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....