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......