love this time of year...I completely lose track of time...what day is it? The roads are quiet, the shops are quiet and the television is unpredictable....sat and watched Only Fools and Horses this afternoon. And as for the birds....the garden feeders are alive with finches....word has spread. The sparrow colony has increased in size and reed buntings have started to visit from the reservoir......all we need now is snow....not hopeful......

is determined to see a jack snipe on the mud in front of the hide at Weston Turville......it just looks so perfect. Surely before the winter is over one will appear.......

had an amazing experience the other morning...got up early to do the shopping before it got busy and drove through Weston Turville in the morning half light. Sitting on top of a hawthorn hedge by the side of the road was a beautiful tawny owl just looking down at the car. As I pulled away a little owl flew across the road and a few seconds later a barn owl landed on a fire hydrant literally a few feet away parallel to the car. Three different owl species in a matter of seconds only a few feet away was a great Christmas present and a reminder that there is a whole parallel world out there while we're asleep......

had a strange encounter this morning...decided to go to the hide at Weston Turville at first light. Lovely, still - windless - morning. And dark. Very, very dark. As I went through the gate a huge fox - the biggest I have ever seen, with thick winter fur, stood in front of me, lit by the dull streetlamp light, and just stared at me. Straight at me. I stood motionless, not more than five feet from it and it walked forward and sniffed the air before turning and walking slowly in to the wood and disappearing from view almost instantly. A surreal experience indeed....

Enjoying fantastic food in the company of great friends.....whilst learning to use an iPad...nudge nudge Santa......

How appropriate that a snow bunting should arrive today with the first real arctic flurries of winter...the first snow bunting since 1981 apparently. Had lovely views of it but funnily enough was just as pleased to see the small flock of house sparrows on the bird table in the garden...magic.....

Are you sick of highly paid teachers? Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit! We can get that for less than minimum wage. That's right. Let's give them £5.93 an hour and only the hours they work; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or......... after..... school. That would be £41.51 a day (8.00 am to 3:30 PM with 60 min. off for lunch and play -- that equals 7.5 hours). Each parent could pay £41.51 a day for these teachers to babysit their children. Now how many children do they teach in a day...32? So that's £41.51 x 32 = £1328.32 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any holidays . LET'S SEE.... That's £1328.32 X 180= £239,097.60 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries). Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is! The average teacher's salary (nationwide) is £25,000.00/ 180 days = £138.90 per day/ 32 children = £4.34 / 7.5 hours = £0.58 per hour per student--a very inexpensive babysitter and they even EDUCATE your kids! WHAT A DEAL!!!!

I've just got a feeling that our weirdly mild Autumn will have a sting in it's tail...the weather forecast for this week looks ominous......

traffic slow along the A413 with sheep wandering along the road near the Deep Mill Diner.......

Is it me or are the comments being made by the Met Office and BBC weather Centre about today's weather accurate,  alarmist or a genuine attempt to avoid a Michael Fish 'I can assure you there will be no hurricane Madam' scenario....not sure but the meteorological maps look menacing for later today....

Beautiful calm evening at Wilstone and after a scan through the rapidly-expanding gull roost found a single redhead smew diving with pochard in the north west corner. A momentary glimmer of light on a dark day when Gary Speed took his own life. Sad Sad Sad.

Today really felt Autumnal and, it has to be said, entirely appropriate for November. Kew was  wonderfully misty and damp and full of fungi and, appropriately, exotic aliens...ring-necked parakeets everywhere and free-flying Egyptian and Bar-headed geese also present....

watched two ravens come in to the roost at Green Park...just the most amazing trilling, kronking calls and huge size...amazing that they are so close to home....

lovely to hear a yellowhammer singing at the top end of Old Amersham High Street...what with spotted flycatchers last week I'll start getting all nostalgic. Fantastic female bullfinch on the feeder again very early morning.....

Not a bad spot for legoland...white wagtail......

Saw a lovely family of goldcrests in an old horse chestnut in Aylesbury town centre yesterday - recently fledged young. The song thrushes are very secretive at the moment - I think they have recently-hatched young because I have seen the adults with food in their beaks but can't be sure where the nest is located. Might try and get over to Stockers to see the night heron from the causeway...they tend to be long-stayers (a comment which has probably just put the mockers on it!)

