Record number of Sinensis Cormorants in Chess Valley..

MONDAY 13 JANUARY

 

A beautiful morning with a slight overnight frost followed by clear, bright conditions. The wind increased from the west during the day, with temperatures recovering to about 7 degrees C, with rain arriving from late afternoon.

 

At CHENIES BOTTOM BRIDGE first thing, an adult Sinensis Cormorant flew up valley, with a Little Egret showing well, SISKIN over, Common Buzzard, Wren, Grey Heron, GREY WAGTAIL, Robin, Jackdaw and Goldcrest noted.

 

BOIS MILL POND held the 3 Mute Swans and a single Coot whilst the LATIMER FIELDS, flooded extensively from the recent heavy rain, held 53 Atlantic Canada Geese, 2 Mute Swans and 23 Mallard. At LATIMER PLACE, 1-2 Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Blue Tit, Robin, Great Tit, Wren, Common Magpie (3), Red Kite, Goldfinch (12), Mistle Thrush and Greenfinch were all recorded, whilst the main event on LATIMER GREAT WATER was the exceptional number of SINENSIS CORMORANT present - a record five birds (an adult and 4 immatures). Other waterbirds included 30 Coot, just 7 Mute Swans (two first-years), 1 Moorhen, 2 Grey Heron and 2 Mallard and a host of roosting gulls, including a single adult Argenteus Herring, 3 adult Common and 133 Black-headed. Other species encountered included Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Rook (2), Common Buzzard, Song Thrush (in full song) and Coal Tit. The section of the CHESS between NEPTUNES FALLS and LATIMER BRIDGE yielded an additional 3 adult Mute Swans, 4 Mallard, 5 Tufted Duck, 2 Moorhen, 4 Coot and 2 Wren.

The 5 Sinensis Cormorants - a Chess Valley record

Common Magpie having a preen

The Neptunes Falls

.....and its Mute Swans

No luck again with Little Owl at STOCKERS FARM - in fact not much to be found at all - 2 Meadow Pipits, Green Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush, 8 House Sparrows, just 1 Redwing, 13 Woodpigeon and 53 Black-headed Gulls.

Male and female House Sparrows

and a Mistle Thrush

At TROY MILL GP, peripheral species in and around the brook included Song Thrush, Wren, Common Blackbird, 3 Common Magpie, KINGFISHER and GREY WAGTAIL, with the main pit producing 3 Grey Heron, 83 Coot, 142 Tufted Duck, 33 Pochard and 14 Great Crested Grebe. On the county border at the RIVER COLNE, immediately north of BROADWATER SAILING CLUB, 2 SIBERIAN CHIFFCHAFFS were performing well, as well as a single COMMON CHIFFCHAFF (found by Andrew Moon and seen shortly later by John Edwards and I).

Siberian Chiffchaffs on the Colne

Ring-necked Parakeet numbers continue to increase with 25 now visiting gardens on a regular basis.

Ring-necked Parakeets - a familiar sight at the bird feeders

At STAINES MOOR, a pair of COMMON STONECHAT, 4 Ring-necked Parakeet, 2 Goldfinch and 5 Carrion Crows were seen, whilst at STAINES RESERVOIRS, the South Basin held 2 BLACK-NECKED GREBE, 17 Great Crested Grebe, 25 Gadwall, 46 Shoveler, 96 Tufted Duck, 85 Pochard, 13 Goldeneye and 24 Coot, with Meadow Pipit and 47 Fieldfare feeding on the west bank. The North Basin held a further 8 Great Crested Grebe, a SLAVONIAN GREBE on the NE shore, 18 Teal, 32 Gadwall, 36 Shoveler, 184 Wigeon, another 72 Tufted Duck and 11 more Goldeneye.

Fieldfares

Very very quiet on the homefront - just Little Egrets in the valley

FRIDAY 10 JANUARY

 

Being probably the only keen Buckinghamshire lister that still hasn't seen a Glossy Ibis in the county, I returned again to the west of the county in the hope of relocating the Bicester juvenile in the Upper Ray Meadows. Alas, I had no joy......

 

It was a nice day, with no rain until 4pm, pretty mild and a moderate wind.

 

At WHITEHOUSE FARM (SP 653 198), the resident House Sparrow population remained healthy at 28 individuals, with Common Magpie, Robin and Great Tit also in the vicinity.

 

At UPPER RAY MEADOWS WEST, where the river was in very full flood, masses of birds were present, including a whopping 3,300 LAPWING (my highest count locally in over 10 years), 298 EUROPEAN GOLDEN PLOVER and vast numbers of gulls, both small and large white-headeds (for example, 272 Lesser Black-backs, 156 Herring, 31 Great Black-backed). There were also a lot of winter thrushes in the area - at least 280 Fieldfare and 240 Redwing feeding in the wet field immediately NNE of Whitehouse Farm. A lot of Common Starlings too - 190 - as well as a pair of GREY PARTRIDGE, 2 Reed Bunting and 80 Common Teal. Despite a lot of searching, I could not locate any Ruff (at least 33 having been seen in this area recently, perhaps commuting back and forth to Otmoor).

 

I searched the floods as far west as the county border at PIDDINGTON, but apart from hundreds of gulls and Rooks rebuilding their nests, nothing was found. At OAKAPPLE FARM near MARSH GIBBON (SP 65 22), another 350 Common Starlings, 200 Fieldfare and 100 Redwing and near GRENDON UNDERWOOD at DUNMEAD FARM (SP 67 21), a single flock of 1,300 Common Starlings, 2 Common Magpies and another large flock of Fieldfare and Redwing. A further 110 Fieldfare was counted at THREE BRIDGE MILL.

