Decided to visit LMGP this pm. En route I had a quick look at the trees by the Wyevale garden centre on the A4155 and the poplars opposite, by the entrance to Westhorpe Farm, as RBA had reported Waxwings here yesterday (presumably via Birdguides?) - no luck. I then spent too long at LMGP not seeing very much. There were now 4 Shelduck, 3 roosting on the spit and a further flyover and the best gull was a rather diminutive, smart looking adult Yellow-legged Gull, presumably a female. Most of the Herring Gulls that began to appear later on were large adult argentatus, many of which were acquiring summer plumage, with very little head streaking remaining. Then back for the school run – I again checked out the ‘Waxwing’ trees and this time hit the jackpot, with a large flock in the trees by the entrance to the Wyevale. They were coming down to drink at a roadside puddle. Shortly afterwards, they flew to the poplars on the opposite side of the road, where my best count revealed 88 birds, but this is probably plus or minus a few. Unfortunately due to the school pick-up I couldn’t watch for long, but I returned briefly with the kids to find the flock more or less in the same place – again, there were at least 80 birds. At c3:55pm, they flew off over the A404 roundabout roughly in the direction of Marlow Bottom – closer to home maybe!
Adam Bassett
This is an account of the personal observations of Lee G R Evans (LGRE) in his home county of Buckinghamshire. It also hosts all sightings of interest within the county but only those considered authentic by the author. I am extremely grateful for any images of local birds as well as of any information relating to birds within the boundaries - contact me anytime on 07881 906629 or email LGREUK400@aol.com.