Went to St Mary's churchyard on the way home yesterday - such a lovely Summer day - the wildflowers were fantastic with drifts of oxeye daisy, burnet moths and the sound of grasshoppers. Quite a few mandarin at Hampden pond - perfect for them - wooded with an island. And then, just as I was about to give up, what I had been looking for....a spotted flycatcher showed brilliantly near the church. Not quite the good old days on Harrow Hill watching family parties in late summer but a real treat and reassuring that they are hanging on in suitably quiet and sheltered locations. Fantastic.

had a great day doing a 'harry'in the garden...a potter, catching up with lots of little jobs that need doing....this has been without doubt the best breeding season for a very long time....blue tits, great tits, wren, blackcap, song thrush, dunnock, goldfinch, blackbird, goldcrest and bullfinch have all bred this year....most pleasing. have put out lots of fat and mealworms, which are very popular....

checked out Wharf Road for mandarin and sure enough a male ad female were present with seven week-old youngsters although one had a broken leg and would have been taken to Tiggywinkles if I'd caught it...could swim fine so will probably be ok...most wild animals cope really well with injuries if not too debilitating. Mandarin is certainly established locally from its original stronghold in Aylesbury fifteen years ago.

seems to have been a very good breeding season so far this year....garden is alive with young blue and great tits, robins, dunnocks and best of all...house sparrows, which are much in evidence calling from the trees... lovely sound of chirping - long may it continue!!!!!

'Burt' was taken to St Tiggywinkles and handed over to the professionals...you have to be impressed with their knowledge, passion and set-up...good luck to them...went to Wilstone to catch the Mayfly bonanza - hundreds of swifts, a hobby over the reed bed and a superb female ring-necked duck in the evening light....

Oh dear...stood waiting for the girls at Kearsney Abbey a huge , noisy quarrel broke out in the large lime tree overhanging the churchyard and a jay emerged with a chick in its mouth with a pair of blackbirds in hot pursuit. It promptly dropped the poor little sod on the road, flew down and tried to grab it with a couple of stabs and then gave up. The male blackbird briefly examined the chick before flying off. I hadn't intervened but went over to examine the stricken baby expecting it to be dead....

Getting back into the swing of things after my brief sojourn in Australia and a very hectic work schedule. Had a very pleasant afternoon at Dungeness...superb views of hobby, found a whimbrel on Denge marsh and bar-headed geese were an unusual find this far from civilisation. Cetti's warblers everywhere ...a far cry from driving all the way down to Weymouth with McKenna in 2003 to find them....

Had an incredible day at Kuringai National Park....after the sunshine of the last few days the rain didn't matter...in fact it actually added to the atmosphere. In contrast to the rest of Sydney - with the exception of South Head - small birds were abundant with large mixed flocks dominated by silvereyes but including eastern spinebills, yellow robins, spotted pardalotes and golden whistlers. The highlight was undoubtedly the superb male lyrebird who sang invisibly only metres from the path only to reveal himself tantalisingly for a few seconds before disappearing again. A lifetime dream realised.....off on a 21 hour flight back to UK now.....eek!

Has had a great few days chilling in Sydney...the birds are incredibly confiding and confident....pictures and video footage to follow......

Absolutely stunning day and the birds are on their way back. Popped to Wilstone and saw the returning terns but the best bird was a female ruddy duck hanging out with some pochard. Shame about the cull....I miss their antics...

Had a great day at Dungeness while Heidi and Lottie explored Rye with Joyce. Shared the point with coachloads of twitchers - literally - and a convoy of bikers and couldn't help feeling the poor ring ouzel looked a bit harassed. Was most pleased to get the long-staying glaucous gull, particularly as patience and instinct paid off....a group of loafing gulls on the beach looked like a possible location for it and just as I was about to leave having scanned them for a while it flew in to join them. Lovely summer plumage black-necked grebe on ARC pit and yellow wagtails around the RSPB visitor centre, as well as a late brambling on the feeder. Bittern was booming near the ramp but was barely audible over the dron of bikes on a nearby track. Great day....

ousel....

turned in to a gorgeous evening and rushed over to Ivinghoe Beacon to look for the ring ousel...eventually connected with it following its fieldfare-like call and watched it with a couple who had not seen one before...they were so thrilled that showing them was the best part of the evening. Lambs in the field were dead cute...!