 

The CATTLE EGRET was showing very well at BRIARHILL FARM and I managed to better my previous images of the bird (see below) mainly by cheating and enticing it over.........

 

Sitting in the hide at FOXCOTE RESERVOIR from 1245-1350 hours yielded the redhead SMEW (frustratingly feeding on the far side underneath the vegetated eaves and very distant), an impressive 13 Common Goldeneye (6 drakes), 12 Cormorant, 3 Mute Swans, 11 Common Teal, 16 Gadwall, 305 Wigeon, 12 Pochard, 31 Tufted Duck, 8 Great Crested Grebe and 215 Coot.

 

House Sparrows numbered 14 in BUCKLAND COMMON (SP 91 07), with numerous Robins singing in the area and 1 Song Thrush, with a gathering of 23 Carrion Crows at WICK FARM, HASLOE (HERTS) and a Common Buzzard (but again no Linnets).

 

Back in the CHESS VALLEY late afternoon, both pairs of Mute Swans at BOIS MILL LAKE and CHURCH COVERT respectively and 5 LITTLE EGRETS in the CHENIES BOTTOM area fishing

An unexpected addition to the Shardeloes List....

The girls welcoming in the New Year

JANUARY 1ST 2014

 

Having finally finishing partying with Carmel, Jade and Emma at around 0415 hours, on the way home added several Mammals to the 2014 list with a BADGER in Hyde Heath (Bucks), Muntjac and Rabbit in Copperkins Lane, Chesham Bois, and a Red Fox here at Chaffinch House (Little Chalfont) when we eventually got home around 0500 hours

 

The forecast was awful for today and it was just gone 11am that I eventually decided to go out in the field. It had been very strong winds again overnight with lots of rain - pretty useless birding conditions.

 

Virtually nothing in the garden at CHAFFINCH HOUSE - just a single male Chaffinch, 2 Woodpigeons and 5 Common Starlings.

 

Venturing out into the CHESS VALLEY, it was flooding everywhere..........

 At CHENIES BOTTOM bridge, both resident Mute Swan pair were to be seen, and between there and CHURCH COVERT, no less than 7 LITTLE EGRETS were feeding but no sign of the Great White (last seen just before Christmas). A lot of the valley fields were in flood with these 12 Mallard with a Grey Heron and Moorhen just east of LATIMER BRIDGE....

 Just north of Latimer in FLAUNDEN BOTTOM, the Corvid flock consisted of 97 Rook and 143 Western Jackdaws, with a few Carrion Crows in the sodden fields too....

 Two Common Buzzards were drying out their wings on fenceposts in the LATIMER GREAT WATER vicinity whilst at CHESHAM FISHING LAKES, a reasonable haul included 47 Atlantic Canada Geese, 18 Mallard, 6 Tufted Duck, 2 Northern Pochard, 8 Coot, 6 Moorhen and 3 Black-headed Gulls; 2 Common Magpie were unusual here whilst at least 8 House Sparrows were chirping from the hedgerow opposite alongside HILL FARM ROAD.

 

At CHESHAM MILLFIELDS in WATERSIDE, this Little Egret was performing well (the 8th individual currently wintering in the Chess Valley) and I finally notched up my first Common Blackbird of the year.

 There was no respite in the weather and the birding was largely restricted to the car - CHESHAM'S BURY LAKE yielding nothing more than 8 Woodpigeons and another male Common Blackbird and the fields near White House Farm on FULLER'S HILL, more Corvids in the shape of 124 Western Jackdaw and 106 Rook; COPPERKILNS FARM nearby producing just 2 Common Pheasants.

 

The rain continued to fall and deluge, leaving me to make the most of the rest of the day at SHARDELOES ESTATE. The lake afforded shelter for the usual 3 Mute Swans (pictured below), 62 Coot, 5 Gadwall, 3 Tufted Duck, 4 Mallard, 2 Pochard, 13 Little Grebe, an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, adult Common Gull, 15 Black-headed Gulls and a COMMON KINGFISHER, whilst 4 Carrion Crows graced the cricket field and 2 Robin, Chaffinch, Great Tit and 3 Blue Tits in the trees.

A couple of Dabchicks fishing and an adult Common Gull standing on the end of the branch

Up to 5 Red Kite and 3 Common Buzzard were loafing around, with the Misbourne Valley further along producing 33 Redwing, 18 Fieldfare, 2 Song Thrush, 8 Goldfinch and a Common Treecreeper.

 

The Misbourne up near KENNEL FARM was in flood where at the weir, a 'new' cob Mute Swan was in attendance, with the flooded meadow harbouring 5 Gadwall, 5 Mallard and 8 Moorhen. Whilst standing on the bridge at the weir, I heard some rustling in the undergrowth and was then amazed to see a WOODCOCK tower up from the ground - the first I have ever seen on the estate. Grey Squirrel was the 5th mammal species of the day and walking back, a Greenfinch and 2 WATER RAILS were recorded - the latter in exactly the same place I had seen the family party in June.

At dusk, a total of 977 Western Jackdaws flew into the Hundred Acres roost...

 

A total of 39 species recorded for the day