUNDRIDGE MANOR

TUESDAY 21 JUNE

The longest day of the year. In fact, a better day than of late, with dry weather throughout, with some long sunny periods and warm temperatures. Carried on with my fieldwork today, covering four more tetrads, most noteworthy being a cluster of BULLFINCH sightings.......

SP 91 06 DUNDRIDGE MANOR, ASHEN AND LADY GROVES (BUCKS)

A tetrad dominated by open farmland, with Dundridge Manor to the east being the only settlement. Lady Grove was a mixture of trees but had substantial amounts of Holly. A total of 19 species was noted - higher than average -:

Literally only yards from the square and just north of the Recording Area was St Leonard's Churchyard (SP 910 071) where a pair of SPOTTED FLYCATCHERS were busily feeding young.

I followed the Chiltern Way footpath and fully explored the tetrad, Lady Grove harbouring a nesting pair of COMMON BUZZARDS.....

Common Pheasant (present in crops)
COMMON BUZZARD (pair feeding young in nest in tall Larch tree in Lady Grove)
Woodpigeon (numerous, with gathering of 45 in one field)
Green Woodpecker (single seen in flight)
European Barn Swallow (pair nesting in the grounds of the White Lion)
Eurasian Skylark (singing male in barley crop 250 yards south of Dundridge Manor)
European Robin (pair present by the White Lion pub)
Wren (pair present at Dundridge Manor)Blackcap (singing male in Ashen Grove)
Carrion Crow (nesting in Lady Grove)
Jay (adult with recently fledged young in narrow tree belt SW of Dundridge Manor)
Common Blackbird (pair feeding young in Ashen Grove, with another pair in the grounds of Dundridge Manor and another in the garden of The White Lion)
Common Chiffchaff (adult feeding young in fir plantation near Dundridge Manor)
Blue Tit (adults with fledged young at Dundridge Manor)
Chaffinch (pair with young in grounds of Dundridge Manor)
Goldfinch (pair nesting in tree close to the White Lion pub)
Linnet (female on wires opposite the White Lion)
*BULLFINCH (pair frequenting the trees along the access drive to Dundridge Manor and later seen acting suspiciously in the hedgerow opposite)
House Sparrow (the most northerly birds in my Recording Area with a colony of at least two pairs nesting in the heavily ivy-covered walls of The White Lion public house; they were commuting back and forth to the allotments alongside Springhall Hill)