Unusually small and with a head and bill shape reminiscent of Richardson's Canada goose, this bird was on the Thames at Pangbourne near Reading. No ring but primaries seem to be missing on one wing which suggests wings have been clipped or bird is moulting. Unusual.

Had a fantastic morning at Staines despite the midges..the three target birds gradually revealed themselves. First the scaup, which was very skittsh but ultimately distinguishable from the tufties. Then a small flock of little gulls started picking insects off the water surface, and finally two magnificent great northern divers showed really well as the mist lifted. The water was incredibly still, with no wind. Beautiful, even at the end of Heathrow runway...

Looking forward to going to Staines tomorrow...gorgeous weather today may have encouraged a few rarities to come through...little gull, little ringed plover. Funny time of year, when the last winter visitors are just lingering on and the first summer migrants are arriving...

contrasts....

spending the day in Southall and had a stroll around Minet Country Park. Incredible to hear skylarks singing so close to urban London. A classic eclectic city mix of ring-necked parakeets, little owls, rabbits, greater spotted woodpecker and reed bunting...the year's first chiffchaff was a treat. It was lovely to be back on my old urban stomping ground..the juxtaposition of hustle and quiet has notlost its allure....

hmmmm....

now that was a morning out birding never to be forgotten....

hmm

still cannot quite believe what happened whilst out birding this morning...dream-like

barnacles...

heard there were barnacle geese at Wilstone and drove there after school, walked up the steps, scanned the reservoir and got a great view of them taking off and flying into the distance....perfect timing....a few seconds later and I'd have missed them. The gull roost is now showing lots of birds in adult plumage...summer is on the way.....

well, that was just about as bad as it gets weather-wise for birdwatching...slanting rain...all day. But it was a simple stubble field that was alive with fieldfares, yellowhammers, redwings, skylarks and linnets. Found Calvert and Gallows Bridge Farm and caught up with marsh tit and goldeneye but I think both places will be more productive in better weather. Again a fruitless search for med gull amongst hundreds of black headeds at Wilstone in a biting wind. Best of all it was great to get out with old mates.....

half term at last and managed a short trip out....far too cold at Wilstone with a biting wind and high water levels so tried College Lake and carefully scanned the margins....got snipe and then saw the oystercatcher on the island. Incredible how the latter are colonising inland. Pitsone hill did not offer up meadow pipit or yellowhammer.....

Watch this closely and see how the turnstone gets its name......

waxwing winter.....

when you are stuck in a smelly room all day, there can be no better tonic than to walk out of school and see a small flock of waxwings sitting in a tree in the central reservation along George V Avenue....brilliant.......

In the zoo....

there is surely an irony in the fact that I saw more house sparrows at London zoo yesterday than for the entire year so far. They have everything they need...old buildings with lots of cavities for nesting and the livestock that generate spilt feed and the flies that they need for their nestlings. i just hope they don't become as rare as some of the exhibits. Lovely to hear a blackcap singing from within the conifer hedge....not long 'til Spring.....

windy nights....

Every time I watch the wood pigeons fly into the uppermost branches of the trees opposite our house to roost I always wonder why they choose such an exposed, cold location. Surely nestled against the trunk in amongst some ivy...as I got in the car this morning the security light picked out one high up in the alder opposite holding on grimly in the strong gusts. Surely that's not the best way to spend the night....

hmm...not many opportunities for birding at the moment...leave in the dark and get back at dusk...but things will get better and I am looking forward to the return of Spring. Won't be long now before the first chiffchaffs start singing.....

air...

What is it with pied wagtails and playgrounds? Amongst all the ebullient gulls and corvids battling for discarded scraps they pick at invisible morsels on bare tarmac and hawk for minute midges over puddles...and have done so for as long as I can remember...you have to admire their resilience...

Gradually getting lighter.....

Tried out Wilstone reservoir again this evening. Cold, perfectly calm and still light at 5pm. The reservoir itself was largely frozen, meaning that the gulls were crowded into the remaining unfrozen area near the centre. Still no luck with the med gull - most of the gulls were already asleep which made life difficult. Single herring gull stood out and scanning the wigeon and teal along the shoreline produced a single female goosander. Gorgeous sunset and I had the place to myself...fantastic contrast to the fart-ridden environment I spend most of my time immersed in...

Feeders......

Went up to Wendover Woods this afternoon for a stroll. As soon as we left the car a nuthatch called and showed really well. While I waited at the cafe I watched the two very modest feeders hanging from the trunk of a nearby tree. Coal tits were abundant and were very visible, compared to their usual location high up in the treetops. Also got great views of marsh tit which eventually also came to the feeders after first being located by its call. It all just shows the value of a well-located feeding station which so many nature reserves seem to ignore...

Needle in a haystack....

Today was eye-wateringly cold, but despite the chill I went to Wilstone reservoir to see if there were any med gulls in amongst the thousands of black-headed gulls who roost on the reservoir, choosing to spend the night with their arses immersed in freezing-cold water. One or two were possibles but it was a difficult task in the dimming light picking out the subtle features....this is one of the best things about birding: sometimes it is a real challenge. Indeed, it would soon become tedious if every species were too easily observed. I'll be back tomorrow.....

Pied wagtail has started showing an interest in the open-fronted nestbox put up in the staff garden at school....

Gloom...

From the perpetual gloom that is my classroom it has become a regular daily routine to hear screaming children at preciisely 1.25pm each day....the source of distress? Swooping gulls, mainly black-headed but increasingly common and lesser black-backed, deftly swiping the food remains of the best part of two thousand packed lunches. The screams occur when the birds start to defaecate on the dispersing children. If the kids dropped a little less litter it probably wouldn't be such an issue but in this case they really have brought it on their own heads.......

Decline and fall....

It's sad how the sound of a house sparrow draws my attention these days in a way that I would not have thought possible thirty years ago. They would flock around my bird table as a boy and a pair always nested just beyond my window in our neighbour's roof. Those that could not nest in the relative safety of the cavities in our suburban houses would build untidy nests in loose colonies in the shrubs surrounding the cricket pavilion in our local park. I fed handfulls of sparrows on the bridge at St James's Park. Now silence. I haven't seen a sparrow in the garden all year so it was with great pleasure that I stood and listened in Aylesbury to a small flock chattering away in the grotty shrubs next to the Post Office depot. People probably thought I was a bit odd staring intently but it took me back instantly to my boyhood.

Birding can take you to some rough old places....popped into Aylesbury early and had a quick stroll along the canal behind Tesco towards Broughton. Depressingly dirty with lots of accumulated detritus and dereliction. But from the 'buddleia forest' on the wasteland came the sound of a large goldfinch roost emerging at dawn. These places may offend our sensitivities but the wildlife always finds opportunity amongst what we discard or neglect. Caught up with a small group of siskins in the alders so mission accomplished.

hate it when this happens...gorgeous weather all week while I am cooped up in a dark malodorous classroom. Today cold, misty, with that fine rain that will cover all optical equipment and glasses and render meaningful and pleasurable birding impossible. Pah.

Roosts....

Funny how things happen. Wanted to see a mistle thrush today. Heard one singing in the gloom this morning but when I stopped to listen, so did the 'stormcock'. Caught a glimpse of one from the car on Watford Heath on the way home...clear, but fleeting. Then this evening, getting back in the car at Wilstone and I saw a flutter of beige wings. A little owl...? I strolled over to the spot and there was the most magnificent mistle thrush, with a chest spotted with markings like dark chocolate chips and just simmering with territorial aggression and confidence....love it.

College lake, a former quarry near Bulbourne, illustrates just what can be done to increase local biodiversity and bring people and wildlife together......

Once bittern....

Went to Marsworth this evening to look out across the reed bed for bitterns preparing to roost. Chatted to a nice couple from Amersham trying to photograph them in the gloom. Eventually one popped up and then dipped down again almost as soon as it had appeared. They must wander through the reeds all day and then have a favourite spot they return to. About twenty corn buntings flew staight in....where do they come from? Apparently there used to be hundreds in the roost, but even so the only place you can regularly see them is at Pitstone Hill. It's another sad reflection on the deterioration of our farmland habitats...

Stopped off at the big Tesco in Amersham on the way into work this morning. Dark and wet at 5.45 am. As I got out of the car I heard several robins singing. How many people assume they have heard a nightingale? Beautiful song, clear and sharp with a hint of winter melancholy but the pearly promise of lighter mornings and a more substantial dawn chorus....

Filthy day.....

Absolutely revolting...about as bad for birding as you can get....rain and wind. Not very promising, but....a new species for the year: driving back towards Amersham in the rainy gloom and there was a lovely buzzard standing in a grassy field eating worms. The rain must force them to the surface. Buzzards have made a great comeback since the 1970s, almost as much as the red kite locally.

Gollum.....

Leaving the house in the dark...spending all day in a dark classroom...getting home in the dark...feel like gollum. Not many opportunities to increase the bird list!! But the days are getting noticeably longer.......

A winter's day....

What a beautiful winter day. Got up early and risked the slippy conditions to go back to Griffin Lane and connect with the waxwings, this time armed with a camera. Heard their trilling as soon as I got out of the car. They are flighty birds at the same time as being very confiding. Had to wait an hour for the sun to come up over the warehouses to get the best shots but it was worth the wait in the cold. Later went to College Lake after a very relaxed coffee in Tring...what a fabulous place affording superb views of wildlife. A gem. Went to Weston Turville Reservoir to try and connect with the bittern but no joy. Hundreds of woodpigeons came in to roost at the top of the ash trees....seems stupid to me - so exposed, windy and cold. And vulnerable to predators. As if to emphasise this thought, a menacing, shadowy sparrowhawk flew low along the edge of the reedbed making the water rails squeal.........

waxwings!!!!

Well what a fantastic day! A superb kestrel hovering at head height just opposite Aston Clinton recycling centre gave a prolonged view as it hovered motionless over the verge. The red-legs had been joined by two others but were in the same field as last week. Leeds almost did it at Arsenal....the sun came out and the waxwings appeared. Beautiful blue skies and plump, crested birds in the rowans along Griffin Lane. Loved the male house sparrow chirping away from the bushes opposite the entrance to Tesco...can't believe that was the first for the year!

thirteen parakeets flew over school today heading south presumably to roost...brightened up after-school duty! Very noisy as usual...amazing how they are becoming very much part of the familiar avifauna...

woken at 4.15 am by an excited daughter keen to go to grandma's. Very quiet at work...no parakeets yet...maybe a mistle thrush.

Cassiobury Park.....

Had a lovely trip down memory lane today, meeting with friends for a short walk around the network of wetland habitats that lie beyond the formal parkland. Has changed a lot since I used to cycle there in the late seventies and early eighties - watercress beds now a mixture of reedmace and small trees. LOTS OF DOGS AND TODDLERS. No problem with that! Far too much disturbance for water rail, lesser spotted woodpecker and kingfisher and so sad that the alders no longer ring to the buzzing calls of willow tits. Saw a lovely female bullfinch on brambles near the dump and the red-legs were in the same field...almost hadn't moved from the previous day. Greater-spotted woodpecker flew into the gloom as we left our friends' house. Back to full-time work tomorrow.....

Sometimes you just have to sneak in a quick bit of birding when you can...booked in to see the Tinkerbell movie at Kids Club in Aylesbury this morning so went to the dump early to take garden waste for composting...pair of red-legged partridges near entrance to recycling centre - and then a quick detour to scan Wilstone reservoir from the car park. Lovely, still, mild morning with the birds concentrated in the watery bits of a still largely frozen reservoir. Today's birds...red-legged partridge, little grebe, great crested grebe, pochard, wigeon, cormorant, coot, stock dove, grey wagtail, fieldfare, mallard. A brief trip up to Whipsnade - our annual New Year's day visit to the zoo yielded pied wagtail, lapwing, herring gull, lesser black-backed gull and a single teal on the pool in the deer enclosure. Was very misty though so probably missed a lot! Caught up with sleep at the film...must be getting old!

A new year, a new decade and a new list.....

First bird this decade.....a skylark flying over the house. Funny how things change...slowly, with subtlety.....red kite and little egret on this morning's list: twenty years ago would have had birders flocking to see them...now daily sighting. Full list for this morning: skylark, robin, blue tit, great tit, goldcrest, long-tailed tit, wren, jackdaw, rook, jay, carrion crow, collared dove, wood pigeon, reed bunting, pheasant, dunnock, black-headed gull, grey heron, red kite, little egret, moorhen...this will be a big year. Off to Whipsnade later, possibly via College lake so total should rise before the end of the day......